Fear of Physics Animations
Astronomy Name: Period:
Load EXPLORER on your computer and type in www.fearofphysics.com. Click on “Visual Physics”. For each number below, you will find a main link. Click on each link, follow the directions, answer the questions, and LEARN SOME STUFF about what you should know from chapters 4 and 5.
1. A Ball on a String
a. this is an example of which of Newton’s laws?
b. The ball in this experiment has inertia. What does that mean?
c. If the apparatus in the center were the earth, the string represented gravity, and the ball represented the moon, describe what would happen to the moon if the earth stopped spinning.
2. Zero G
a. Video
1) The “summary of weightlessness” explains why weightlessness is a special case of falling. Explain IN DETAIL.
b. Pendulum
1) What does something have to be doing for it to be in “zero g”?
3. Cart Throws Ball
a. Which of Newton’s Laws does the cart/ball experiment support? Explain.
4. Why Things Fall
a. How fast does gravity accelerate objects towards earth?
b. If you dropped a tennis ball from the top of the Empire State Building, how fast, in miles per hour, would it be going when it hits the ground?
c. What about if you dropped it off the Golden Gate Bridge?
d. Drop the ball off the Statue of Liberty. How fast is it going after 1 second? 2 seconds? 3 seconds?
e. If you double the mass of the ball, what happens to its rate of fall? Why?
5. Why Satellites Don’t Fall
a. an orbit is a special combination of ______and ______.
b. Put a satellite 100 miles above the earth. When you set it at a speed of 10,000 mph, what happens?
c. What about if you set it at 30,000 mph?
d. Find a speed that will allow the satellite to orbit the earth. What speed did you find?
e. If earth were more massive, would your satellite need to travel faster or slower at the same height? Why?
6. Einstein’s Relativity
a. When Einstein said “very fast” when speaking about relativity, what did he mean?
b. Why are you able to see the house in the child’s drawing?
c. What would happen to the light rays if YOU were moving at almost the speed of light? Describe.
d. In the animations of flying by the house at 50% the speed of light, why does the house look bent?
e. If you fly through the house, describe what it looks like to fly through at 90% or 99.9% of the speed of light.