Final Quarter Blog

We have learned a lot in this first quarter of physics. We began by reviewing some simple science concepts, like accuracy vs. precision. Accuracy is how close you are to the actual value, and precision is how repeatable your values are. We focused a lot on kinematics, the branch of physics concerned with motion, this quarter. All motion is relative, so when questioning if something is moving, you must ask “relative to what?” If I was running with someone at the same speed, relative to the ground we are moving, but relative to each other, we are not moving. We also learned about velocity, which is the speed of something in a given direction. To calculate average speed or velocity, you take the total distance traveled divided by the total time. We also learned about acceleration, which is the increase in the rate of speed of something. Acceleration is equal to change in velocity divided by change in time. We learned many useful equations on the “EQUATION BOARD, NOT BORED.” One of the important equations we learned that distance=(velocity)(time). This equation can be used to find the distance, velocity, or time of motion of an object depending on what givens are given. The picture below is me dropping my eraser. Since I am on earth, the eraser will have an acceleration of 9.8m/s^2 down. This means that my eraser is increasing in speed the longer it is in free fall.