Light Has Come, and so has Vanderbilt

While the class is on a roll, we're discussing about momentum. Momentum is a quantity of an object, that has mass, as its moving. On the issue of momentum, it is said that it is conserved. Meaning that momentum is a zero-sum. In this demonstration, the professor showed the relation m1v1 + m2v2 = m1v1 + m2v2. Meaning that the first object's moment should be distributed so that none of it is loss. Since momentum is a vector that means that the objects can have either a left direction or right direction (+ or - values). If the first object is the only one accelerating and it hits the second object, their momentum after the collision should sum up to be the initial object's momentum. This is a good example and the maths make sense but when it comes to a more complex example such as Newton's cradle, the maths don't correlate with the example. For Newton's cradle, it should be expected that when the left side has more mass (3 balls) and it hits the right side (2 balls), the right side should accelerate more because it has less but that's not the case. What ends up happening is that the one extra ball of the left side ends up not moving along with the left side. So that proposed a problem: "Why is this happening"? Through a series of equations we end up this relationship: Force = Mass x Distance ---> Kinetic Energy = 1/2 mv^2. The derivation is available online but it'd take too much space on this blog. Energy is essentially a force applied that causes an object to move a distance. For Newton's cradle, the energy is conserved and thus resulting in the phenomenon. 

We also had a guess speaker for today - Professor Aguirre. He lectured on about galaxies and the phenomenon that is space and I had already learned most of it but he explained in such a matter that I think anyone would understand it. He could go on point-after-point of justification and explanation of questions and his answers would always be extensive but never too long. However, I admit, I dozed off a little. This is due to my previous knowledge of the material in addition to the fatigue from lack of sleep. However, I woke up immediately when this happened. During the Q&A section I had many questions of anti-hydrogen (that's his field of work, examining the radio waves from space), black holes, quasars, and cosmic background radiation. From this lecture, I am going to try harder and study more, he has truly added fuel to my dream of becoming a researcher.

We further explored optics in the lab. We used a laser through a triangular prism and as we all know, light bends when it goes through a prism. We then explored the maths of it (angle of incidence or angle of the ray entering is equal to the angle exiting) and used it to understand the trigonometric relations of sin to it. Physics is amazing because we can use such simple maths to explain natural phenomenon. 

On other news, I coincidentally met up with Mr. Ramsey while I was walking to Houston Hall for lunch. I didn't notice him because he was wearing casual clothing. He pulled  me aside and gave me the phone to Don, and I gave Don some insight on the course I was taking. Of course, I told him I loved the course because I do. Also, I me up with Mr. Hillyer and the Vanderbilt group! They're from Pinole so it was nice meeting up with them and chatting. It's their first day in the East Coast, I can't wait to learn of what they're going to experience! My time here has been amazing, there's should be too!