My Poor Lunch

Before anything else, Valenth.
Uraraka, Freddie, Abigail, Talstag, Silent Rose, Phoenix, Izo. Just click on links to feed.

TURN THE SOUND UP.

As we all know, my luncheon diet consists of two musubis and a bottle of V8. But these are no normal musubis. Within are contained rice, cheese, spam, kim chi, and an occasional dash of mustard. While the contents may seem convoluted (especially the cheese), the musubi on the whole is actually quite succulent.

Ocean Science Bowl is an event that I partake in every Thursday with Secret Operative 1, Secrete Operative 2, and Secret Operative 3. Meetings are at the secret OSB headquarters that nonmembers are not allowed to breach without permission.



Isn't Secret Operative 2's laugh cute? Or is it evil?

While at headquarters, I discovered a sizable hole in one of the transport carts that was just large enough to accommodate one of my musubis. Yet to my surprise, the musubi fell through. The weight of the musubi pulls it down, and since there is no cart part under it, there is no normal force. Therefore the net force is down and the musubi accelerates downward. The musubi does not fall immediately as the kinetic friction between the plastic armor and the side of the hole absorbs energy, making the fall slower. When the musubi is struggling though the hole, it has gravitational potential energy that is converted to kinetic energy as it falls. After the musubi falls to the second level, I have to do work by lifting the musubi up to the hole again, thereby repeating this gruesome phenomenon.

Just Another Link

Dhur

So once again, Richard and I decided to go and ravage doc!'s room Saturday afternoon. We actually got more done there than before, and the Androoh had to come and ruin everything. So when we were done doing all the work we could have done, we needed to call our parents. But the batteries in our phones conspired against us and went dead at the same time. Therefore we needed to use the dreaded pay phone. Obviously, Androoh was forced to pay and call my parents. So after calling, we forgot to put the handset back onto the receiver, so it was left hanging (no pun intended).

Hao Chen's in love! (not with richard or androoh)

Um. So the cord and the receiver are experiencing both uniform circular motion and simple harmonic motion as it is traveling in a circular path with a net force directed radially inward of magnitude mv^2/R and the restoring force is gravity. The receiver has the maximum velocity at its equilibrium position: the lowest point of the swing. That's it for now. These weeks are so abnormal its insane. If you read closely, you'll see what I mean.

Like a Drospohila

Yesterday afternoon, I stayed after that horrendous test (R^2 people!) to go to that presentation by Iolani alumnus Mimi Shirasu-Hiza. While all that lecture about circadian rhythm and immunities relationship went over my head, I did pick up several helpful hints about life.
Mimi eradicated many of the awkward assumptions of what a scientist was. A scientist can be short. A scientist doesn't have to be obsessed. A scientist does not have to be an old geeky man without any outside interests. And the fact that your life can take a totally different path from what you expect. When Mimi was in high school, she wanted to become a writer. But a summer research program that doc! sent her to changed her life.
I suppose that even though I have no idea what I will do in the future, I should not pressure out so much. Especially for those of you who think that you have no passion, there is still plenty of time to find something that you really enjoy. Try new things, take a risk. Because discovery is immortality.

Oh look! A 3and 1/2 of hearts! WHUT!?!?!?









On a lighter note, thanks to the efforts of one of the semi-homeless, it is snowing in doc!'s room! Preposterous, you say, but this is the kind of weather that the mainland has been experiencing since October, for some people. I say semi-homeless because she has not yet to date stayed until the homeless shelter closed. They're so lovely!

Burgers

Not too long ago, I was sitting at autoline waiting for my parents to pick me up, when some people drove up in a red car and handed me a bag full of burgers from McDonalds. Being the bored little child I was, I ate six burgers and piled the remaining three on my physics paraphernalia. And look! The stack is in static equilibrium as it does not move anywhere. The net force in the x direction and the net force in the y direction are both zero, as well as the net torque. A passerby flailed in amazement at the awkward position of the burgers and their mind was blown by the amazing physics behind the concept. I hope you are not. By the way, I ate all those burgers afterwards, so none for the freeloaders.

It's Over!

So this Tuesday, we had our final marching competition for the 2009 season. Now I won't have to lug that noisy podium that Cole needs to fix to all the rehersals. Sadly, when we went to competition, we did pretty well, even though we practiced about a fourth of the time the other people did. The only bad thing was watching Moanalua pwn everyone with their show.

Part of a marching band is the color guard, which are a group of people who use their dexterity to manipulate flags, rifles, sabers, and such to the amazement of the audience.

Look at that salute. Isn't it sweet?




Here is a video of part of the Mililani High School Marching Band- "Trojan." The color guard is on the left side, and the twirling of their flags exhibits uniform circular motion. The axis of rotation is the hands of the person holding the flag and the radius of the circle. Ignore the commentary. It's mostly Ashley and Freddie.

Some idiots (Richard and Andrew) managed to sneak past the security guards with food and sat with the band, an illegal action punishable by 15 years in prison.




























What a poser...















Make sure to persecute them next time you see them.

Unfortunate

Something bad happened the other day at Richard's.  

I found out I was half dog.

On the other hand, we did study very hard for SATs.  And fireworks!  Yay!

Feed my darlings!

Isley
Harjar
Aeolus
Bloodfeast
and don't forget Freddie!


Some of you may have noticed me coughing and hacking in class this past week. Well, as all sick boys are wont to do, I drank hot water. And since my parents are unwilling to invest in a water heater, I have to rely on my trusty microwave. It lives in the corner of the kitchen.

The inside of the microwave contains a glass plate that rotates to ensure that the food (or water) inside the microwave is heated evenly. Last year in chemistry, we learned how a microwave works, so go dig out your notes.

Sorry peoples, no exciting noises in this one.

While the cup with the water moves in a circle, its total angular motion in its period (approximately 10 seconds) is zero as it has the same initial and final positions. Also, according to the reference frame of the glass plate, there is no motion whatsoever of the cup as it stays in one place (static friction). But when an outside observer looks into the microwave, the cup (and the glass plate) are experiencing uniform circular motion!

We Work sooooooo hard

Curiously, most of the stuff we do after school has no relevance to physics. It's nice to see my peers working hard still. :)

RE: Centripetal Acceleration; It's NOT a vibrator

WARNING: If you did not read ANDREW WU's 11/1 blog, go read it first. or this will make no sense whatsoever. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. :P







Just in case anyone was wondering what Hao was doing in Andrew Wu's blog last week, here's a video proving that I am not obscene.

部落格

This week was an especially stressful week. Why did all(most) of my teachers all schedule a test this week? Explains why I stay up late at nights. Yesterday, when I was doing my physics, I collapsed on the bed to find my Hamtaro staring at me.

That gave me quite the scare. <*0*<

There is a fan in my room. And it keeps me cool as I close all the windows, doors, and curtains. The fan has a speed of 102 revolutions per minute and a radius of 0.39 m. Therefore, according to physics:

T=2pir/v

1.7 s=2pi(o.39 m)v

v=1.44 m/s

That's the velocity for the edge of the fan blades. Also:

Ac=v^2/r

=(1.44 m/s)^2/0.39m

=5.32 m/s^2

That's the centripetal acceleration of the edge of the fan and it always points toward the center. I would want to calculate the centripetal force, but my parents would not let me take the fan off the ceiling and mass it. Here's a video of the fan starting up. It has not reached its maximum velocity yet during this video, so don't doubt my counting skills.

Let's hope we have all seen a fan before...

My Saturday

So today, we played cards.


























GO DUSTIN! щ(ﾟДﾟщ)

...Yeah, that's it. （ ´,_ゝ`)

Don't Forget the Padding!

I remember seeing a huge hole in one of the cellos (or was it double bass?) in the music library over the summer. That person was probably not very careful. But, if that cello was in a case, it could have been saved from a grievous injury (and then sent over to the Music Center of Hawaii for repairs which cost the school a whole bunch of money). So, this cello case. It's very comfy. I remember Sumil sleeping on a whole pile of them and Cole doing things off to the side... Ahem. So the cello case is padded, and this padding will wrap around the cello when it is dropped, increasing the time of the collision on the cello, thereby reducing the force and the chance of a crack. However, if the momentum is too much, the cello will crack anyway because the padding will not be able to cushion the fall enough. This is because the cello was built to withstand a maximum impulse. If either the momentum is too large or the time too small, the cello will crack, making Mrs. Hafner very angry. The styrofoam thingies that people put when packaging teacups have the same principle (minus the Hafinator). Tea is good...

The violin, on the other hand, will crack anyway. But trumpets will never crack, just dent. :P

So what does Doc chew from that cup of his? Many things could be possible- ice, popcorn kernels, mochi crunch, bean pops, etc. Hmmm...

Burglary

So this Friday I went to Andrew's house with Richard to study for PSAT (unbelievable fact in itself). So Andrew lives in an apartment complex where the elevator is a failure. One could simply hold the door closed with one's hands. By the way, Richard is inside feeling claustrophobic. The forces present in this situation are the static friction force between me and the ground, the static friction force between my hands and the elevator door, the force generated by a motor to open the door and the force I use to hold the door back. Since neither the door or I are moving, the acceleration is zero so the net force is zero. The force that I use to oppose the elevator door must be equal to the force that the motor inside the wall generates. Neither of these forces is enough to overcome the static friction force between me and the ground or the static friction force between my hands and the elevator door so I don't slide on the ground and my hands don't slide on the door. Andrew and Richard are my partners in crime.

We look like burglars, no?
I kidnapped an Andrew.







(Jackson)

Hyperactive

I had too much energy after my trumpet recital on Saturday (probably due to soda and sugar) so I decided to go tree climbing. However, my first few attempts resulted in a fall. Well, practice makes perfect and I eventually managed to sit on a tree branch a few feet above the ground. This is a demonstration of the Conservation of Total Mechanical Energy. When I am at the top of the tree, I have no kinetic energy and using the ground as zero potential energy, all my energy is potential. At the instant I hit the ground, I have zero potential energy as my height is zero, but since energy is conserved, all that potential energy is transformed into kinetic energy. When I hit the ground, I have no velocity and the height is zero, so I have no kinetic nor potential energy. So where did all that energy go? Well, as I was traveling through the air, some of the energy was lost to friction due to air resistance. When I hit the ground, my energy was transferred to the ground, which vibrated to absorb the impact. That energy later dissipated into the universe, increasing the entropy. Kudos to Victoria Kim for her photography.

Valve Action

We all know I love my trumpet. Here's a picture for those of you who don't know what it looks like. You should be ashamed of yourselves.


Well, one of the things that change the pitch on the trumpet are the valves (there are actually lots and lots of things but to write about all of them would take several books). These valves aren't just simple buttons. They are sophisticated mechanisms with various parts.

The most important thing in the valve is the spring, which makes the valve pop back up when depressed. According to Hooke's law, the negative distance that I push down on the valve multiplied by the spring constant is the spring force. Let's say the distance of depression is 0.02 meters and let the spring constant be k. So therefore

Fs=-k(-0.02 m)

According to Newton's second law, F=ma. So let's say m=0.05 kg and a=0.11 m/s^2. So...

(0.05 kg)(0.11 m/s^2)/(0.02 m)=k
k=0.28

Yay! I now have some more physics to impress my fellow peoples at YS. Go trumpets!
Note: My playing sadly did not improve from this.

Ohlalalalala

I got semi owned by that quiz the other day about the pendulum. And pendulums! Look! That peace thing was one. Albeit with two strings rather than one (technically it is one, but I like to think otherwise). Even though these things are challenging, they sure are a lot better than the liver I'm dealing with now in Bio. My hands are going to stink for awhile... Why are my eyes blue? It's unnerving... So I found this 'physics' in Chinese class as it was dangling down my shirt. I guess it was random... but it does demonstrate the concept of tension and the tension and the weight being equal. The string exerts tension upward while the weight of the peace exerts a force downward. Imagine if the tension was less. Then the peace would bounce around! Wooohhoooo! Uhhh... I banged my hand against a big piece of chocolate during containment today, now it has a bruise. Was that caused by the pushing of the chocolate against my hand? Or was it just my stupidity? We'll never know...

Today I was at Hamilton Library and I rode the elevator, which had insane acceleration. Right after the elevator started moving, I felt really light as the normal force increased. When it slowed to a stop, I felt really heavy as the normal force decreased. I thought about doing the free body diagram with my hands, but there was no one else in the elevator...

Pencils... As I was doing (catching up with last week) physics homework this afternoon, I thought about how the pencil writes. The amount of pressure put on the paper by the pencil multiplied by the coefficient of kinetic friction determines how dark the ink is. If the coefficient of friction was lower, I'd have to apply much more pressure on the pencil to get the graphite to rub off, possibly creating a hole. I love friction. Oh look! It's the problem set! I had great fun with that...

What Now?

I find AP physics to be really fun. It challenges me to think, and I really haven't been doing that since I gave up self studying calculus in seventh grade. Well, not knowing any trig back then didn't help. Sure, slaving over problem sets and orange problems late at night can be grueling, but it is a good diversion from the APUSH reading and CNF essays. Oh well. I expected that Doc would teach more than he does, but it seems fine. I really think that the previous science teachers *cough* Dr. Kuba *cough* basically took notes for us, gave us pointers for the exam, unfair advantages, etc. Anxieties? I suppose I have a bad habit of random procrastination, so if I end up missing a lot of problems in conjunction with APUSH reading, I'm pretty much screwed. I'm really excited about learning about more physics! And the picture is a pretty good representation of my mental state. I'll leave the interpretation up to the viewer. Credit: Victoria Kim