Physics

~ Mrs. Chase

Physics allows us to learn about the physical world while developing our problem-solving skills. This course covers in-depth topics from different AP Physics courses. From kinematics to circular motion, we learn to use algebra and calculus methods to solve problems. Even though this course uses many math concepts, we learn a lot about the connection between physics and real-world observations. Scroll down to read about some projects and assignments I have completed through this course.

Dynamics Lab

The dynamics unit is concerned with the motion of material objects with the physical factors that affect them such as force, gravity, and energy. This unit heavily revolves around Newton’s second law, which states that the net force acting on an object is equal to mass times the acceleration of an object. Using the formulas and concepts we learned, we were able to plan, execute, and test our own experiment.

Kiera, Antony, and I chose to look at elevator dynamics. Elevators accelerate and decelerate before stopping on the desired floor. However, we wanted to analyze the exact path of the elevator and calculate the acceleration at different points. Read the lab report for a detailed procedure and analysis!

Physics Simulation

At the end of the year, we created physics simulation models. The simulation takes user input and creates a data table that describes the simulation results. I used Java to code a simulation of a damped vertical spring-mass system.

I combined different physics expressions and concepts to create a final equation that models the simulation. The user inputs the mass of the block, the initial stretch distance, and the spring constant and gets a table of data of the mass’s position vs. time. Enter values for each input and see a graph of the simulation in action!