Momentum

     One thing we learned this week was momentum and how it works.  Momentum can be defined in different ways however they are fairly similar.  One definition I have is: Momentum is the speed or force of forward movement.  An example of this in real life is when on car gets into an accident with another.  A lot of times, accidents occur in parking lots or when people aren't paying attention at a stop light.  When one moving car hits another non-moving car, the momentum from one car is transferred into the other car.  To determine the amount of momentum, we use a simple formula, p=mv where p is momentum, m is mass, and v is velocity.

Forces That Accelerate

     When ever there is a force placed upon something, it will accelerate.  If it accelerates, inertia will  make it keep accelerating, or more specifically, it will have it remain unchanged.

An example of this is a baseball and a bat.  When a baseball is flying through the air, it would keep going and going if it was not for the unbalanced and outside force known as gravity.  However, when it is hit by a bat, the force of the bat will cause it to accelerate.  We can find out the force that was put on the ball by a simple equation.  Fnet=ma where m=mass and a=acceleration.

Newton's First Law

     Newton's first law states that an object in motion/at rest will stay in motion/at rest unless acted upon by an outside, unbalanced force.  This means that without an outside unbalanced force, moving objects would keep moving.  It would go and go.  So what makes things stop?

     In the video above, a ball is seen rolling toward a wall.  According to Newton's first law, this ball is to stay in motion, unless an outside unbalanced force affects it.  The ball rolls toward the wall, hits it, then keeps rolling.  But at the end of the ball's travels, it stops.  This is not because I manually stopped it with my hand off screen, but simply because an outside unbalanced force.  In this particular scenario, the force is gravity and that is why it stops.  

Projectile Motion

     Projectile motion is the motion in which a projectile travels.  If we know enough about a projectile, we can estimate things like the landing spot of the projectile or even the speed at which the projectile was launched.  We see projectiles a lot in our everyday lives especially in the world of sports.  Baseball, basketball, football, and soccer are sports in which angles and speeds of projectiles are adjusted to accurately launch the ball where you want.  

 

     In the picture above, the Quarterback is shown throwing a ball.  This relates to projectile motion because in order for the ball to accurately reach the receiver, it has to be thrown at a certain angle, with the correct amount of velocity.  Otherwise it would result in an inaccurate pass attempt.