Thoughts for the day (continuing on forces)

Finally, the week has gone to an end. It sure has been a long and tiring week, but, I have learnt many things I did not know of. Once again, I will be updating on Forces.

Did you ever thought about how important are forces is? Well I did not even think about the significance or existence of forces. If there is no force around, neither the Earth nor us are able to move. Just think! For example, in order to move, there must be a push and a pull or two forces opposing each other.

Space, Planets, do they have Gravitational Force?
It is very interesting to know that not only the Earth and us have forces. Space, the moon, the Sun and other planets. I believe that all things have gravitational force. Gravity depends on the mass and the speed of the moving subject. Moon has lesser gravity than Earth, that is why our weight weighs lesser than our weight on Earth.

Forces was devised by Issac Newton who created the three laws of forces/motion. The first law is Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it. The second law is The relationship between an object's mass m, its acceleration a, and the applied force F is F = ma. Acceleration and force are vectors (as indicated by their symbols being displayed in slant bold font); in this law the direction of the force vector is the same as the direction of the acceleration vector. The third law is For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. (Adapted from

http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/history/newton3laws.html

Today, many people in my call posed a few questions about gravity and I would like to answer one of them.

Q. Why does astronauts grow taller when they are on the moon or in space?

Ans: What happens in space is not an optical illusion, but one more example of how microgravity affects our bodies.Imagine that the vertebrae in your back form a giant spring. Pushing down on the spring keeps it coiled tightly. When the force is released, the spring stretches out. In the same way, the spine elongates by up to three percent while humans travel in space. There is less gravity pushing down on the vertebrae, so they can stretch out - up to 7.6 centimeters (3 inches). They return back to their original height when in Earth again. ( I got part of it from

http://www.unexplainable.net/artman/publish/article_599.shtml)


I also linked two videos from a website on gravity. Do please click it to go and watch it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcZDCoQ36xQ

http://www.cosmeo.com/videotitle.cfm?guidassetid=A9A3C155-CC08-491E-B8F6-C66302DC1513

Thoughts for the day (Modular CCA)

Today, I have learnt something new. Not on the academic sides, but on the physical side.

All about Hip Hop

Hip-hop dance refers to social or choreographed dance styles primarily danced to hip hop music. This includes a wide range of styles notably breaking, locking and popping which were developed in the 1970s by Black and Latino Americans. What separates hip-hop dance from other forms of dance is that it is often freestyle (Improvisational ) in nature and hip-hop dancers frequently engage in battles-formal or informal freestyle dance competitions. These three elements-free styling, battles, and ciphers—are key components of hip-hop dance. (I got this reference information from Wikipedia and modified it.)

Before beginning the dance, everyone had to do a warm up exercise which I thought was quite hard to be able to do it. We had to stretch and bend a countless of time. Even though it was tough, I had took it seriously as I did not want to get a cramp or muscle pain during the dance. I often get cramps for not doing any warm ups before doing anything that causes physical strenuous.

When we started off with the dance, I noticed that there are people who are not taking it seriously. They only move their hands without moving their bodies. Of course, I also noticed people who are "overdoing" it. Not long before the end, a lot of people are already tired. I was surprised. The dance was not really that tiring that you had to stop to take a break plus, we were given a water break before we started the choreography part of the dance. I am sure that the instructors who were teaching us were more tired than us. If they can do it, why can't we?

My opinion

After learning the dance, I felt great. I am so lucky to be able to learn Hip Hop for free! The instructors were great dancers. I thought that they were very professional. Although it was fun, there were some parts of the dance that I had gotten confused. As I had lost my spectacles, I could not see as clearly as the others. I was slowly able to understand and get the hang of it and is practicing it at home too.

I am looking forward to next week's lesson of Hip Hop dance. I hope to learn more new moves!

Thoughts for the day (Forces)

Today, it is my first time learning about forces. Two of my classmates were chosen to "replay the scene of the sumos fighting" to display forces. Although it is not exactly a "sumo" fight, the fact that forces were displayed remains the same. When they pushed each other, the force they displayed was a "Push". When they pulled against each other, the force displayed is a "Pull".

A "Push" and a "Pull". Is that all to it about forces? No. I did some research and found out that there are four types of them. The elastic spring force, gravitational force, magnetic force and the force of friction. The most common force used is the force of friction. Why is it so? After our shoes are used for a certain amount of time, they wear out or becomes torn. The reason is because of friction.

Friction is produced when two objects or surfaces touch or rub against each other. Friction produces heat. That is why our shoes wear away quickly. Do you think it is interesting? Do you feel more interested in learning about forces? Although I am not really into Science, some of the chapters of it are really interesting. It is interesting to know that we use or apply forces in our everyday lives.

At first, I thought that a force can be seen as actions of forces can be seen. Only after checking, I have learnt that we cannot see a force but we can feel it. If I think about it thoroughly, it is indeed that we cannot see a force. The actions are there, but it does not mean that we can see the force. We only know the actions to create a force.

Well, that's all I know about forces so far. I hope to learn more and I will be back to blog on it again. Happy Learning!