Physics E-portfolio Reflection

Throughout the duration of this class Physics 1010 we were required to

give a short summery of what we learned in class and how it applied to our
life. When writing these up it was interesting to find out how much we
learned in physics applies to our everyday lives, it was fun seeing everything
around me in a new light and knowing the mechanics behind it. I personally
have been very interested in science ever since I was a little kid and over the
years that has not changed. On my own time I research and am constantly
learning about new advances in various fields of science but mainly Astro-
physics. This class and the knowledge it brought was important to me
because it shed new light on the areas that I never looked into very deeply.
It was fun learning about how the world works down here on earth and how it
is just as extensive as it is up in the cosmos.

This week we learned about the scientific method. This can be applied
to everyday life for problem solving. Lets say that you have an issue where
you need a certain tool, in my case over the weekend I needed a flywheel
puller but I couldnt go buy one because it was Sunday. So through a process
that kind of follows the guide lines of the scientific method through trial and
error I was able to successfully able to fabricate a new tool that works just as
good if not better than the store bought one.

This week we learned about momentums. This applies to my life in the

fact that first of all its why bigger vehicles will win in a collision with another
smaller vehicle, and it applies to me when I play lacrosse. When playing in a
game or practicing lacrosse when I play defense and move to check
someone its why I always can take someone out. Typically I am much bigger
than most other opponents and when I move to take someone out I have a
lot more mass and speed than others.

This week we learned about rotational motion and torques. This

applies to me because I am a car/motorcycle enthusiast and when working
on my bike and car I am constantly applying rotational motion and torqueing
bolts. When torqueing bolts down I and setting a certain amount of
rotational force on that bolt to make sure its secure.
This week we learned about trajectories and projectile motion. This applies
to my life when I go shooting and hunting for further away shots I have to
take in account for bullet drop and estimate where I should place my
crosshairs. Or when I go skeet shooting I have to account for the clays
trajectory to place my shot to make sure that I hit it.

This week we learned about pressures. This applies to my life when I

go diving. When diving we have to take account for the pressures related to
how deep in the water we go. The human body can only take being at such
pressures for a certain amount of sustained time before damage starts to
happen. Because of the pressure nitrogen has a hard time metabolizing in
your blood and when you get too much nitrogen in your blood it can be
deadly in certain quantities.

This week we learned about atmospheric pressure. This applies to life

through engine tuning and building cars. When tuning and building a car you
have to take into account your elevation and the type of humidity there. This
is only the case when working with carbureted engines due to electronic fuel
injection re tuning is not required because the onboard computer takes
readings from the atmosphere and dials in the perfect air to fuel ratio.

This week we learned about heat conducting. This applies to my life in

welding. When welding especially with high end materials you have to
account for the amount of heat that a material can take before it changes its
properties. For example with stainless steel you have to watch your heat
during the weld if you dont keep your residual heat below a certain point it
loses its property of anti-oxidation or in other words not being able to rust.

This week we learned about waves. This applies to my life when I listen to
music and back when I used to work for a contractor setting up sound
systems. When setting up speakers you have to take into account the
interference that waves have on themselves. If you dont account for this
you will get dead zones where the soundwaves will negatively interfere with
themselves and the speakers sound quiet.

This week we learned about thermodynamics. This applies to life when

working with welding. When welding aluminum it conducts heat extremely
well and the metal will heat soak and spread its heat to everything touching
it. On the other side when welding stainless steel this material does not
conduct heat very well and it also suffers a high heat expansion so if youre
not careful it will warp and distort a tremendous amount.
This week we learned about electro magnetism and generators work. This
applies to life through where we get our energy all power plants through
whatever means whether it be nuclear, coal, wind, etc. turn a magnet inside
a coil and in return we get power which we all have come to know and love.

This week we learned about reflection. This applies to our lives through
mirrors and the many uses of them. We use mirrors not only to look at
ourselves but we use them to create energy through directing suns rays at a
central location to superheat water to make steam to turn a turbine. We also
use reflection in our cars to see whats behind us or in my case to see how
clean my cars is when I detail it.

This week we learned about the physics behind light and how it travels.
One of my favorite areas I researched was quantum physics and wave
theory. When we learned about how light travels we learned about how it
travels like a wave but hits like a particle. We also learned that actual mass
has this same effect where a beam of electrons will act like a wave until it
hits something then it will act like a particle. This is what creates the electron
cloud of probability.