3-12

Today when I entered physics, Mr. Manning had a cheerful look on his face. After the bell rang to begin class, he told us his exciting news. Our school would be participating in the Physics Olympics. He told us that if we wanted to go and participate, they would occur April 11 at 4:00pm. Our class had a couple of daring students who decided that they wanted to go. Next, Mr. Manning told us to take out our Centripetal Forces Lab: Swinging Nephews. When we took out our lab sheets, Mr. Manning started discussing page 8. Page 8 was the follow up questions to the lab. Question one asked if the speed was tripled then how would the force change? The answer is that the force would be 9 times greater. This type of relationship is called a quadratic relationship, which means that the force is proportional to the velocity squared. The next question asked is what happens to the radius when the speed is doubled? The answer is the radius is greater by 4 times. This problem is also a quadratic where radius is proportional to velocity squared. After completing all of the questions, Mr. Manning gave us important equations dealing with each problem. For question one, he told us that the force is proportional to the velocity squared. For question 2, he told us that the radius is proportional to the velocity squared. For question 3 he told us that the force is proportional to 1 divided by the radius. For question 4 he told us that the force is proportional to the mass. After telling us those equations he next helped us figure out the overall equation by using the equations learned from the above questions. The equation is in the image. That is basically what we did in physics today. It was very informational.