11) Surprise Attack

      Last night, when I was brushing my hair in front of my sister's mirror my cousin quietly crawled towards my back and grasped my shoulders quickly, which made me scream and jump.  I was really surprised and flustered because I did not even see her in the mirror while I was brushing my hair.  This reminded me of the lab that we did in class, Mirror Mirror on the Wall, which relates to physics concept of reflection.  The definition of reflection given in the book, Principles of Physics, is light "bouncing back" from a surface.  The mirror that I was looking at as I was brushing my hair is a planar mirror.  This kind of mirror is a flat, smooth surface that reflects light.  An object's image created from a planar mirror has the same height, equally far from mirror, and the image is right side up.  So, I was not able to see my cousin in the mirror as I was brushing my hair because she was not in my line of vision from the mirror.  Now if she was directly behind me I would be able to see her, but she crawled from an angle from the door.  Below is a picture of a similar mirror to  my sister's mirror:

 

~My sister did not want me to take a picture of her mirror. :)



10) Cars Go VROOM!

     Today after working all day at Subway in Pearl Ridge Uptown, I came home and sat outside on a chair exhausted and relieved to finally relax.  Today was a very busy day for us at Subway since the inspector came today to check everything at the store.  As of right now I don't feel so good, but anyways, sitting down feels awesome.  As I removed my shoes, I watched and listened as the cars drove by.  I noticed as the cars were coming closer in my vision that the sound each car made was different from the sound that each car made after each one passed me. This simple observation can be explained by an Austrian physicist named Christian Doppler.  His idea is called the Doppler Effect, which is a change in the frequency of a wave due to motion of the source and/or the listener.  There are three equations that are based on a moving and listening source.  In my case, I am the listener and the car(s) are the moving source(s).  In order to solve for any of the terms, such as the frequency of the moving listener or source or even the stationary listener or mover, I would have to use the equations that Christian Doppler came up with.  Below is a video of a few cars displaying the Doppler Effect.







KABOOM!

     Tonight my family and I went to the Honolulu Festival to watch the fireworks display at Waikiki beach. This event was really important to not only me, but the city of Honolulu as well because the people who donated the fireworks display are the people of Nagaoka, our sister city in Japan. The fireworks or はなび remind me of my amazing experience in Nagaoka with my host family.  This makes me want to go back to Japan again.  The fireworks show was awesome. We were able to watch the fireworks show from the balcony of a hotel in Waikiki.  The fireworks were many different colors and figures.  One of the images reminded me of a Pokemon ball.
     For fireworks there is chemistry, but also physics behind this wonderful spectacle. However, I will only discuss the physics in a fireworks display. Some of the important factors to a successful fireworks show are the relationships between vectors, velocities, projectiles and their trajectories, explosion forces and so on. For example, larger aerial shells produce greater initial velocities. Pyro technicians have to work with many different Physic equations for the fireworks to work.  Here is a photo of the fireworks at the 2013 Honolulu Festival:

 

8) Girl's Varsity Basketball Upsets Punahou on their Senior Night

     Yesterday night my sister and I went to 'Iolani Girls Varsity basketball game against Punahou at Punahou School--the city bus took forever.  The game was very exciting because of how close the score was towards the end.  Fortunately, 'Iolani humbly took the win from their opponents in the last three minutes.  Although Punahou had lost their senior night, which is sad, the 'Iolani girls played their hearts out and deserved to win.
     Basketball is an excellent example of Physics.  Especially when a player shoots for a three-pointer or basket.  When a player does that the basketball has projectile motion.  Here is another recap of this concept:  Projectile motion is the movement determined by an object's initial velocity and the constant acceleration of gravity.  During projectile motion the horizontal velocity remains constant, whereas the vertical velocity increases due to gravity.  Another note is when two objects are released at the same time, both objects will land at the same time despite the difference in their horizontal velocities.
     After the game my younger sister and I caught the bus to Pearl Ridge center to eat dinner and watch a movie.  That night was tiring, but also really FUN!!!

Here is a photo of 'Iolani vs. Punahou Girls Varsity Basketball: