This week, we continued with the physics unit dealing with forces. The picture depicts my lanyard. Basically, my ID is hanging from a string, which demonstrates tension. Tension is, simply put, a force due to a string. If a free body diagram were to be drawn from this picture. There would be an arrow going up, labeled T for tension, and an arrow of equal length going down, labeled mg, for weight.
This week we learned about forces and how to draw free body diagrams. In essence, a force is a just push or a pull. Depicted in the picture above are two books, one on top of the other, both on a bed. There would be two free body diagrams for this picture. The first would be for the America's History book, on top. From its center, there would be a arrow (a vector) down, labeled mg, or weight. An arrow of the same size would be drawn upwards and labeled N, for normal force (aka "support force" or the force perpendicular to the surface that the object's on). The Precalculus book would have an arrow drawn up, labeled N. And two arrows drawn down (both of equal size), labelled m1g and m2g (which would represent the weight of both books).
This week we talked about Newton's Laws of Motion. The first law, also known as the "Law of Inertia" states that objects at rest will tend to stay at rest unless acted upon by an outside unbalanced force. Therefore, this can of Pringles will stay at rest on my desk unless another force acts upon it, like if I push it over. Also, if I eat chips from it, its mass will be lowered. Therefore, its inertia (its capability to continue in the states that it's in in) will decrease as well. Knowing this, it would be easier to push the can down.
