Fryeburg Academy Physics

I’ve made a new page with links to some logic puzzles.  Check them out if you get bored over the vacation, it’s good for you!

http://faphysics.edublogs.org/puzzles

Honors is studying circular motion this week, and there’s always a confusion between centripetal force and centrifugal force.  As I’ve said, something moving in a circle feels a force pulling it in, not pushing it out.  This is difficult to understand because it goes against your experiences.  A while back I found this little page that describes how the centrifugal (center-fleeing) works, and this page is what made me finally understand how circular motion works.

Basically, the centrifugal force only exists if you are in the reference frame that is rotating.  If you are in a car going around a corner, you will feel pulled toward the outside of the curve.  Watching from the bird’s eye view, however, we see that its your inertia carrying you straight ahead that fools you into thinking there is a force present.  Only if you are rotating do you feel that force, and if you are watching something rotate there is no force.

Funny comic strip

I’ve noticed that many of you have already begun your Christmas holiday (I’m not actually sure that some of you even ended your Thanksgiving holiday). As an educator I wish this weren’t the case, but I’m a realist so what can you do? The result is that you’re likely to be stuck with some time on your hands, a lot of schoolwork to do, and no desire to do any of it. This is my early gift to you, a web game that might actually sharped your spatial relations skills.

P.S.- If you’re feeling competitive and want to be better than your teacher, my best score is 3.66.