Forceful Friday

Physics A reviewed their work on the basic properties of forces and free-body diagrams and then turned attention to Newton's 1^st law of motion. N-1 states that objects continue with whatever motion they are currently experiencing unless a net external force acts on them. We linked the idea of inertia to this law and discussed how mass is the direct measure of an object's inertia. We also took time to define and explain the concept of equilibrium and how equilibrant forces are calculated On Monday, we carry on with Newton's 2^nd law of motion, which will let us quantify the value of acceleration caused by a net force.

Which is what Physics B did today. We discussed, both conceptually and quantitatively, Newton's 2^nd law of motion and spent time working practice problems to calculate the net force acting on an object and, subsequently, the object's acceleration. We'll practice this a little more on Monday, when we add Newton-3 to our list, but have to return to Newton-2 to put some numbers to our situations.

Introductory Physics conducted a lab investigation centering on Newton's 2^nd law of motion. Newton-2 states that there is a direct relationship between an object's acceleration and the net force it experiences and an inverse relationship between acceleration and the object's inertia, measured by its mass. We tested the acceleration of a cart, where the net force remained steady, but the cart's inertia changed and also the acceleration of a constant-mass cart when the net force was allowed to vary. We'll discuss this lab on Monday, but remember that the lab write up is not due until Tuesday.

Honors Physics basked in the glow of their Chapter 4 exams and will pick up with Chapter 5 - Work and Energy - on Monday.

Have a good weekend!