Social Studies
Air resistance - Also known as drag, is the force that opposes an objects motion.
Gravity is the greater force. If air resistance was the greater force, then falling objects would just float in the air and never come down.
Social Studies Component:
USSR and US Space Race
How is my project connected to social studies?
My project in Physics is about Air Resistance and Gravitational Pull. I will post my SS connection showing how Air Resistance and Gravitational Pull has to do with outer space and the geography of it.
What is Geography?
Geography is the branch of science that describes and identifies Earth-- using "spacial evidence" (1) to try and understand the relativity of objects and why they even exist in the places that they do.
Gravitational Pull - A strong force that pulls two objects closer together due to gravity.
Gravity is everywhere. Astronauts may talk about feeling "weightless" in outer space, but the term "zero-gravity" can be pretty misleading. Every object in space still feels the gravitational pull from other objects.
Ultimately, everything in this entire Universe is effected by gravity or the gravitational pull. Gravitational pull is the force on whatever object that is known to attract objects towards the center of the each other. This force is directly proportional to the mass of the object, and inversely proportional to the distance from the center of the object. Gravitational pull can simply be referred to as gravity.
Air resistance - Air exerts a force on the vehicle as it falls, slowing it down.
Air resistance, also called a drag, pushes up while gravity pushes down. This is true for objects falling straight down. If the object was falling left or right, then air resistance would be opposite. If both gravity and air resistance pulled down, then air resistance wouldn't be air resistance! Air resistance is the opposite of gravity for an object falling down. It pushes up while gravity pushes down.
For instance, the air resistance, drag, increases as the speed of an object increases. That means that even more friction is created as the object travels faster. And that is why rockets/shuttles have fireproof shields. The speed at which the shuttle/rocket is traveling is so great that there is enough friction to start an actual fire.
These two subjects apply to Social Studies in the most practical way. As you all may know, after WW II, the Cold War came around. The Cold War was a conflict between the U.S.A. (Democratic Republic) and the U.S.S.R. (Communists) These two striving nations basically competed in every aspect to prove and show dominance in "worldly success--" as one would say. Soon enough, during the beginning of the 1950's these two nations would compete to see who would be the first to land on the moon-- or at least make it to space. In hopes to prove that one nation was way more technologically advanced than the other.
In order for these two great nations to achieve their grand-master plan, they would've had to studied the Earth, the Solar System, and the theories behind everything that has to do with outer space.
By the end of the 1970's both nations were working on space shuttles and launching them. In order to do so they would've had to use Isaac Newton's Universal Law of Gravity-- which basically says that Earth's gravity is 9.81 m/s. Then to actually successfully launch the space shuttle, and have it return, they would've had to experiment with air resistance, and how much Space's gravity would affect the air resistance of the space shuttle.
Ultimately, the space race brought around a new era of technological advances while incorporating physics and mathematics to achieve success.
Sources:
1. http://geogspace.blogspot.com/2009/10/what-is-geographical-space.html
http://www.history.com/topics/space-race
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/military/space-race-history.html
NASA.gov
Holt Physics Book
http://www.funtrivia.com/en/subtopics/Air-Resistance-Its-All-Around-You-225326.html