AP Physics
Hannah Amendola
Jack Maguire
Clara Pakman
Kirsten Pastore
Carolina Warneryd
Watercolors
Hannah Amendola
When light moves from air through a transparent medium, such as water, it slows down slightly. In this photo, the light enters the fountain at an angle, causing it to bend, or refract. The angle at which the light bends as it slows down depends on its color. Since the white light emitted by the sun contains every color of light, each bends at its respective angle. With all colors bending at different angles, a complete rainbow forms like the one in this photo.
Oops I dropped the Slinky
Jack Maguire
Here the interaction of the acceleration of gravity downward and the force of the spring upward on the spring is shown through the fact that the bottom of the slinky stays where it is when the slinky is dropped although it is suspended in the air. This is because the force of the spring is pulling up on the bottom of the slinky is equal to the gravitational force on the slinky, so the net force is zero, and there is no acceleration of the bottom of the slinky.
A Forced Friendship
Clara Pakman
Here, two ferocious beasts are locked in a fierce battle to gain control of an extremely coveted chew toy. However, no matter how hard they pull, the seem to be locked in a standstill. The situation shown here is an example of a system in equilibrium. There is no movement because each the tension on each side of the rope is equal in magnitude, so the sum of the forces is zero. According to Newton's first law, as long as this is true, the system will not move. If one dog can provide an unbalanced force by pulling hard enough to overcome the opposing force exerted by the second dog, then the rope will move in the direction of the stronger force. Friction is also at play here, because in order for one dog to dislodge his opponent's footing, the force of static friction between the opponent's paws and the floor must be overcome.
Hot Air Balloon
Kirsten Pastore
Hot air balloons use hot air to create buoyancy, which generates lift. A burner sits in the basket and is used to heat the large envelope through an opening. This heated air generated lift by way of buoyant force. The hot air inside the envelope is less dense than the surrounding cooler air. The difference in density causes the hot air balloon to be lifted off the ground due to the buoyant force created by the surrounding air. Archimedes’ principle states that any objet, regardless of its shape, that is suspended in a fluid, is acted upon by an upward buoyant force equal to the weight of the fluid displaced by the object.
Solar Eclipse Tattoo
Carolina Warneryd
This photo was taken during the most recent solar eclipse visible from the United States. Because it is dangerous to look directly at the sun during an eclipse, I built a pinhole box viewer that would reflect the sun’s light onto my hand. As you can see, the sun was partially blocked out by the moon as it passed between the sun and the earth on its orbit. Solar eclipses only occur occasionally because the moon does not orbit the earth on the same plane in which the earth orbits the sun – its axis is tilted. The moon is moving away from the earth by several centimeters per year because its gravitational pull on the earth has made the earth slightly oblong, and this oblong shape (called a tidal bulge) tries to pull the moon forward to reach earth’s faster rotation (24 hours compared to the moon’s 27 days), which in turn leads the moon to pull away. This movement has over the years allowed for the moon to appear to be the exact same size as the sun in our sky and create a total eclipse.