Who knew Physics could be so fun? so far.....
Thursday September 12,2013 my classmates and I experienced the joy of hovercraft riding. Riding a hovercraft is a bit scary because the rider has no control over the way the hovercraft moves and whether or not it starts and stops. The ride was also exhilarating and new, it was great experience over all. Riding a hovercraft is different from any other "vehicle" because it "hovers" over the ground, by not touching the ground there is no friction, the frictionless environment means that starting and stopping the hovercraft are impossible unless acted on by an outside force.
This hovercraft lab was created to help us understand basic physics concepts. These concepts include inertia, net force, and equilibrium. Through the lab process we got to experience first hand both parts of Newton's first law, which is inertia. Newton's first law states an object in motion stays in motion unless acted on by an outside force, and an object at rest stays at rest unless acted on by an outside force. Net force which is the force on an object was shown and experienced in this lab by the starting point which by one pushing the hovercraft forward exerted force and when it got to the other end someone pushing it in the opposite direction first slowed it down its momentum then propelled it back towards the starter. Equilibrium was exemplified in this lab through resting place and where there were no forces acting on it and in phase 2 which was when it was gliding.
Based on this lab:
- acceleration seems to depend on the force from one direction.
- one can expect to have constant velocity after the acceleration phase when there is no longer force.
This lab also proved that inertia ( Newton's first law) works with the mass of something. I know this because some members were harder to start and stop than others because of their mass and weight distribution on the hovercraft. The hovercraft lab was fun to be both a starter and a rider, if anyone ever has the opportunity of this experience take it and have fun.
Hello Jasira, something that I find interesting about your blog post was the way that you organized it. It seemed that you went up and over the expectations that were set. I also said that riding a hovercraft was an amazing and one in a life time experience. However, I did not go into such depth on Newtons 1st law and things such as equilibrium. In conclusion, I think in your last paragraph, you said "inertia (Newton's first law)". This is a little bit confusing because you make it sound like the definition of inertia was created by Newton.
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