Entry Three: Frictitiosity

Hmm . . . I believe that it is time for another installment of Vladimir's Physics Blog. Let's rock!

Do you know about friction? According to Wikipedia, which is never wrong, it is "the force of two surfaces in contact, or the force of a medium acting on a moving object." That is nifty. I considered this as I drove to my Youth Symphony practice this afternoon. When the wheel of my mom's car begins to turn, it exerts a force on the ground that pushes backwards. Newton said that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction, and so the ground pushes back against the tire. This is the friction that helps move the car forwards. Once again, Doctor Inoyue, and Sir Isaac Newton, was proven correct.

Also, they discovered a new Mersenne prime-it's 2^43,112,609-1. Ballin.

Just me cruising. Chee!

Entry Two: Triumph in the Pool

On Friday, the Iolani Division II Mens Water Polo Team defeated their opponents, the Pack-Five Wolfpack. At one point in the game, there was physics, and that helped the ball travel from #14 Drew Limm's hand into the back of the enemy net. When the ball left his hand, it shot straight into the corner of the goal without moving up. Its velocity, v, could be expressed (approximately) in polar notation as (2m/s, 0°) since its path was level with the pool. Or, for fans of rectangular notation, v could be notated as (2m/s, 0m/s). In any case, the ball did experience an acceleration of (0 m/s/s,-9.8m/s/s) due to the effects of gravity, but this did not stop it from reaching the goal. This goal contributed to our victory, and our victory will encourage our coaches, Alex Price '06 and Tai Sunnland '05, to let us play wall-ball.

The ball, v =(0 m/s,0 m/s). Soon it shall penetrate the enemy defense and plunge itself deep within the goalie's net.

Entry One: Awaken the Dragon

This is the first of a series of posts chronicling the presence physics in my life, as requested by Mr. Doc Inoyue. His class thus far has been interesting, and I enjoy learning about things like meters/second and Δx . I feel that his outwardly gruff and impersonal demeanor hides a warm and sensitive soul that yearns to teach us all how to live according to the laws of this complex universe. For now, we have learned about one-dimensional kinematics. Nothing too mind-blowing, but I have faith that the good Doctor will amaze us with physics the likes of which we have never seen before. Fortunately, my lab partner, Leyna-Jean, is handy with computers, so I have not had to do much work in my lab book yet. For now, I am safe. Anyways, good luck to everyone else who is taking Physics, and I will see you later.

In these dark, first two weeks of school, I look towards Physics, the light that will show me the way