Blogpost #23

This week, we learned that our homes are routed in parallel circuits. This means that voltage is the same across the entire circuit, but current is different at different resistors. Although parallel circuits require more energy, it allows every light fixture to shine its brightest even if another light fixture is turned on, as shown above. However, a series circuit does not have the same voltage throughout the circuit but has one current ("one path, one current"). If my house was routed in series, every time I turned on another light fixture, each one would become dimmer. 

Blogpost #22

This week, Mr. Blake presented an electricity savings challenge to us. Since I am a boarder and don't live at home, I guess it wouldn't be fair for me to tell my parents to do all of these things to save energy and then give me the money they saved. So, I'll talk about a few simple different ways people could save energy in their homes on a daily basis. The first picture, on the top left, depicts a couple of dryers in my dorm. Dryers use a lot of heat, and thus require a lot of energy to create that heat. This costs a lot of electricity, so people could save money on their electric bill by simply hanging their clothes up instead of putting them in a dryer. The second picture is of a window. Instead of always using an air conditioner or a fan, people could just open their windows occasionally (this usually works to keep my room cool at school) to save electricity. The next picture (bottom left) is of a light that is off. Whenever any type of light fixture is not being used, turn it off, this could help to save you money as well. The last image displays a shower in my dorm. By taking slightly colder showers than usually, a person could definitely save money on the electricity/energy it takes to heat water. 

Blogpost #21

This morning, my sister and I decided to go and do some homework at Starbucks. After finishing my English homework, I thought I'd do a blogpost. This week, we learned a lot about electricity. Electric potential is measured in volts, electric potential energy is measured in joules, and electric current is measured in amperes. We also learned how to draw schematic diagrams. Sitting in Starbucks, there are lights everywhere, depicted in the picture above. The reason why the lightbulb lights up is because electrons pass energy from a battery or other energy source. The light travels really quickly (at the speed of light), which is why when a person flips a switch, the light goes on instantaneously. Electrons also move, but substantially slower. 

Blogpost #20

This week we talked about capacitance, which is (usually short term) energy storage. It is the storage of a lot of voltage but not a great deal of charge. Mr. Blake talked about two examples: the buttons on a keyboard and a touchscreen. The reason why the letters I type on this blogpost show up on the computer is because I am closing the distance between the top plate and the bottom plate when I press down. This sends a signal to the computer to type that letter. In between the top and bottom parts is dielectric material, which is an electric insulator. Touch phones, like the one above is able to function because of the same sort of idea as the buttons on a keyboard. 

Blogpost #19

This week, we started learning about electric potential, which is not the same as electric potential energy. Like other energies we learned about (i.e. potential and kinetic), electric potential energy is a type of stored energy. It is energy of a charged object in an electric potential field, and it is measured in joules. Electric potential, which is also called "electric potential difference", is measured in volts, and its formula is electric potential energy divided by charge. Therefore, it can be deduced that a volt is joules per coulomb. The picture above is of a plug, which may have about 120 volts. This means that the plug has about 120 joules of energy per coulomb of charge. 

Blogpost #18

This unit had a lot to do with charges. The picture above depicts this object my roommate has that sticks to the metal part of her desk with a magnet. This means that the metal on the desk and the magnet are different charges. Either positive and negative, positive and neutral, or negative and neutral. All of these combinations would result in the attraction needed for the object to stick to her desk. It's quite interesting to realize that things I see every day have something to do with physics. Also, in the upper left part of the picture, you can see part of my roommate's Justin Bieber poster. They must be different charges, because she is quite attracted to him. 

Blogpost #17

This week, we discussed forces and charges. We conducted a "magic tape" lab, in which tape would be attracted to a person's hand after being pulled off a table. This occurred because opposite charges attract. In this case, the tape is attracted to the hand because the two are different charges. However, if I was to touch the tape and neutralize it, it would not be attracted to my hand. We also discussed insulators and conductors. Insulators are materials such as wood and rubber that hold on to electrons, while conductors such as metallic materials, do not.