Signature assignment Physics

This was such a fun project to work on. I enjoyed the experience to work with so many
different principles. The one that I enjoyed the most would probably be Elastic collisions.
I find it fascinating that there is a way for to conserve not only momentum but kinetic
energy as well. That Ekinitial=Ekfinal and P initial=P final. I guess its the fact that nothing
is lost makes me happy.
Energy was something that was talked about a few times in this project. It was talked
about in Einsteins equation. E= mc2. This shows the ratio of E (energy) in m (mass). So
in other words, the amount of energy stored in matter is the product of mass multiplied
by the speed of light squared (c2). I found that 1 kg of matter could produce enough
energy to power the country of Mongolia for 9 years. Here is how that works E=mc 2
E= (1)kg X (300,000,000)2m/s
E= 9 X 1016 joules of energy.
In compression a kilogram of gasoline has about 44 million J of energy. That is quite the
difference.
Non-elastic collisions were another big topic for the crater part of this assignment. They
are great examples of a non-elastic collision. When the mediator comes to earth and
collides with earth and they stick together. With this event the law of conservation of
momentum needs to be observed. When they impacted their momenta were conserved
and they final momentum is equal to their initial momenta. But because the earth is
much more massive than the mediator, the earth experiences little affect from the
meditor. Just like a when a little guy tries to run into a big guy. The big guy experiences
an effect but it will be negligible, depending upon the speed the little guy is going. Here
is a small example.
Plittle + PBIG = Plittle+BIG
mv little + mvBIG = mvlittle+BIG now lets say that the big guy is 1.5 times more massive than
the little guy but the little guy is going twice as fast as the big guy.
m(2v) little + 1.5m (1v) BIG= 2.5m (v) little+BIG
2+1.5= 2.5vlittle+BIG
3.5/2.5=vlittle+BIG
vlittle+BIG= 1.4v So the big guy only changed .4 while the little guy changed .6.
Speed was another principle that was very important to the star project. The light that
comes off the stars, moves very fast. It is 300 thousand kilometers (the distance to the
moon) a second. It is the measurement of distance in the amount of time traveled. An
equation for this is known as s=d/t (speed equals the distance divided by time). Velocity
is closely related to speed, in that velocity is a speed but only in a certain direction. If an
object changes direction that is a change in velocity.

Falling objects was another big part of the project. There were multiple equations that
dealt with them. The rate at which an object falls to the earth is universal for all objects
on earth. The earth exhorts a force on the object relative to the mass of the object, more
mass equals more force. But because of inertia, matters property to resist change in
motion, they fall at equally as fast. Lets look at the 2 equations,
v=gt (v is the velocity, g is acceleration due to gravity which is 10, t is time)
d= (gt2)/2 (d is the distance)
The first equation is one to find the velocity of an object as it falls. And the second is to
find the distance of a falling object. If we take two objects and suppose one is 50 times
bigger than the other object and we
m
50m
wanted to find the difference in the
d= (gt2)/2
d= (gt2)/2
distance traveled in the same amount of
d= (10)52/2
d= (10)52/2
d= 250/2
d= 250/2
time, 5 seconds.
d=125m
d=125m

As we see here they are the same because there is no mass in the equation. Which
means that all objects regardless of mass fall at the same rate (in the absence of air
resistance).
Thermal dynamics was a big part of focus. The equation in particular was
e= 1- (Tcold /Thot) (e is efficiency, Thot is internal temperature of engine, Tcold is external
temperature of engine). If e = 1 then the engine is 100% efficient. The questions were
about whether it were possible to make an engine that was 100% efficient. The only way
it would be possible would be if Tcold were zero.
e= 1- (Tcold /Thot)
e= 1-(0/100)
e= 1-0
e= 1 or 100% efficiency.
There was a question if we were to raise the temperature could we get a 100% efficient
engine. The answer is no. We can get very close but we will never actually get to 100%
efficient.
e= 1- (Tcold /Thot)
e= 1- (10/10,000,000)
e= 1 (1/1,000,000)
e= 999,999/1,000,000=99.9999% efficient.
It can get very close but it will never actually be 100% efficient. Though it is possible in
theory that we can make a 100% efficient engine, in practice it is not so possible. With a
100% efficient engine, there is an absence of friction. This is something that is not yet

possible. We can have very small friction but we cannot be frictionless. So as of right
now there is not any way to be 100% efficient. No matter what kind of fuel engine type
or temperatures.
This was a really broad project to work on. I started with the stars. I am the kind of
person that does things in order that they come. So for me it would have been whatever
was first on the assignment sheet. Finding the stars and the information about them was
really fun to do. I liked the challenge of finding the right star and the right information
about them. Even when the one star was actually multiple.
After looking up the stars I went to the equations analysis. Those were quite interesting.
I really enjoyed looking up the information about E= mc 2. That was very enjoyable to
me. I first had to find out what the equation was actually talking about. I have heard this
statement all my life but I had never known what it actually meant. After I had found out
what it meant I wanted to see how much energy there is in matter and the results were
astonishing. That if I were to convert all my matter that I make up into energy, I could
power the entire United States for a year.
The other tricky equation was the thermal dynamics equation, about whether it were
possible to make a 100% efficient engine. I had to look up to make sure I knew what it
was talking about. I was unsure if the variables were what I thought they were so I
needed to look them up to make sure that it was not possible to make a 100% efficient
engine.
The falling equations were quite easy. I had taken physics in high school and we spent
a great deal of time on this principle. It was a good reminder, but it was easy to see that
mass is not part of the equations so therefore unneeded information.
I would say that picking a topic to write about was probably the hardest part of the
project. There were so many things to choose from and I just didnt know what to
choose. So I had to narrow it down to my top three. In that three were: Relative theory,
Elastic collisions, and electro magnetism. I chose collisions because it was one that I
like and could maybe help me with my pool game.
This class has been one of the first classes that I have taken in college. It has helped
me a lot with communication and critical thinking skills. There were few topics in this
class that I had a hard time grasping, which fostered some thinking and perseverance to
get through.
I know that, I have not taken to many classes at this college, but I am glad that I took
this one in the beginning. It taught me a few things that will be greatly needed for other
classes. One would be how to problem solve. I had many problems in this class where

the answer was not always straight forward. It made me think outside the box to figure
out the answer.
The most important thing it taught me was patience, patience with myself. There were a
few times when I would get frustrated because I did not grasp the concept perfectly the
first time. It was not a fun experience to learn slowly. But there was a moment when I
thought of what my professor said early in the year. Dont get frustrated, be kind to
yourself and you will get it, or something along those lines. It was something that made
me feel a lot better to know that I was not the only one that was needing a little help.