blog #7

With the stomach flu for the first week of school, i knew it wasn't going to be fun. I skipped monday, and tried to come to school all week until friday i couldn't take it and was home again ill. It not really that fun having nothing to do, as i stared at the clock for the majority of the time. but as the second hand kept going around the clock, it reminded me of rotational dynamics. theres probably alot of gears in the clock rotating the hands, but i ignored that. I just imagined that if i was a little man and i had to move the second-hand, i would choose to push it way at the end, the farthest from the middle (fulcrum) becuase that is where i have to apply the least amount of force and still have a high enough torque to rotate it. torque equals force times lever arm length, so i would be correct. Jeez, now i see physics everywhere. its kinda creepy.

blog #6

well, remembering how back in the oldin days wen people used to look into washing machines for enjoyment, i decided to try it out. I now can easily see how this is related to centripetal forces. you see, the centripetal force is the normal force which is exerted by the wall. this keeps the clothes spinning in a uniform circular motion during the spin cycle. When the holes open, there is no normal force keeping the water on the shirts in the circular motion so most of it flies off, which dries the shirt. physics is everywhere.