Week 3 Blog Post

 

1. What affects a rider's speed down a slide? In this lab, I used a slide at a park that measured 10 feet long with an angle of about 30 degrees. I was testing if weight affected how fast someone slides down a slide. I took three different sports balls, ranging in different weights. A ping pong ball, which was the lightest, a baseball, which was in the middle, and a football, which was the heaviest. I dropped each ball three different times down the slide, timing how fast it went in seconds. I recorded the times for each ball three times. I found that the weight difference does not affect the speed of sliding. I thought it was interesting because I originally thought the heavier the ball, the faster it will go. 

2. In lecture this week, I learned about the other variables that were tested for affecting a rider's speed such as steepness and surface/clothing. I learned that steepness does affect speed because the force of the surface pushes on the rider and the steepness cancels the force of the gravity. I learned that the surface or clothing of a rider also affects the speed because of the friction that is acting on the surface. 

3. Pressbook findings

- I learned that it is not possible to make something move without a force acting on it. A force has to act on something for it to move. I learned about Newton's laws. I learned that objects stay at rest and objects stay in motion unless acted on by another force. I learned that if something has more mass, it will take more force to move the object. I also learned that objects push on each other in the opposite direction with equal amounts of force. Forces come in pairs. 

- The Phet simulations within this pressbook were the most helpful to me. I liked reading about it and then doing the simulations for a better idea of what I was learning. It gave me good visual representation. 

- I need more information about how forces come in pairs. I understand that part because of what I learned in this pressbook, but was a little confused because some motions can have three forces acting on it, which would not be a pair. 

- Does the third force have a pair with it?