NJIT PHYS 111

As we proceeded with the school year we learned about Newton's Law's specifically focusing on Newton's Second Law that focused primarily on the net force of an object and it's connection to the acceleration and mass on an object. While learning more about this we investigated through a lab the inverse relationship between mass and acceleration when a constant force is being provided. Through this lab we were able to learn more about acceleration and mass while also understanding the impact they have on object based on the scenario. To ensure our understanding were tasked with a lab report to demonstrate what we gained from the lab. The first lab report we didn't I wasn't able to score the best so I viewed this as a chance to get better. Due to this I was more proactive to understand the concept as it would allow for me to be more successful on the lab report. Fortunately I was able to do better on this lab report whilst also growing in understanding and the perspective I'm gaining through Physics. 

We began the school year by learning about different forces and how they were applied to objects. Our learning as expanded as we were taught how the forces applied can differ and change dramatically We objects aren't completely horizontal and instead rest on an inclined plane. This was a concept that I particularly struggled with because it meant switching everything that applied from one aspect to another. This along with other aspects of the topic were parts that I personally struggled with and had difficulty understanding. This proved fatal as I under performed on the test about this topic and while I struggled it served as a good learning experience as it showed me what I needed to focus on in order to be more successful. Also it taught me a better way that I understand information which would prove useful on future assignments. 

As we progressed with out understanding of work and energy, the final part was to partake in an experimental lab that helps us visually see and understand of the work energy theorem. In this lab this was done by measuring the work done on an object by a constant force and the kinetic energy of the object. Also by doing this were able to understand how the total work done on the object changes the object’s energy. These objectives spearheaded the entire lab and ensuring were were able to see these concepts were major driving forces in the lab. Throughout the lab, we were taking notes on the distance, change in mass, time whilst changing the planes levels to see how the work energy theorem changes at different angles. To demonstrate our complete understanding we were tasked with completing a lab report that highlights the entirety of the lab and going into this I was confident because over time I had been getting better at crafting a lab report which showed as this lab report was the best I had written yet. 

To complete our unit on Work and Kinetic Energy, we were presented with a final test to demonstrate our understanding. This test was one of the final test that we were going to take for the marking period which meant it was going to count for a major aspect of our grade. This concept by itself made me slightly nervous but approaching the test I was confident in my understanding of Work and Kinetic Energy and believed I would perform well without looking over the concept. This was my mistake because when the time to the test arrived I knew the concept but struggled in certain instances when it came to applying what I knew which had an impact on my final grade of the test. Overall I didn't do terribly but I didn't perform at the level I would have hoped to which is a lesson I will continue to apply beyond education and more towards life. 

As we continued with work throughout the school year, we began learning about cross product and it's usefulness when it comes to figuring out a new vector that is perpendicular to two other vectors. Whilst exploring this concept we were drawn back to dot products and started comparing similarities and differences between the two products. Learning about cross product set the foundation for future topics like torque and angular momentum that would come later in the marking period. After learning about the topic, we were presented with a quiz to show our comprehension on both cross product and dot product. This quiz tested our understanding of the topic and at first I wasn't confident in my understanding of the topic but after taking some time to look over it, I took the test and was successful. This allowed future topics like torque to be much easier to calculate and understand. 

To conclude our study about the conservation of energy we explored how energy was conserved in a spring mass system. While we began learning about this through various equations, to truly see and understanding how energy was conserved in a spring system we participated in a lab. The objective of this lab was to demonstrate the work-energy theorem by measuring the work done on an object by a constant force and the kinetic energy of the object. And also to understand how the total work done on the object changes the object’s energy. The goals of this lab can be simplified to highlight the work - energy theorem but in a spring system in order to understand how energy is fully conserved. The lab itself was fun to participate in but in order to highlight our comprehension we were tasked with completing a lab report based on the lab and the actions we perceived. Going through the lab report I realized that I didn't fully understand how energy was conserved in a spring system which explains my poor performance on the lab report. However from this I was able to go back to past work in order to make sure I understood everything.