Work
Four weeks ago, my STEM class started research on a few new concepts: force of impact, total velocity, momentum, and impulse. Now, we have applied these concepts to sports. Our goal was to film and edit a video about the physics involved in sports. My group chose to do the physics of a throw from second base to first base in baseball. It took us a a day to make our storyboard and another to complete our script. We took two days to get all of the clips we needed. Then, while Nick and I did most of the audio clips, Nico edited and put together the clips. When Nico had put the video together, he did his part for the audio and the video was ready for a test run.
We finally posted our video on YouTube and it turned out rather nice. The video starts with the introduction screen which has the title and a voice over announcing what will be shown. The next thirty seconds show professionals completing the throw while we explain why a double play is made and why the throw that we chose to do for our video is made. After that comes an explanation of why we calculated basically everything based on a 26 meter throw, instead of the full 90 feet/27.43 meters. We then show a clip of me throwing a baseball while the voice over contrasts my throw to a professional's and gives a tip on how to throw better. There is a series of images of a whiteboard which has the calculations of the velocity and force applied on the ball. Following that is a clip of me catching the ball along with an explanation of why there is a force involved in catching. Next comes the whiteboard calculations of the catch. Finally, the full throw is shown as one of my teammates explains the ball's total velocity. The video ends after that with a black screen and a white caption-- The end.
Content
Force of Impact - mv=Ft Newtons (N)
The force of impact is average force applied on an object over time during a collision. There is a force of impact when the ball hits the glove and when the hand impacts the ball during the throw.
Momentum - p=mv Newton seconds (Ns)
The more momentum something has, the harder it is to stop. An object only has momentum when it is in motion. The ball has momentum as it flies through the air.
Impulse - J=Ft Newton seconds (Ns)
Impulse is how long and how hard something is pushed. Impulse equals momentum. My hand has impulse when I throw the ball.
Vertical Velocity - v vert=g*t Meters per second (m/s)
Vertical velocity is an object's velocity in relation to the ground. Vertical velocity is usually caused by gravity. The ball has a vertical velocity the hole time it is in the air except when it reaches its peak vertical height.
Horizontal Velocity - v horiz=d/horiz/t Meters per second (m/s)
Horizontal velocity is constant once the object is put in motion in theory because vertical velocity does not affect v horizontal. In reality, an object's horizontal velocity slows on Earth because of air resistance. When I threw the ball, I gave it horizontal velocity.
Total Velocity - v horiz^2+v vert^2=v total^2 Meters per second (m/s)
You use the Pythagorean Theorem to solve for total velocity through vector addition. Vector addition is where you basically make a right triangle with one side having the value of the horizontal velocity and another having the value of the vertical velocity. The hypotenuse has the value of the total velocity. The ball has a total velocity which our video shows how to find.
Reflection
Although the actual finished project was great, I feel like I personally regressed in a few areas during this project. My time management, which I normally consider pretty good, was not as perfect for the Physics of Sports video. I found myself pressed for time a lot, and I will have to improve if I want my current project to go well. For example, we got our video clips, but we still needed our audio. However, I did not get down to business and record them right away, and as a result, our first video's voice overs were sloppy and uncoordinated. Time management also relates to work ethic, which I could have done better on for this project. There were many times when I just sat around and did nothing during the creation of our video. This can be partially accounted for because I did not know how to edit the video, which Nico did, and so he did all of the editing. But I know that I could have worked harder. I should have recorded better audio clips sooner. I should have perfected the whiteboard scenes. I will do better next project.
On the bright side of things, I believe that I improved in the categories that I sought to improve in from the rube Goldberg project. I was more patient during this project. By this I mean that I was more tolerant when I had to wait for things to get done and I tried to be more cheerful and nice all around. When Nico was editing, there were times when there was nothing for me to do. Instead of pestering him to let me help, I sat back and trusted that he would get the job done, which he did marvelously. Also, as a result of my not being experienced in editing videos, I was able to tone down my leadership a little, which my Rube Goldberg group advised me to do. Like I said before, I had to step back and let Nico take the reins when it was time to edit the video. This was a good experience that I will have to get used to if I am going to work with intelligent colleagues in the future.
Four weeks ago, my STEM class started research on a few new concepts: force of impact, total velocity, momentum, and impulse. Now, we have applied these concepts to sports. Our goal was to film and edit a video about the physics involved in sports. My group chose to do the physics of a throw from second base to first base in baseball. It took us a a day to make our storyboard and another to complete our script. We took two days to get all of the clips we needed. Then, while Nick and I did most of the audio clips, Nico edited and put together the clips. When Nico had put the video together, he did his part for the audio and the video was ready for a test run.
We finally posted our video on YouTube and it turned out rather nice. The video starts with the introduction screen which has the title and a voice over announcing what will be shown. The next thirty seconds show professionals completing the throw while we explain why a double play is made and why the throw that we chose to do for our video is made. After that comes an explanation of why we calculated basically everything based on a 26 meter throw, instead of the full 90 feet/27.43 meters. We then show a clip of me throwing a baseball while the voice over contrasts my throw to a professional's and gives a tip on how to throw better. There is a series of images of a whiteboard which has the calculations of the velocity and force applied on the ball. Following that is a clip of me catching the ball along with an explanation of why there is a force involved in catching. Next comes the whiteboard calculations of the catch. Finally, the full throw is shown as one of my teammates explains the ball's total velocity. The video ends after that with a black screen and a white caption-- The end.
Content
Force of Impact - mv=Ft Newtons (N)
The force of impact is average force applied on an object over time during a collision. There is a force of impact when the ball hits the glove and when the hand impacts the ball during the throw.
Momentum - p=mv Newton seconds (Ns)
The more momentum something has, the harder it is to stop. An object only has momentum when it is in motion. The ball has momentum as it flies through the air.
Impulse - J=Ft Newton seconds (Ns)
Impulse is how long and how hard something is pushed. Impulse equals momentum. My hand has impulse when I throw the ball.
Vertical Velocity - v vert=g*t Meters per second (m/s)
Vertical velocity is an object's velocity in relation to the ground. Vertical velocity is usually caused by gravity. The ball has a vertical velocity the hole time it is in the air except when it reaches its peak vertical height.
Horizontal Velocity - v horiz=d/horiz/t Meters per second (m/s)
Horizontal velocity is constant once the object is put in motion in theory because vertical velocity does not affect v horizontal. In reality, an object's horizontal velocity slows on Earth because of air resistance. When I threw the ball, I gave it horizontal velocity.
Total Velocity - v horiz^2+v vert^2=v total^2 Meters per second (m/s)
You use the Pythagorean Theorem to solve for total velocity through vector addition. Vector addition is where you basically make a right triangle with one side having the value of the horizontal velocity and another having the value of the vertical velocity. The hypotenuse has the value of the total velocity. The ball has a total velocity which our video shows how to find.
Reflection
Although the actual finished project was great, I feel like I personally regressed in a few areas during this project. My time management, which I normally consider pretty good, was not as perfect for the Physics of Sports video. I found myself pressed for time a lot, and I will have to improve if I want my current project to go well. For example, we got our video clips, but we still needed our audio. However, I did not get down to business and record them right away, and as a result, our first video's voice overs were sloppy and uncoordinated. Time management also relates to work ethic, which I could have done better on for this project. There were many times when I just sat around and did nothing during the creation of our video. This can be partially accounted for because I did not know how to edit the video, which Nico did, and so he did all of the editing. But I know that I could have worked harder. I should have recorded better audio clips sooner. I should have perfected the whiteboard scenes. I will do better next project.
On the bright side of things, I believe that I improved in the categories that I sought to improve in from the rube Goldberg project. I was more patient during this project. By this I mean that I was more tolerant when I had to wait for things to get done and I tried to be more cheerful and nice all around. When Nico was editing, there were times when there was nothing for me to do. Instead of pestering him to let me help, I sat back and trusted that he would get the job done, which he did marvelously. Also, as a result of my not being experienced in editing videos, I was able to tone down my leadership a little, which my Rube Goldberg group advised me to do. Like I said before, I had to step back and let Nico take the reins when it was time to edit the video. This was a good experience that I will have to get used to if I am going to work with intelligent colleagues in the future.