Mr. Raynolds' Blog SMMHS Physics: Education at Its Best!

14Feb/12Off

Analyzing Data

Use this document: AP - Analysis Data (Excel file) to analyze the given data and find the moment of inertia of the pulley.  When finished, email the document to me (raynolds_chris@hcde.org) by class on Thursday.

Make sure to rename the file "Your Last Name - Data Analysis.xls" (be sure to replace "Your Last Night" with your actual last name...)

***Updated 2.15.12 with an Excel document without protected cells***

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10Feb/12Off

Rotational Motion Review Answers

Answers attached...I've also given the answer to #9 on the page I handed out Tuesday (it's the first thing in the answer document...look at the AP Guide to see how it workRotational Motion Review

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9Dec/11Off

Midterm Monday!

Our midterm exam is on Monday!  Get excited!  I'm not a big believer of giving out 200-question study guides...we've spent the past 18 weeks covering this junk and you are supposed to know it by now.  I had originally told people I'd post our previous tests so you could look over them...then I remembered that pretty much every test we've taken has someone that hasn't taken it yet.

What topics will be on the miderm?

  • 1-D and 2-D Kinematics
  • Forces (friction, normal, gravity, etc...)
  • Energy Stuff (including work, power, and Conservation of Energy)
  • Momentum (this should be pretty fresh in your head)

The point of the midterm is for you to show me what you have learned this past semester.  that being said, I'm not going to kill you with the toughest problems I could think of.  You can expect the test to be very similar to a normal test we take (4 free response questions, ~10 multiple choice) and that each free response question will use two or more different areas we've talked about this semester.

An important thing to pay attention to in Physics is relationships.  If you have a problem with force and distance...you should think about how the two of them are related (force*distance=work)...work is related to energy...so I'm going to use energy to solve this part of the problem.

What will I have to help me on this test?

You will have the AP Equation Sheet (it should be looking pretty familiar by now...)

You will also be allowed one 3x5 notecard on which you can write anything you want (front and back). I like the idea of cheat sheets...not necessarily because they give you better grades on the test, but they make you think through what information is most important to know on the test.

Study well...get some sleep Sunday night...and look forward to one of the most blessed and amazing holidays of the year coming up on Wednesday.  My brithday.  Chrismas.

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6Dec/11Off

Momentum Test Review

We are coming to a close of our short Momentum Chapter.  The key topics we have talked about and looked at involve:

  • Conservation of Momentum
  • Types of collisions
    • Inelastic
    • Elastic
    • Perfectly Inelastic (sticking together)
    • Superelastic (explosions)
  • Implications of an elastic collision
  • Impulse (with constant and varying forces)
  • Collisions in 2 dimensions
In lieu of a paper review sheet, your review is as follows:
  • Read Section 9.4 (a topic we talked about, but didn't spend a ton of time on)
  • In the back of Chapter 9, do Questions 2, 4, 5, 6, 9, 11
  • Do Problems 28, 55, 57, 58, 60, 67
The answers can be found here: Momentum Test Review
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2Dec/11Off

AP Homework – 12.2.11

We are in the middle of the momentum chapter.  The main topics we have covered thus far are:

  • Conservation of Momentum
  • Impulse (with a constant force and a varying force)
  • Elastic Collisions.
We have a test on Momentum on Friday, December 9 followed by the midterm, the next Monday.  We will be preparing for both at the same time so while every problem on the test will involve momentum, there will be plenty of kinematics, forces, and energy thrown in.
The homework for the weekend was from Chapter 9 - problems 11, 13, 19, 24, and 25.  The answers can be found here: 12.2.11 HW
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15Nov/11Off

AP Homework – 11.15.11

We are trying to wrap up the energy chapter that we've been on for way too long.  We will take a test on this chapter on the Monday before Thanksgiving (November 22).  We have one last big topic to cover before the test...that of Power.  Power is the rate at which you do work (transfer energy).  The equation for power for a constant amount of work is very simply P=W/t (or another variant that we will look at in class).

The homework that will be checked on Thursday is to read Section 8.5 and answer questions from the back of chapter 8 #28, 29, 32, 39, 43, 55.

I have included the answers to these problems at this link: AP - 11.15.11 Homework

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10Nov/11Off

AP Homework – 11.10.11

We have been studying the Law of Conservation of Energy and Work.  The assignment for Thursday was...

  • From Chapter 7: 34, 35, 57
  • From Chapter 8: 14, 43, 25
As you are working these, keep an eye on the answers that you can download here: AP - Energy Probs 11.10.11
We will go over these problems tomorrow in class so be sure you have tried them for them to be useful!
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31Oct/11Off

Neat YouTube Channel

Check out the videos at: https://www.youtube.com/minutephysics.  They are quick and creative ways of describing many of the Physics questions you might have about the world.  Check it out and let me know of any of them that you especially like!  One of the videos is linked below.

30Oct/11Off

Week of October 31

I have very good intentions with this site...I've just not done a very good job of updating it.

This week we will be finishing our look at force and work and starting to talk about the Law of Conservation of Energy.  This is a very important law and a law that will simplify a lot of things for us.  Chapter 8 is a good chapter thatgoes over all this information. They go perhaps a little farther than we need, but the basics are there.

We will cover three main types of energy...kinetic, gravitational potential, and spring potential.

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9Jul/110

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