Freefall

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Skyfall, the latest James Bond film opens with an extended chase scene that includes motorcycles roaring cross rooftops, an innovative use of a backhoe, and a train-top fistfight between Bond and an assassin. In the process, 007 is shot by the assassin, then hit by friendly fire that sends him falling off the train and into a river. It appears that 007 has met his end. Of course, he has not, but consider a fall from about 95 meters (from the bridge to the water) would 007 truly have survived? Explain in terms of survival from the height and whether water would soften the blow. Skyfall Falling Scene

7th Grade Energy Post

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In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows(Part 1), Ron Weasley is given a “deluminator”. On clicking a button, this device collects the light from any nearby lamp and stores it. A second click releases the light and returns it to the lamp from which it came. In our “muggle” world one object traps light: a black hole. Explain what type of energy light is. Then research black holes and explain the scientific principles of how a black hole traps light. Would it be possible to create a “deluminator”?

Deluminator

NEWTONS FIRST AND THIRD LAWS OF MOTION

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Part 1:  In the movie Amelia, during Earhart’s first flight across the Atlantic as a passenger while two men pilot and navigate the plane, they encounter significant turbulence and the aircraft door pops open. By turns, Earhart and the navigator are nearly pulled out the door before they close it. Explain in terms of Newton’s third law why an airplane is able to take off (hint: lift and wing angle) which in turn explains why Amelia and the navigator were almost sucked out of the plane. Explosive Decompression Myth Busters

Part 2:  In other instances eyewitnesses often report people being thrown up against the ceiling of a plane during extreme cases of turbulence. Explain in terms of Newton’s first law; why the passengers that aren’t wearing their seatbelts get thrown to the ceiling of the plane.

Read more on extreme turbulence below.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TRAVEL/08/05/planes.turbulence.danger/index.html

Projectile Motion and Indy’s Fridge Nuke due Monday

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Consider the problem were we decided that Indy probably wouldn’t survive due to the radiation exposure. But let’s look at the problem from a projectile motion stand point.

So, how to start? Indy and his fridge are in the air for 10 seconds. That means he spends 5 seconds going up, and 5 seconds going down. The acceleration due to gravity is about 10 meters per second per second toward the center of the Earth (we know it is really 9.81 but lets simplify things), so on the way up, he is slowing by 10 meters per second each of those 5 seconds. At the top, his vertical velocity is 0 for an instant before he begins to fall. So if he slows by 10 m/s every second for 5 seconds, his initial vertical velocity must have been 50 m/s. Now what? Well, we have to use some trigonometry. Now that we know his vertical velocity was 50 m/s, if we estimate his launch angle to be about 5 degrees, we can use the following relationship to determine how fast the fridge was launched:

sin ѳ = Vvertical / Vlaunch

Once you have the correct launch/initial velocity please relate this number to something known in order to determine if this is a survivable trip for a human.

Physics

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Indy saves himself from a nuclear blast by hiding in a refrigerator before it is blown many hundreds of meters through the air. He emerges from the fridge unscathed, despite the blast, high temperature, and radiation exposure. Explain the scientific principles behind a nuclear blast phenomena and whether Indy would have truly survived the blast or not.Indy Fridge Nuke