Blog 7: Centripetal Acceleration

Alright so ceiling fans arent that popular anymore. My house doesnt have any so I got excited when there was one in my hotel room d: It also reminded me of our lab on centripetal acceleration and the skydancer toy. The toys wings started at its side and flew up. The only difference now is that the fan's planks are all already in the same plane rotating about the light in the middle. When i pulled the string the began to spin faster increasing angular velocity. They continue to spin because of Newton's First Law of Motion: and object in motion wants to stay in motion unless acted upon by an outside force. If one of the planks joint was to break it would fly off in a straight line tangent to the circular motion.

Sorry about sister's screaming, but clearly some of these curves are banked :)

Blog 6: Skydiving

My sister turned 18 this month and after seeing pictures of my brother skydiving in florida, she decided she wanted to go, too. My parents paid for it as her birthday present :)

Skydiving is a perfect exapmle to show air resistance, however air resistance is just one of the forces relevant to a bigger concept we're studying, impulse and momentum. Starting when my sister jumped out of the plane she started gaining speed increasing her momentum (p=mv) until she hit terminal velocity and momentum and acceleration remained constant. The impulse (J) she hit the ground with was also affected by air resistance.

J=Fxt

Air resistance and the parachute increased the time it took my sister to fall and decreased the force she hit the ground, therefore the overall impulse was smaller opposed to jumping with no parachute.

Work those stairs!

Here we are at the bottom of weinberg staircase, and we don't look to happy to go to class because our lockers are on the third floor. Have you ever wondered if going up the other stairs is less work? (sorry i dont have a picture of the other stairs, but we all know they have a steeper incline). After the lab stimulation when we pulled the cart up various inclines of ramps, I realized both stairs require the same work. Since work is the change in total energy and only potential energy has changed we can use W=mgh to find work done. Although going up the stairs shown in the picture you have to travel a longer distance, in both scenarious you reach the same height so the work done is equal. Why does it seem harder to go up the other stairs then? Because the other stairs have a higher incline it requires more force to get up them while the stairs in the picture have a smaller incline requiring less force. To calculate work done using this information you would use
W=Fcos(theta)(displacement) where the shorter distance compensates for the larger force once again making the work done in both scenarios the same.

Blog 4: Playing smart with friction

Our most recent lessons on friction gave me a better understanding of an experience my friends and I had with water slides. The last Sunday before school started, me and a couple of friends took some boogie boards and surfed down a tarp ramp. One of my friends tried to slide down with out a board and before we added water. The coefficient of friction between his skin and the tarp was high, making it hard for him to move. To decrease the coefficient of water we got a bucket of soap water and poured it down the ramp creating a slick path. I was able to slide down easily because the coefficient of friction between my board and the water was pretty low. I started at rest, and my friend's push overcame the static friction force accelerating me down the tarp.

Physics has really improved my view on daily activities. To most its common sense that water will make us go faster but we never question why. I don't have enough information to actually solve for my friends force, friction, or acceleration, but if given some values (perhaps the angle of the ramp) you could go about solving for different variables using the following equations found from interpreting a Free Body Diagram of the scenario.

BLOG 3: Inertia

This weekend I got my whole family to attempt the tablecloth trick. It took my dad 4 tries, but the girls in the family got it their first try :) Ironic because dad is the phyics master in the family, always helping my sister and I with our homework. I think he didn't get it the first time because he was applying too much of an upward force versus a slight downward pull.

The famous tablecloth trick is possible and can be explained using Newton's First Law of Motion: objects at rest want to stay at rest unless and outside force acts upon them. If you pull the tablecloth fast enough it will slide right out because the friction force between the cloth and the dishes is not strong enough to pull the dishes with it. Unless the force is strong enough to overcome the dishes inertia, they will remain at rest on the table.

PHYSICS BLOG 2

Sunday afternoon, I was bored of doing history homework so I decided to take a break and play some MarioKart. I was trying to break a time trial at coconut mall and flying off a ramp reminded me of projectile motion. I wondered if I could complete the course faster if I just drove around the ramp instead of trying to use it to propel me foward faster. First i would have to time how long before the car hits the ground. Then if the cars initial velocity and the angle of the ramp was known, I could easily calculate the x and y components of the vector using the formulas vcos(angle)=Vx and vsin(angle)=Vy and figure out the distance the car travels accelerating up and down at -9.8m/s with constant horizonal velocity. Finally compare the results with the time it takes to travel the same distance with out a ramp using time=distance/velocity. I learned its faster to go straight avoiding the ramp than travel unecesary distance vertically.

Free Fall

A couple days before school started, my friend took me on a hike two ridges over from Aiea. We left early morning so it wouldn't be too hot. To get to the hike you had to walk up a road past a gate. The beginning of the trail was dirt and flat until a point where you had to go downhill through the forest. It had rained the night before so the rocks were muddy and slippery resulting in me eating it at least once d: It was all worth it though. Along the trail were beautiful views, and at the the end we discovered a waterfall which we had to ourselves for about half an hour since we left early.

There were two pools to swim in. The one the waterfall initially flowed into was pretty big and shallow, but at the end the water dropped off a cliff into another smaller pool. You could either swing on a rope into the smaller pool, which i did, or you can jump off the cliff.

Physics is present in both scenarios.

I chose the video of Brian doing a backflip off because it showed free fall which we recently learned about. The force he used to jump gave him an initial velocity in a positve upward direction until gravity slowed him down hitting his peak at velocity of zero. Now he began to accelerate at -9.8m/s2 in a negative direction with increasing speed until he hit the water. If you time how long it takes him to hit the water after he hits his peak it would be possible to calculate his final velocity before hitting the water. Enjoy! :)

Hawaii Travel Tours

Last Friday was a class bonding experience. The long bus ride filled with ukulele playing and singing was very entertaining. We visited places dealing with the mo'olelo of Pele and Hi'iaka. Although we ran out of time preventing us from playing the ancient game of kilu at Waikiki beach, our stops included

• Ka'ena Point
• Makua Beach
• Pokai Bay

The hike to Ka'ena point was LONG & HOT HOT HOT!

The hike to the point was longer than i expected. After each turn i expected to see the end, but the path continued on. I definitely did not feel like a goddess while walking. Kumu reminded me that Hi'iaka walked the whole way instead of riding the canoe with her companions. Unbelievable!
Instead of going out to the point we sat on a rock that the spirits jumped off in the mo'olelo. It was very windy almost like the spirits were flying around us. Taking in the history of the place while we read was an amazing feeling.

After a long walk, diving into Makua Beach was refreshing.

While swimming i noticed some rocks forming caves in the bottom of the ocean. I'm not sure if this is true to the mo'olelo, but it reminded me of when Pele kept trying to form craters and water would rush to the surface.

At our final stop, Pokai Bay, we feasted like Ali'i.

Kumu provided for us a meal of luau, sweet potatoes, poi, and poke. I thought this was a cool idea to eat like Hi'iaka did rather than us all bringing our own lunch. The luau was delicious and appropriate to the mo'olelo because it was her favorite food and the cause of her sleeping with a man on her journey and angering Pele. We also ate like ali'i in the aspect that we ate off of wooden plates.

Overall i am grateful that we as a class were able to go on this tour because tours like these aren't offered in Hawaii. WE MADE IT HAPPEN. It was both fun educationally and just fun in general. Hopefully no one got sun burnt!

&&WE ALL MISSED YOU TANIA ! ):

Bishop Museum

This past Wednesday was my first time visiting the Bishop Museum. Many items i saw related to what we have been learning in class.

Items and information that were familiar to me were

• Ki'i Heiau
• Examples of Pono "For each male endeavor, there was a corresponding female task. While men pounded poi, women pounded kapa, ...."
• Importance of Ka Mahina (the moon)
• Relationship between Hawaiians and Kalo
  
• 'Olona binding parts of tools together

New information that interested me the most can be found on the third floor.

There were many different Ahu'ula, feathered cloaks on display. The Ahu'ula were significant because by the color and length you could tell the rank of the person wearing it. The longer the cloak you had higher rank, and as for color yellow was the highest, then red, then black. I noticed King Kamehameha's Ahu'ula was longer than most others in the museum and was ALL yellow. There was also a short story about King Kamehameha that sparked my interested because it was familiar to a western story i know of.

King Kamehameha overturned the Naha stone making him supreme ruler <--> Arthur pulled the Excalibur sword out of the stone making him king.

I feel like i learned a lot from this field trip, but i still wonder how the Hawaiians decided what sacrifices needed to be made to the different gods.

The field trip Friday was the best experience I've had in Hawaii and on a field trip in general. At our first stop we got to see and learn about many ancient Hawaiian tools. I found it cool that our host knew how to make some of them and let us hold and play with some of them because Kumu says on our next field trip we might see some of the tools but they will be in a museum so we won't be able to touch them.
After learning the purpose of the tools we took a trip down to the stream, and on the way we saw and pointed out all the plants we could identify. We crossed the stream and uncle brought us to a spring. I was amazed that the water was just coming out of the ground, and even more amazed when uncle climbed down and just started drinking the water. I learned that earth water is the cleanest water because it comes straight from the ground unlike stream water that could have all sorts of pollution in it. The water from the spring surprisingly was delicious; you couldn't taste the dirt at all.
Finally we went to see Uncle Danny and experienced being in a lo'i patch and learning about all the varieties of taro. It was nice to be able to see and experience everything uncle was talking about instead of reading about it in a book or newspaper. Danny also made me aware or many problems farmers face today. I was shocked that some farmers are being sued because their plants accidentally cross-pollinated with a gene modified plant, and I'm curious what effects the gene modified plants have on the aina they are planted in and on the consumers. This is definitely something to be concerned about.
This field trip is something i will never forget. I feel that experiencing someone else's lifestyle is the best way to learn about it, and that we definitely did.

Streams of Controversy

In the Ka Wai Ola's Stream's of Controversy, Liza Simons presents a water rights conflict between sugar plantation companies and native Hawaiians. A ditch system is diverting water from the Na Wai 'Eha streams unfairly, and drying out the Hawaiians lo'i.

"When Hawaiians lost their waterways to plantation ditches, it was a detrimental to the native culture as loss of land."

The the main point in the Hawaiian argument is that the streams are necessary to their lifestyle. The streams running low has affected taro cultivation, and without food they can't feed their families and are forced to move away. Many Hawaiian families have also found it hard to practice wetland kalo cultivation because of the low amount of water available to them.

A proposal was made to restore 34.5 million gallons of water to the Na Wai 'Eha streams, however sugarcane companies complain that reflowing the streams will affect their company profits. Are they only worried about profits? No. More importantly they make a good point in saying that if their ditch systems don't stay in business many Hawaiians will lose their jobs.

"We're not saying we can live off of kalo and nothing else, because we can't, but we also know that sugar has never sustained our community. No job -no matter how important it seems, should come at the cost of a resource that is essential."

This quote by a kalo farmer helped me make my final decision in where i stand in this argument. I think the waters should be restored to the native Hawaiians. They understand that there are jobs at risk, but they also know that sugar isn't essential to a community, while the rivers ARE important to their culture.

IM ON A BOAT!

Today many people fantasize about traveling somewhere on an expensive, elegant yacht, but imagine spending a week on a canoe to travel somewhere like the ancient Polynesians did.

I believe Snake Ah Hee's philosophy, "Once you go on the canoe, because it's so small, you try to make it like one family" very vital to a happy, successful trip.

Canoes aren't that big. Every two people shares a sleeping area of about 6 feet in length and 3 feet in width. How can they possibly fit? One person stands watch while the other sleeps. Everyone has 4 hour watching shifts with 8 hours rest in between.

Ever woke up in the middle of the night because you had to go to the bathroom? Try going on a canoe.

Bathrooms are located at each end of the Hokule'a (canoe). That's right you just urinate in the ocean. Don't worry about falling overboard though because first you must hook yourself up to a safety harness.

NO ONE LOOK!

Everyone on the boat should respect each others privacy. When someone is going to the bathroom or bathing, it's common courtesy to look away or move out of the area; give the person some space.

Are we there yet?

Voyaging by sea can take many weeks. Plenty of water is stored to sustain the crew members, and rain water is collected for bathing and cooking, but what else is there to do besides the obvious steering, handling the sails, cooking, ect. ?

Most crew members in their spare time

• read
• write in journals
• make music
• or RELAX!
  

I think being out on a boat for several weeks would be a fun experience. You would learn to have fun in other ways just sit back and enjoy nature. Often times we are so caught up in electronics and work that we don't have time to just relax. Don't you agree ?

Lost in the Stars

The simulation using the Hawaiian compass was quite an experience. I never really thought about how people used to navigate, I'm used to just hooking up the GPS or getting a ride from someone who knows where their going. The fact that the Polynesians had all the stars memorized is amazing. I thought it was hard to memorize the one compass, but at the end of the simulation Kumu told us there was actually 4 compasses, one for each season!!!

The hardest challenge my group faced was memorizing the stars. We only knew half of them which made it very hard to locate the different islands. I don't know how the ancient Polynesians did it. Even if we knew the names of the stars, i don't think it would be much help if we were actually out on a canoe because it'd be hard to pick out the one star, out of the other million in the sky, that would lead us in the right direction. Other factors that would probably throw us off course would be storms or cloudy skies. Then we'd be in trouble!

The activity definitely helped me understand the Polynesians more. Their way of using and understanding nature is amazing. It's unbelievable how they discovered and settled all the different islands. They truly are masters of the sea!

End of New Year ?

Mark Platte proposed his thoughts about the "reckless New Year's celebrations" in the Honolulu Advertisers opinion column January 17, 2010. The Legislature is having a hard time enacting a law to make some fireworks illegal because residents in Hawaii are split 50/50 on the matter. In the article Mark Platte compares the situation to the smoking ban in 2006 and the new city law prohibiting hand-held devices while driving. Apparently, nothing has been done about the disturbances on New Years though.

"Even if there is a 50-50 split, does that mean that the rights of the half who want to make noise, pollute the air, frighten and annoy residents and pets and potentially endanger others trump the rights of the half who don't want to be bothered by these reckless celebrations?"

Clearly the people who want firework use limited or banned have some good reasoning. Sure its the New Year a time to party, but maybe some families are trying to put their kids to sleep, and all the sound the fireworks create becomes a nuisance all night. Residents also make a good point about the environment. Fireworks DO create a lot of pollution and could start fires, harming people and animals. There were no points listed by residents who wanted to KEEP fireworks, but I'm sure its because its a tradition of the New Years and it is fun. Can you think of other reasons?

How do you think the legislature will decide on what to do ? Does the 50/50 split matter or do you think they'll do what THEY, meaning the Legislature, think is best? I think a possible solution could be having designated areas to light your own fireworks instead of wherever you find an open area in your neighborhood.

What's taking so long ?

Mark mentions that the smoking ban in 2006 took two DECADES to enact, and the new city law prohibiting hand-held appliances while driving didn't require much time or study to make official. So what's the wait with banning fireworks? "Apparently the injuries to 112 people this New Year's, half of them children and the highest total since records were kept a decade ago, has made no impact on lawmakers." The number of people dead from reckless celebrations on New Years is unbelievable. I wasn't aware of any of this until after reading the article. Everyone loves watching fireworks but would you love to see someone die as an effect of your fun? I don't think so. I'm not saying fireworks are a horrible thing to do but obviously something needs to be fixed, and no that doesn't mean wait till the New Year "rolls around again" to deal with the problem.

Honestly, I'm not quite sure what my culture is; its not one specific culture. The only tradition that's been the same my whole life is from my mom's Spanish side. On new years we each have 12 grapes and when the clock gets to 12 seconds left in the year we try to eat them all before the new year. Every grape you eat symbolizes a month of good luck in the new year.

In the reading it says Culture is learned by every person born into a society as part of the enculturations process. Having not grown up in the same place my whole life, everywhere I've lived i picked up traditions and they have become apart of me. For example before i lived in Japan, i didn't eat much Japanese food, use chopsticks, take off shoes at the front door, slightly bow when you greet people, or speak any of the language. The style there is very different, too. After living there for a while its kind of hard to change back to your old ways. The reading defines the process of making traits of other cultures a part of your own culture as acculturation. I'm not saying I'm Japanese now, but I've become accustomed to some of their traditions.

Moving to Hawaii this summer after being away from the U.S. for 5 years was kind of strange at first, a completely new lifestyle; i felt somewhat like a foreigner. Even the school has a different "culture" you could say; a lot more kids and different style, way of speaking (slippers, chee, ect.), dresscode, and discipline. There's still lots about Hawaii's cultures and traditions i dont know and will probably experience while living here. For starters I dance hula now.

What I'm trying to say is I don't think you have to be a certain ethnicity to practice their cultures. Culture isn't based on race its what makes up YOU. Everyone has different beliefs and practices. Sure in a family there might be some traditions practiced together but not all beliefs are the same. Everyone's culture is unique, and everyone's culture is always changing or being influenced in someway.