Optional Blog

Early this morning, I saw something that directly relates to what we learned in Physics this last week.  I had decided to run an experiment envolving my History book and a stair climbing machine.  When I placed the book on top of one of the machine's legs, the book did not slide down.  I realized that this was because, as we learned in class, the object's axis has rotated.  This means that the static friction will be equal to (while the object is not in motion) the x value of the weight.  This makes the net force in the x plane equal to zero.  A net force of zero means that the object is not in motion.  In the y plane, we learned that the books normal force is now less.  This is because for a net force of zero, the y value of the weight must be equal to the normal force of the book    This means that the normal force will be less because the y value of the weight is always less than the overall weight.  I was amazed that I could use things that I learned in physics when it came to everyday household items.  I LOVE FRICTION

Blog 3

This is a video of the tablecloth trick, which I was able to do on a boring Saturday morning.  I set up my experiment using some of my parent's dishes and my sister's pink blanket.  I was able to pull my sister's blanket out from under a plate and saucer with coffee cup.  This is because of Newton's first law.  Newton's first law states that any object in motion will remain in motion unless acted upon by a net force and vice versa.  This is also known as inertia.  When I began my experiment, the inertia of the plate and saucer allow the tablecloth to be pulled from under it without taking the two objects with it.  Because both objects are at rest, they have a tendency to remain at rest because they do not have a net force.  I thought that it was really cool that we can apply what we learned in physics to different tricks we see in real life.  Now, I know the true causes of the tablecloth trick.