oops

looking at the asignment sheet i see that i was supposed to do a self/ course evaluation.
well i think i am doing good, i understand all the concepts as shown by my test grades (although not nessisarily by my homework grade). i feel that i am comfortable with what we are doing and the pace we are moving at. some of the homework can be frustrating when i cant get it right away, but life goes on and eventually i get the problem and it helps me in the end.

i like the course. it is fun, and keeps me interested with all the fun labs that we do. these journals are getting to be a pain. especially when i sit here, late at night, trying to think of something to use that involves physics. but they arent all that bad. some of the other people's journals can be kinda funny.

so thats my journal/ eval
and here is a pic for you

i was pretty excited this week. a new game that i have been wanting for a while has finally come out. it is called "portal" and the basic gist of the game is that you have this gun that can shoot portals which you use to solve a series of puzzles. the interesting thing is that whatever you do going into the portal is exactly what you are doing when you come out of the portal. for example, if you shoot a portal on the ground and another some where else, then jump into the portal, you will come flying out the other portal with the same speed and velocity as you did jumping into it. your velocity remains constant but the effects of gravity change on you as you enter and leave the portal. one moment gravity is pulling you down and the next it is pulling you from a different angle. watch the video to see what i mean.



see what i mean? isnt it cool?
anyways, when jumping into the portal from an elevated height your acceleration is (or should be) around 9.8 m/s2, which is your speed when exiting the portal. terminal velocity can be reached when two portals are placed one over another then falling in an infinite loop of portals at which point air resistance will slow you down to a speed slower than 9.8 m/s2.

i could go into the quantum physics involved with this whole portal thing, but im pretty sure my head would explode from over thinking.

so i was watching some TV...

and i was flipping through the channels and i happened to stumble upon mythbusters. which is good because they usually are doing something physics based in their busting of myths. today i was extra lucky, they were doing baseball myths. one myth in particular was the myths of balls moving in different directions with the different types of throws. for instance a fastball has the straightest path while a curve ball takes a sudden dip at the end of its path. this was due to the different amount of force put on the ball in mid flight. in a fast ball the ball is spinning away from the plate (or towards the pitcher) causing low pressure to build up on top of the ball and higher pressure to build up underneath the ball. this gives the ball more lift which also gives the ball a straighter flight path. this is due to the added normal force that is now acting on the ball counter-acting gravity. however they were able to debunk the myth of a "rising fastball" because it is not physically possible for a pitcher to throw a ball with enough force to have it spin hard enough to create enough low pressure to cause the ball to actually rise. it is merely an optical illusion.

a curve ball is slightly different, the ball spins in the opposite direction of the fast ball causing high pressure to build on top forcing the ball downwards adding to the force of gravity and causing the ball to drop quicker.

and here i thought they were just throwing a ball.

i dont have a video from the show (youtube failed me) so a ms paint and random picture will have to suffice