Hovercraft Shenanigans

Today our class had the opportunity to ride a real hovercraft! It was surprisingly simply made from a lawn mower. Riding the hovercraft was really interesting, you were sitting completely still but your entire body was moving too! If you plan on riding a hovercraft in the future wear pants since your sitting indian style and make sure you don't go too fast.
Riding a hovercraft is different from riding most other vehicles because it does not have the friction of the ground to stop it from moving, which is why if your going too fast you wont be able to stop without a large jolt. Also, the amount of inertia increases as mass increases. Naeem had the most mass in our class, so it was harder to start and stop him on the hovercraft. A net force was being exerted on the hovercraft from the force of the air pushing the hovercraft up and the force of the student who accelerated the hovercraft. A net force is when there is more than one force being exerted onto an object.
You could find the hovercraft at equilibrium when it was at rest, when it was in the air but not moving, when it is at a constant velocity, and after the hovercraft was stopped completely. The acceleration of the hovercraft seems to depend on the mass of the student riding. The more mass, the harder to push.
The hovercraft was at a constant velocity after the student who pushed it let go and stopped accelerating the hovercraft.
This was a fun way to learn about Newtons first law. Hovercrafts are fun!

Inertia Video

This is a great video that helps to explain what inertia is! It uses the example of what your body does when a vehicle stops moving or begins moving. Inertia is the tendency of an object to resist changes in motion, so the object wants to continue doing what it is doing. Inertia comes from Newton's first law, which is every object continues in a state of rest of uniform speed in a straight line unless acted on by a nonzero net force. All of these great facts can be found in this short video!

Welcome to Physics!

In this Physics class I expect to learn how credit cards work, how airbags keep me safe, what causes ocean tides, how someone wins a game of tug-o-war, and so much more! I expect to learn these things because they are mentioned in the syllabus, but they are also things that apply to peoples everyday life! I believe studying Physics is important because it teaches you not just about why things work in the world, but also how they work!Some questions I have about Physics may be what kind of question should I ask an what kind of question can I answer in this class? Is there a common question i should use? Also, what happens in everyday life that applies to physics, and what types of things will I learn? I think it would be nice to apply what i learn throughout the year. My main goal for physics this year would be trying to really understand what I am learning. I also want to use what I learn and understand to look at the world in a different way. I hope that my efforts in class show with my grades.