Astronomy SBG

        Science is a huge phenomena that studies the world we live in. Astronomy is one of the oldest shown aspects of science because it is so clear to humans. We see the stars and cannot help but asking what is out there and how it changes. Astronomy is a branch of science, it studies the planets and stars and moons and all of the galaxies. Also astronomy is described as one of the soft sciences which means that it is where experimentation does not show its viability. Astronomy's accuracy predominantly lies in observation of either what we see from Earth or what we see from satellites and such. Like every science our understanding of astronomy has changed and morphed with the evolution of technology but the laws remain true. Because astronomy is about our universe before the invention of the telescope and satellites and space ships, all we had to go on was what we saw. This is what prompted the idea that the sun revolved around us, it make sense if you do not have the big picture, but with technology this assumed theory was destroyed with evidence. In more recent times our understanding of astronomy has grown immensely. I don't think that in the past we could speculate on how truly far the sun was from the Earth or later the Earth from other planets. The visualization we did in the form of that walk was very eye-opening for me, and I live in the 21^st century.

       We used Harwood's Activity Model but not in the same way as we used it in physics. We asked questions about things we did not understand, tested hypothesis about the way the world works, and collaborated with our peers. One of the most interesting things we did in this unit was describe how much astronomy affects our daily living, in the form of seasons. We asked the question: Are seasons caused by the Earth's tilt or it's proximity to the sun, closer= hotter farther away=colder. After we had our question we did tests that involved the day length, temperature, and sun elevation, at different places on Earth and throughout the year. We discovered that the day length, temperature, and sun elevation are highest (meaning summer time) at completely different times of the year according to hemisphere. During this whole process we were speaking with our peers and ensuring that our data was legitimate. We concluded that without a doubt, seasons are caused by the the Earths tilt, not proximity to the sun. Although astronomy is not a hard science it still uses things like mass and length and time, especially in Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation, which describes and proves how gravity works in the entire Universe. Mass and length are used in NLUG, because the different masses of two things make the force of gravity larger and the greater the distance the lower the gravity.

     Our project was about Mankind's efforts to discover the solar system in our attempts to go to Mars. It was so intriguing to learn what a conflict space exploration caused. It became a social issue between countries because space was the final frontier and the country that had control of that was clearly dominant. This was especially heated between the Soviet Union and American Both countries were seeking to be the world power and I believe space exploration was a factor in the Cold War. This just shows how things in science and especially astronomy affect us. Also in efforts to understand the planets they have names from Roman mythology which we found very interesting. It just shows you that there is something in astronomy for everyone. We also learned about the various stages of exploration and how we have evolved in just a few decades. We have moved from looking through a telescope, to fly-bys, to orbiting around Mars, and finally our current stage landers and rovers. This shows the evolution of science very accurately, because our technology has grown and become more and more advance. 

The truth is after having learned all of these remarkable things about our universe, I will never look at the heavens with anything but utter awe. 

PENDULUM

Newton's First Law: 

The 1st Law states that an object in motion or at rest stays in motion or at rest unless acted upon by an external force. This has to do with our capstone project because the pendulum would continue to swing if the force of gravity and friction were not acting upon it.

Newton's Second Law:

The 2nd Law states that the acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the net force of the object. This has to do with our experiment because the force required to move the pendulum is equal to the mass times the acceleration.

Newton's Third Law:

The 3rd Law says that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, this is directly related to our project because the pendulum does not just stop when it is dropped and it reaches its equilibrium point, it rises to about the same height as it was dropped.

Potential Energy:

When the bob is held at a certain height or in the moment when the bob stops at the peak all of the energy is Potential. Because potential energy is pent up energy, where the object has the potential to use energy. This can be shown by the equation for Potential Energy, PE = mass x gravity x height. This shows that all the energy is being stored up because of the height, mass, and gravity.

Kinetic Energy: 

Kinetic Energy is greatest at the point of equilibrium because there is no potential energy because it is at its lowest point so no energy is pent up it is all in motion. PE = 1/2 mass x velocity^2, all of the energy is Potential because it has no height and no energy stored, it is all being used. 

This experiment is so relevant because pendulum's have been an important part of our history. It was discovered in  1602 by Galileo Galilei. The regular motion of pendulums was used for timekeeping, and was the world's most accurate timekeeping technology until the 1930s. Pendulums are used to regulate pendulum clocks, and are used in scientific instruments such as accelerometers and seismometers. Historically they were used as gravimeters to measure the acceleration of gravity in geophysical surveys, and even as a standard of length.

The Education Value of Creative Disobedience

This was a very interesting read for me, it inspired a lot of questions for me. I completely agree that if kids discover things on their own and are encouraged to discover and all that jazz, they will most definitely be better developed and we will see a change in education but I fear that in our culture it is virtually impossible for every kid. Let me explain myself. There are a few vital problems in that theory that we are forgetting, kids are first with their parents and that is where they learn a lot of their habits. It is a sad but true fact, if every kid had this writers parents who encouraged her to ask questions and learn from a very young age, then there would not be a problem, but A LOT of kids don't. A lot of kids have parents who either have no idea how to raise a child or they just don't care. When I was volunteering with a kindergarten class I saw some kids who clearly were encouraged by their parents or older siblings or someone and I saw some that were clearly ignored. You could always tell because when we tried to let them loose and figure out things, some would catch on and start trying to figure things out and the others would sit there or just follow another kid copying whatever he or she would do. I think where they have it completely right is when they say that the problem is kids are afraid to be wrong. But I am not sure if that can be changed solely by a child's education, the problem is often in their upbringing and I am not sure what we can do about that. But I think all of this is why I want to be a teacher, even though it seems hopeless, I know what a good teacher can mean and I hope that I can be that for the kids I come in contact with and do my best to help who I can.

Physics????

What I think is so very cool about physics is that every time you find these random rules and equations, then you try them out, they will always prove themselves to you. There is something really comforting about that. This can be shown by all of our experiments that we did in class. When you measure the force of something with one of those springy things then you find the mass of the object and then the acceleration it will equal the same as what you measured.

Example: If you find that the force a car is exerting is equal to 15,000 N with those springy thingys. Then you measure the mass of the car and you find it is 1005 kg. Then find the acceleration (if the car went from 0 to 75 in 5 seconds then it is (75m/s-0m/s) / 5s you get that it equals 15m/s^2) Then we know from Newton's Second Law that Force= mass x acceleration so F= 1005kg x 15m/s^2 = 15,075 N, pretty darn close right?

What I also find to be very interesting about physics is the conservation of energy that before and object is dropped, or thrown, or released all of it's energy is potential but when it is in motion it is a combo and at certain point it is all converted into Kinetic energy and when it hits the ground, or whatever it converts back into potential. It is pretty amazing that when an object is just sitting on a table it has a ton of potential energy.

Example: If a 2 kg vase is sitting on a ledge 1.5 meters off the ground, according to the equation PE=mgh=
 2kg(mass) x 9.8m/s^2(acceleration due to gravity) x 1.5m(height) so PE= 29.4 Joules and that completes fully into KE and then right back to PE, NOTHING is lost. It's crazy!

Sorry if I explained things too much I do it because it helps me understand fully.

Momentum and Energy

MOMENTUM

Definition: 

Momentum is a vector describing objects in motion according to their mass and their velocity.

Calculate:

To calculate momentum you need to know the mass and velocity of an object. So Momentum= mass * velocity. For example, to describe the momentum of a semi truck you need its mass which is 36,287.39 kg (80,000 lbs) and its velocity which is 26.8824 m/s(60 miles/h). Then you multiply them so

 36,287.39kg * 26.8824m/s= 9,754,921,329.36 kg*m/s

Units:

kilograms * meters/second or kg*m/s

Impulse:

Impulse is defined as force with respect to time, essentially it is the change in the momentum of an object.

Conservation of Momentum:

Essentially what the law of Momentum Conservation is that during a transfer of momentum, or a collision, the momentum of both objects before is equal to the momentum after the collision, the momentum lost by one object is is the same as the momentum gained by the other object.

ENERGY!

Work:

Work is when a force acts upon an object to cause a displacement of the object. You need a force, displacement, and cause to get work done on an object. Work= force * distance.  

For example if you push a box 6 meters by exerting 12 Newtons of force the work done would be 72 meters * Newtons. The unit for work is meters * newtons which is called a joule so the work done on the box would be 72 Joules. 

Energy:

Is the capacity of a physical system to do work. Energy like mass can neither be created or destroyed. All energy is measured in Joules as well.

Kinetic Energy:

Kinetic energy is the energy of motion. 

Kinetic Energy= 1/2 mass * velocity squared or KE= 1/2mv^2

For Example: The Kinetic Energy of an object that is 40kg and is going 9m/s is 360 Joules because it is currently in motion. 

Potential Energy:

Potential Energy is defined as the energy an object can store according to its position, basically the potential and object has to move. 

Potential Energy according to gravity is the energy stored in an object before is drops into free fall.

Potential Energy =mass * gravity * height or PE = m*g* h

For example, if you push a person with a mass of 60 kg off a cliff that is 10 meters high when gravity= 9.8m/s^2 . So 60kg*10m*9.8m/s^2 which equals 5880 kg*m*m/s^2 which equals 5880 Joules. 

Conservation of Energy:

The conservation of energy is that energy, like mass, can neither be created or destroyed, it can only change, so kinetic energy does not disappear it changes to potential energy of some other type of energy. 

Free Fall!!!!!

Free fall is defined as any motion where gravity is the only force acting upon on object (if air resistance was negligible) when it falls towards the Earth.

       

Calculation: d=1/2at^2

Tennis Ball                                                              Wiffle Ball

Avg. Time=1.56s                                                      Avg. Time: 1.51s

d=1/2 (9.8m/s^2)(1.56s)^2                                       d=1/2 (9.8m/s^2)(1.51s)^2

d=11.92m                                                                   d=11.17m

Small, Light Balls                                                        Foam Balls    

Avg. Time: 1.76s                                                          Avg.Time: 1.20s

d=1/2 (9.8m/s^2) (1.76s)                                                 d=1/2 (9.8m/s^2) (1.20s)

d= 15.18m                                                                   d=7.056m

Error Calculation:|known-measured| \ known

Tennis                                                  Wiffle Ball

|10.7m-11.92m| \ 10.7m                               |10.7m-11.17m| \ 10.7m

.114= 11.4%                                         .045= 4.5%

Small/Light Balls                                        Foam Balls

|10.7m-15.18m| \ 10.7m                           |10.7m-7.056m| \ 10.7m 

.42= 42%                                                   .341= 34.1%

Our Videos!

VIDEOS FOUND ON THE INTERNET MACHINE!!!!

Objects of different masses free falling!!! Enough said!

Super cool song about science.

A video describing the phenomenon of free fall and how air resistance is a factor in every day life but can be eliminated in a controlled setting. It also talks about the reason we fall... the Earth's gravitational pull on us!!!!

Conclusion:

We discovered that in a world without air resistance there would be no difference in acceleration between dropping a bowling ball and a feather, but we know this is not true. Our videos show that human error and air resistance  make it nearly impossible to show the validity if the statement: No matter the mass of an object the acceleration due to gravity will remain constant. Maybe next time we can try it in a controlled setting without air resistance. Oh, the possibilities!

Our fantastical group is: Meredithe Dosch, Manuel Carranza, and Lauren Ingham. Thank you and signing off!

Beauty of Data Visualization Discussion

1.We all agreed the video was really interesting, but Samantha and I think that without the explanation we would have a very hard time understanding it. It is very interesting to realize the correlation between the two things that when compared are easier to understand. It is helpful be able to accurately portray so much data with a picture.

2. The video effected us as a learner by showing that boring data can be made interesting. It was an eye opener to understand what information really means. Like the example with countries and war expenses compared with GDP and population and number of soldiers. It kind of revealed that when you take one of those facts out of context they can be very skewed but when you see the big picture it is easily understood and it provides a less biased conclusion. As a teacher, we need to understand that we have to present the big picture and show a good perspective of the facts to the best of our abilities because we are potentially effecting the kids understanding.

3. The video said that instead of showing kids or even adults "hard" graphs or facts that do not correlate we need to soften them. Create a story or a path with the incredible amount of data.

4. Prezi is a perfect example of this visual learning. We noticed even in our own presentations that some groups effectively told the story of the data and though some were slightly too much. I consider myself to have the same attention span of a child and there were some presentations that truly grabbed my attention and some, the sequence of events could be followed but it was less attention grabbing. The most important thing is to understand how to give data in a relative fashion, and it must be engaging. We found that Prezi is a valuable  resource to use in this quest to visualize information.