Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Top Ten Post

Top Ten Unforgettable Applications of Physics in Daily Life
1.     Moving Car and Newton’s First Law
In a moving car everything is moving at the same speed and has no outside forces acting on any of the items inside the car. According to Newton’s first law an object in motion will stay in motion unless acted on by an outside force and an object at rest will stay at rest unless acted on by an outside force. Since there are no outside forces on the objects you are able to handle them inside the moving car because they are all moving the same speed as the car.
2.     Car Breaks and Newton’s third law
When a car wants to stop the driver applies the breaks, I always thought that it just applied friction. Which it does but according to Newton’s third law that states every action has an equal and opposite reaction. The breaks apply friction and also accelerate the car in the opposite direction than it is moving. This adds to a net force in the opposite direction and makes the car slow down.
3.     The Electromagnetic Induction of Credit Cards
The credit cards have a strip of magnets in them that when swiped through the credit card machine that has loops of wires in it. Once the magnet passes through the wires it induces a voltage in the wire which in turn creates a current that creates a specific signal identifying the credit card and all the information associating with it.
4.     Newton’s third law and walking
When we walk we think nothing of it, but it is so interesting. According to Newton’s third law that every action has an equal and opposite reaction, when we walk we push back on the ground which pushes us back with the equal and opposite force making us able to move forward. This is what the physics of walking is.
5.     Lightning
That flash of light known as lightning is the positive charges accumulating on clouds. These opposite charges are attracted to each other and when enough energy is built up the two connect through the air. This results in the flash of light that we call lightning. It is very similar to the flash on a camera except on a larger scale.
6.     Hovercraft and frictionless surfaces
Newton’s first law states that an object at rest will remain at rest unless acted on by an outside force or that an object in motion will say in motion unless acted on by an outside force. Everything on our planet is affected by an outside force of air particles and other sources of friction, but if something negates that friction like a hovercraft then it will move continually. Early in the school year we rode on a mini hovercraft and saw this in action, the hovercraft would not stop unless someone was able to apply an outside force.
7.     Cushions and padding reduces the force
Cushions and padding increase the amount of time it takes to hit the ground and by doing so decrease the force that the person or object receives on impact. This is why air bags are big and fluffy, and why gymnastics floors are padded, so that the force will be decreased on the falling unit.
8.     Generating electricity changes mechanical energy to electrical energy
To generate energy we use electromagnetic induction which when a magnet passes through or over a group of wires induces a voltage in the wire and thus creates a current. Every power generating station in the world uses the same system, the only difference it what they use as fuel be it coal, water, or nuclear. These fuels generate steam from heated water or in some other way makes something spin magnets over wires which generate electricity for our society.
9.     Distance of the power lines
Power lines all over the country have to be farther apart than the wingspan of the largest bird in the area because if the bird lands on one wire nothing happens since it is not a complete circuit. If a bird were to touch to power lines at once then it would have completed a circuit with a voltage and a current would flow through the bird most likely killing it.
10.  Machines

Machines make the work that is done easier, but they never change the amount of force needed in the process. A machine like a ramp changes where the force needs to be applied. So instead of lifting a box 4 feet to the platform you only need to move the box up a foot at a time, but it will require more distance than just lifting the box straight up.

Friday, May 15, 2015

Wind Turbine


Background
            The wind turbine spins the magnet that creates voltage and then current through the process of electromagnetic induction. Electromagnetic induction is when there are loops and loops of wire and a magnet passes through or over the loops of wires it creates a difference in voltage in the wire which in turn generates current in the wires. The current generated depends on the amount of wire and the strength of the magnets magnetic field.
            Rotational inertia is the force that determines the ability and quality of the spinning body of the wind turbine. The mass of the rotating body was mostly in the center and the rest was distributed evenly around the edges
Materials & Method
            To make a wind turbine of your own you’ll need wire, magnets, washer, plastic bottle, cardboard, tape (preferably electrical tape), a paper clip, and a wooden rod. 
            Magnet placement
The magnets must be placed above or next to the wire and must all be facing (North/South orientation) the same way so that the wire feels the same force as the magnets spin around it. This induces the voltage of the wire so the magnet placement is very important to the actual effectiveness of the wind turbine. (see picture bellow)

            Coils of Wire
The wires must be placed into coils, multiple coils are fine, but they must be connected in a complete circuit for them to contribute to generating electricity. I strapped each coil to my base. The coils are very close to the magnets so that when they spin the force on the wires is greater. (see picture below)

            Wind Catching Device
To get the magnets to spin there needs to something that can catch the wind. My model was a vertical wind turbine and I used a plastic bottle to catch the wind. I cut the bottle in half and attached it to my spinning base on an offset. (see picture below)


            Overall Wind Turbine
The turbine was able to generate electricity, despite the minuscule value. The turbine was put next to a fan that was cranked up to the max. It was very interesting to see the entire thing spin and work just as the physics concepts tell us. (see picture below)

Results
My wind turbine generated .005 volts and amps. I was not able to light the lightbulb as I did not generate near enough electricity to make it function. (see video above)

Discussion
The factors that influence the amount of electricity generated is the amount of wire, the amount of magnets, and the speed of the magnets spinning. The more wire the more space there is for the magnets to induce a difference in voltage and more current is thus created. You can add more magnets which will increase the magnetic fields influence on the coils of wire and help to generate more electricity. You can also increase the speed at which the magnets are spinning to increase the rate that each wire is induced with voltage. These are the three ways I have discovered that helped increase the amount of electricity generated. This project was fun and interesting and there is a sense of satisfaction when you get your wind turbine to generate electricity. If I had to do this project again I think I would do most everything the same except I would add much more wire and magnets than I had on my last turbine.

Thursday, May 14, 2015

Magnetism

Electromagnetic Induction
            This is the process by which a magnet passes over or through loops of wires and induces a voltage. This in turn creates current in the wire that can be used to send signals or to produce electricity. This process is used for traffic lights, credit cards, and transformers. Traffic lights have loops of wires in the ground so that when a car drives over them they induce a voltage creating a current that signals the traffic light to change colors. The credit card has a series of magnets on the back of it, the credit card machine has loops in it so that when the magnets on the back of the card pass through the loops inducing voltage in the wires that creates a very specific current that is identified only as that specific credit card. The transformer has loops of wires in it, one has more loops than the other and the transformer is able to convert the current to either AC or DC current. This process is also used to generate electricity, there are loops of wires and rotating magnets around them, the only requirement is the mechanical needed to rotate the magnets and generate electric energy.
Moving Charges
            Moving charges are the source of all magnetism. Moving charge determine the direction of the domains in the magnetized objects. Domains are the direction that the charge is spinning, when they are all in the same direction they are a fully magnetized. The more domains face the same direction the more powerful the magnetized object. When a permeant magnet is close to an object it’s magnetic field has an effect on the domains, it lines them with its magnetic field and magnetizes the object.
Magnetic Fields
            The magnetic fields travel inside the magnet from south to north, and on the outside the magnetic fields travel from north to south. The magnetic field affects any object with a perpendicular velocity. This is how the northern lights are created as the magnetic field of earth is perpendicular to the velocity of object except at the north pole of the earth where the velocity and the magnetic field are parallel and allow the object to pass through the Earth’s magnetic field and burns up in the atmosphere creating the colored lights.