Physics of Sports

Our task was analyze a sport related collision and determine the beginning and ending masses and velocities to determine if momentum is conserved in their collision, kinetic energy is conserved in their collision, and if the collision is elastic, or inelastic, and what percent elastic or inelastic it is.

Above is our data collection sheet. It took a lot of data points and research because this collision was complex.

Velocity: The meters per second our car would travel

Acceleration: The rate at which velocity changes with time in terms of both speed and direction. This was relevant to our fast forces project by being the rate in which how fast we could get our car to travel.

Free-Body Diagram: A visual representation of all forces that are applied to an object. There are many different concepts that are shown in these diagrams. For example, Normal Force, Force of Gravity, Force of Friction, Force of Acceleration, and Force of Tension. We used these free-body diagrams to further analyze how our car was moving, without running the experiment.

Potential Energy: The stored energy of a system depending on its position. Our car possessed a lot of potential energy because it was held at an elevated position.

Gravitational Potential Energy: Gravitational potential energy is the energy an object has due to its position at a height or in a gravitational field. This is represented by the equation Ug = mgh. Potential energy can be in the form of either spring potential energy or gravitational potential energy.

Kinetic Energy: Kinetic energy is the energy of an object due to motion. In our project, because it was held at an elevated position on the slope of our ramp, its gravitational potential energy converts to kinetic energy over time. This value is represented by the equation K = 1/2mv².

Thermal Energy: Thermal energy refers to the energy contained within a system that is responsible for its temperature. This value is found through the equation Eth=W=Fk𝛥x.

Spring Potential Energy: Spring potential energy is stored in a compressible or stretchable object like a spring or rubber band, or in our case, a spring starter. It is equal to the force times the distance of movement.

Force of Gravity: The force an object puts on the earth due to acceleration due to gravity. The mass of acceleration due to gravity is 9.8m/s^2, used in the equation W=mg. We used this to show the mass of our car exerted on the ground.

Force of Kinetic Friction: The friction required to keep an object in motion. The friction in an object remains constant. This was calculated all of the steps of our project because our car was moving during all of our trials.

Force of Acceleration: The force that is applied to an object to put it into motion. Ex: Us having out car use a spring starter to create acceleration.

Force of Friction: The force required to maintain relative motion against friction. For example, static, kinetic, and rolling. Any object in motion will have a force of friction to the surface it is moving on (like our car rolling on the ramp).

Rotational Inertia: The measure of an object's resistance to change in its rotation. There are correlations with the concentration of an object's weight to the center. It is modeled by different equations based on what object it is.

Angular Momentum: The rotational analog of linear momentum. We used this when the chair was rotating in the collision.

Elasticity: The ability of a body to resist a distorting influence and to return to its original size and shape when that influence or force is removed. It is basically how much energy is conserved in a collision.

One thing I learned about myself in taking AP Physics is that I like to study topics and concepts by myself. I struggled trying to figure physics out in class because it is not the right setting for me. Maybe I'm stuck in the COVID mindset of asynchronous work (god I hate that word). I think this relates to conscientious learning because I went out of my way to succeed in this class because of my own individual preferences. Another thing I learned about myself is that I have trouble with collaboration. If I am in a group with another leader-type person, I struggle greatly with patience and group skills because I like doing things my own way. I know that it is advantageous to have a group because you have a bigger pool of ideas. But it's hard for me to get off an idea that I think is good and that I think will make me be the most productive in class.

One thing I would like to work on is, as stated above, my collaboration skills. Unless I venture out and try to do my own thing in the years to come, I will always be working with a team. I definitely need to get better at this. Another thing I could work on is my communication. Sometimes I struggle to engage audiences when I present, and that showed heavily on that portion of my grade. It's not really a nerves thing, I think my brain moves to fast then I start to mumble and jump around when speaking. This can make the audience confused.