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:

7) Start off the Season

     On this past Saturday morning the 'Iolani Paddling program had their first race of the season. Now, paddling is not an easy sport. There is a lot of practice and dedication from each individual for a crew to succeed. Although I was not able to race yesterday, I was happy to support my team and am sure I will be given the chance to paddle in the next race.
     Since I had to leave early for a baptismal service for my cousin and a baby shower, I do not know who won for the girls’ races. On the other hand, I know the boys did their very best.  As I was watching the girls paddle out to the starting point, I recalled that energy and force is necessary for the canoe to glide forward. Similar to Newton's Third Law: For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. In this case, the paddle is pulling the water backward as the water pulls the canoe forward. Here are some photos of the girls paddling out to the starting line.

5) Wishy Washy Centripetal Forces

     This Sunday morning I woke up to discover that my pile of clothes were starting to pile up more and more as the clothes in my drawers were becoming less and less.  Some people believe that washing clothes is a hassle and I am not going to lie. Washing clothes is a very tedious and time consuming job, but hey you need clothes so you have to do what you gotta do! hahaha Well, I decided to wash my clothes before school starts.  So, I began to separate my clothes into different piles/loads:  whites, jeans and blouses.  I  went downstairs, loaded the washer with my clothes, soap and water. As my clothes were in the washer my grandma made breakfast downstairs.  As I was eating, I realized that I needed to do a physics blog.  It struck me that washing clothes is a great example of centripetal force.  First of all, centripetal force is any force that makes an object move in a circular path.  The centripetal force always points toward the center of the circle.  In this case the water in the washing machine is moving in a circular motion.  However, if the centripetal force is removed from the motion, then the object reacts by continuing in a tangent direction from the center of the circle.  Therefore, when the centripetal force is removed from the washing machine the water will travel tangent from the circular motion of the washer.  Here are some photos of my family's washing machine:

6) Projectile Motion & Water Guns

     This past Sunday afternoon my younger brothers and cousins were playing outside in the yard.  My younger brothers and cousins were having a water gun fight.  After the water gun fight I told my brother, Daysen to aim the water gun in the air and shoot water into the sky so I could take a picture of the projectile motion of the water.  However, the water ended up all over my younger brother Nilasoni, and my two cousins Issac and Keoni on the swing set.  That was such a cute and funny moment.  In physics class we learned projectile motion earlier in the course.  On the other hand, a brief reminder of projectile motion is the movement determined by an object's initial velocity and the constant acceleration of gravity.  In this case, the movement of the water is determined by the initial velocity of the water exiting the water gun and the constant acceleration of gravity.

 

 

4) Do WORK!

On a Saturday night my family and I went to Times supermarket to shop for groceries and other necessities for the week. We ended up purchasing a lot of food. There was so much food that when we got home, we had a lot of work to do. We had to carry about five to six packages to the second floor of our home. Now, this was no easy task because the stairs to the second floor of our house was long and the inside of each package was filled to the top with canned goods, milk, juice, vegetables, eggs, etc. You name it…we bought it!

Well, this tiring task relates to what we are learning in physics, WORK. Now, work has a very specific meaning in physics. The equation for Work is force multiplied by distance. Work requires two things: force, and motion in the direction of the force. If you are only holding an object overhead motionless rather than lift or change then you are not doing work. However, in this case, as my sister and I carried the bag of groceries up the stairs from the car to the second floor, we were doing work.  The force (our pull on the plastic bags) is in the direction of our motion (upwards).



My sister Cierra carrying some of the groceries up from the car into our house.

 

3) Swimming in the SECRET cave

Zablands Beach in Nanakuli

      This past Sunday my family and I spent the entire day on the Waianae coast. To start our day off, we had to wake up at 5:00 in the morning to go to my little brother's Tiny Mites football game in Waianae against Nanakuli Hawks at 7:30am. The game was really fun and interesting to watch, but the most fun did not start until we were at the beach.

      After the football game everyone drove to Nanakuli Beach/Zablands to swim barbeque and have lots of fun together as a family. My cousins and I went to our little hideaway (secret cave) where we swam for a while. Swimming in the ocean relates to the concept of Newton's Third Law, which we recently learned in class. Newton's Third Law states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. In other words, if an object (A) pushes or pulls another object (B), then the other object (B) pushes or pull that object (A). In this case, I am pulling the water backward or swimming and the water is pushing me forward.

Word Count:  196

Here are some pictures of me displaying Newton's Third Law at our secret spot/cave: