Recovering from Exam Friday

Everyone but Physics D had an exam on Friday and today picked up with new material. Intro Physics jumped into momentum with an investigation targeting the impulse-momentum theorem. We looked at the forces applied to a cart by a stiff versus a loose elastic material and how the elongated time of force application reduced the overall size of the force. We'll talk about the lab tomorrow and use it to highlight our introductory discussion of momentum.

Physics D took their momentum exam today and Physics F began their work with circular motion. We introduced the concepts of tangential velocity, centripetal acceleration and centripetal force and discussed examples to highlight these ideas. We then examined the formulas for centripetal acceleration and force and we'll go over the homework problems for these concepts tomorrow in class before moving on to gravity. Honors Physics took a slightly different approach, since they had already covered those ideas, instead starting with the concept of torque. We looked at how lever arm, applied force and angle of applied force affect the amount of torque produced and discussed examples to highlight these ideas. We covered the concept of net torque and previewed how it will involve itself with angular acceleration. Tomorrow,we go over our torque homework, then turn attention to center of mass and moment of inertia.