11/30/09-12/4/09

This week we focused on forces and force diagrams. Force is the pushing or pulling that affects the object of interest. Force diagrams show this. For example, when a nail holds up a picture, the force diagram would show an arrow pointing upward attached to a dot and another arrow pointing downward also attached to the dot. The dot is the object of interest, which is the picture. The arrow pointing upward is representing the nail pushing the picture up. The arrow pointing downward is representing the Earth pulling the picture down. This is a basic example of a force diagram and force. Force doesn’t always pull or push up or down; it can also push or pull the object sideways. When you run with a paper in your hand, air is pushing on it, gravity is pulling it and you are pushing the paper in the opposite direction of the air. Force is really the acceleration of an object by another object, once the other object stops helping the object of interest, the object of interest starts to decelerate and eventually will get pulled b a different force. We did many experiments to see force or help learn about it. For example we pulled Additya on the floor to represent different forces acting at one time, we also pulled Mr. Finley’s car. Both thought us about force and how it works. Force is important to know because if you go into a NASA program, you would have to know the force applied to the rocket before it gets into space, if the rocket can manage it.