Topics in Physics, Day 3- Sara and Alex

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Action Shot of Drop Zone

 




Topics in Physics, Day 3

Photos By: Sara - Blog By: Alex

We started off the day today with an activity called "The Drop Zone." The goal was to have a cup with a marble in it slide down a 2 meter long fishing line "zip line" and have the cup dump the marble in a specific target zone before the end of the line. We used paperclips, weights, and precisely carved pieces of paper that we attached to the inside of the cup to have the marble roll through a tube and into the target zone. The main concept that we covered in this activity was the idea of projectile motion, which we later dove into deeper with equations and practice problems.
Kilali Measuring Free Falls

Later on in the morning we got a lesson on free falls and acceleration due to gravity, which we followed up with an experiment that demonstrated the possible accuracy (and inaccuracy) of using human response time to make precise measurements. We did this by dropping a ball from a specified height, attempting to time how long it took to get from that point to the floor, and comparing our results with how long objects actually take to fall when measured with advanced equipment.

After lunch, and to finish off the day, we had a lesson on projectile motion, as well as some group time where we worked through practice problems accounting for vertical and horizontal motion. Though the majority of this afternoon was dedicated to learning formulas and constants, and setting up for future experiments, we were able to leave prepared for the fun activities that we'll get to do tomorrow with projectile launchers.




















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