What We Have Done In Physics So Far

AP Physics has been one of my favorite classes.  We learn a lot in an interactive way by writing all of our work on a white board, talking over it with a class, learn from all of our tests then use the results in an interactive way.  We have landed bean bags in small buggy cars, had a "police chase" with a constant velocity buggy car and an increasing velocity fan car, used a cannon to shoot a ball and catch it in a can, then did the same thing from different heights, and even launched tennis balls with a self made trebuchet.

Most of everything we did revolved around an object in free fall, or the force of the earth on an object.  For instance, if an object on the ground is shot up with a certain velocity and if an object at position off the ground, we could tell you how long it took for each object to hit the ground, which one is in the air for longer, which one goes higher, when they have the same speed and why when they have the same speed it doesn't mean that they have the same velocity.

We have also done a lot with horizontal speed like with a metaphorical boat crossing a river.  Our class now has the knowledge that if we are given the speed of the boat and the speed of the current, we can find at what angle the boat must be positioned compared to the river to make it to a spot on the other side, how long it would take to get there, and what the speed of the boat is if it goes straight across or what it might look like from a creature in the river.  This information can be very useful in the real world and can help work at problems people may have if they need to drop a bowling ball from a tall building but don't know how long it will take or if they have a boat, a river, and a protractor and need to find out where to go to make it all the way across the river.  I look forward to learning even more in this class.