Friday, July 6, 2012

Unit 8


Today in class we started a new unit about Energy & Work. This unit was especially interesting because many parts of the concept of "work" go against your intuition. If you were trying to push a heavy object, you would think you would be putting in a lot of work because you are putting in a lot of effort. Yet if the object isn’t budging, then regardless of how hard you try, there is zero work involved. (in Physics terms) Furthermore, if you are spinning around but are staying in the same position, then your work is also zero, regardless of how many times you spin around. This amazed me and got me thinking about figure skating. Back in Japan, I used to love this figure skater named Shizuka Arakawa.
(pictured below) Though she may be spinning endlessly, she is putting zero work in.


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