Fast and Furious Physics

Evidence of Work

Our Process

Our first thing that we did was determine what to do for our project. I worked with Cassie on this and our original ideas were explosions and stunts, and from there we were able to narrow it down to looking at the physics of stunts in the Fast and Furious movie series. From there, we had to determine which stunts to look at, and our final choices were a jump off a ramp onto a boat and another scene where two cars dragged a massive metal safe down streets and through buildings. We chose these because we felt like they were slightly unrealistic, and we wanted to figure out ways to prove that they could not happen (or even possibly prove our instincts wrong and show that they were realistic).

The next step in our process was to gather information and see what we could solve for. The first stunt we did was the boat jump and that incorporates physics that is mostly kinematics. We were able to use equations to fill variables and then we compared it to show what the movie claimed to happen, and then what would have to happen in order for it to be realistic in the same time frame and traveling the same horizontal distance. For that stunt, we successfully achieved our goal, and we were able to prove that it was not possible and could not occur in the way shown.

Then, we moved on to the cars dragging the safe. This focused more on the rotational motion unit, and was slightly harder to acquire data for. Our original thought was to try and prove the stunt wrong by saying that the cars could not pull the safe because of its massive size and weight. However, after multiple calculations, we were unsuccessful since we found that the cars could theoretically pull the safe, even if it would be a struggle. Instead, since the safe crashes into multiple walls, we looked at that aspect. We had to estimate the number of walls the safe went through since we couldn't tell exactly, but we were able to determine that the safe would not have been able to crash through those concrete walls while maintaining constant rotational velocity and having no other impact on the cars or safe. From there, we were able to successfully label the stunt as unrealistic. After that, we put our findings all together in a presentation (below) to share our results (includes calculations).

Content - Concepts Related to Our Project:

Velocity

Velocity is the speed that an object is traveling at and it was a largely used concept in our project, especially during the first stunt. Velocity was one of the main factors that we used to prove the whole thing false, as we noted that it would have to travel much slower. We used velocity when solving kinematics equations to find other components of the stunts, and also to find both the horizontal and vertical velocities of the car in motion. The equation for velocity is: change in distance / change in time.

Displacement

Displacement is the distance (horizontally, vertically, or both) that an object travels and it was another factor that helped greatly in the first stunt's calculations. This was used alongside velocity in the kinematics equation to reach a determination about the car's jump. We had to calculate both vertical and horizontal distances in the 'actual' and theoretical stunts and then used those pieces to show how ridiculously incorrect the movie was. There is no specific equation for displacement, but it can often be measured easily.

Acceleration Due to Gravity

Acceleration due to gravity is a constant acceleration of 9.8m/s^2 towards the center of the Earth. We used this in our calculations because while in the air from the jump, the car's acceleration was 9.8m/s^2 downwards, and so that helped us figure out the curve of the car's motion.

Moment of Inertia

Moment of inertia is the opposition an object has to rotating. It is a key concept when doing anything involving rotational motion. This was helpful for the second stunt we calculated, and we used it in multiple equations to find the angular velocities, angular accelerations, and torque. The equation for moment of inertia changes depending on the object's shape and the axis that it is rotated about.

Angular Velocity

An object's angular velocity is the velocity attributed to an object's rotational motion. We used angular velocity in the second stunt to determine the speed of the safe when it was dragged in a circle and also how fast it was rotating when it was crashing into the buildings. The equation for angular velocity is: change in angle / change in time.

Angular Acceleration

Angular acceleration is the acceleration an object has while rotating. This was also a helpful concept to explore for the safe drag and we used it similarly to the angular velocities. The equation for angular acceleration is: change in angular velocity / change in time.

Torque

Torque is similar to force, but in rotational motion, and it can be calculated as: force * radius or angular acceleration * moment of inertia. We used torque when calculating how much there would be on the safe when it was spun around and also as it rotated around.

Reflection

For this project, I think everything went really smoothly, and we ran into almost zero difficulties besides getting slightly stuck on solving things occasionally. Other than that, however, I believe that our project was a huge success!

For AP Physics in general, I think two things that I excelled at this year were critical thinking and collaboration. Two things I think I could have done better in are communication and conscientious learner. For critical thinking, I feel like I persevered well and stuck with problems until I was able to solve them and I tried not to give up. I would usually find a way around a problem to reach a solution, and if it wasn't correct, I was able to correct myself to learn for next time. For collaboration, this entire year, I was easily able to work with my classmates, some better than others, but overall I was able to complete my work on time with them and contribute to a good outcome.

For communication, at times, I may have been a unclear with my partners or they weren't clear with me, but we would have small issues with our projects that could have been resolved through better communication as a whole group. Finally, for conscientious learner, I think this just has to do with the fact that I would often procrastinate my work often instead of getting it done ahead of time. I would never put out bad quality work at the end, but occasionally I would feel rushed one or two days before a project or assignment was due because I had been putting it off. Overall, however, I feel like I had a super successful year in AP Physics, and I learned a ton, and had a lot of fun along the way!