High impact - Potential energy - Force

What is Potential Energy?
Potential Energy is the stored energy an object has from its position or state. Meaning if you are holding a rubber band with your index finger and thumb,  You are giving the rubber band Potential Energy because the energy into the rubber band system when you stretched the rubber band. Because it is an elastic system, this kind of Potential Energy is specifically called Elastic Potential Energy. ... When the rubber band is released, the potential energy is quickly converted to Kinetic Energy.


What else does Potential Energy do?
There is a lot of Potential Energy around you. For example, a rock sitting at the edge of a cliff has potential energy. If the rock falls, the potential energy will be converted to kinetic energy. Also a stick of dynamite has chemical Potential Energy that would be released when the activation energy from the fuse comes into contact with the chemicals. Again the food we eat has chemical potential energy because as our body digests it, it provides us with energy for basic metabolism. 

What would happen if there was no Potential Energy?
Simply if there was no Potential Energy, everything would instantly have Kinetic Energy. So it would go very fast. 


Potential Energy around you...
Here are some examples of Potential Energy

- When a crane swings a wrecking ball up to a certain height, it gains more potential energy and has the ability to crash through buildings.

-  A stretched spring in a pinball machine has elastic potential energy and can move the steel ball when released.

- Tree branches high up in a tree have potential energy because they can fall to the ground.

Fun facts

- There are two main types of potential energy: gravitational potential energy and elastic potential energy.
  

- The heavier an object and the higher it is above the ground, the more gravitational potential energy it has.

High impact - Force - Force

                                   Force 

What is Force?

We need force to make objects move. It could either be push or pull. Force can make things speed up or slow them down. For example, if you were driving a car and it suddenly came to a stop... what would you do? You would push the car to the nearest petrol station wouldn't you. While pushing the car you are using the push force.  Also the grips on your shoes are creating Friction. If you had a heavy box to move across your room, you might push it or pull it. The force would be working on the box in the same direction. It wouldn't matter to the box if you pushed it or pulled it. The amount of force needed to move the box would be the same. The direction of the force would also be the same. When you push or pull a box, it is easy to see where the force is coming from. But it's harder to see forces at work when we think about a person or an animal moving.


What else does Force do?
Forces change motion and shape. The force of a foot kicking a ball speeds the ball up. The force of a parachute on a skydiver slows the skydiver down. The force of a ball  of paper on a string constantly changes the direction of motion, keeping it moving in a circle. Combinations of forces applied to something can stretch, twist, and crush them.


What would happen if there was no Force?
If there was no force, nothing would exist. This is because if there was no gravitational force,
then Planet Earth would fly off into tiny chunks. If there was no Air Resistance, then everything in the sky would fall to the ground at groundbreaking speeds. If there was no friction, everything on the ground would act like they are on a ice skating rink, they would 
slip everywhere!

Force around you...
Force is all around you. Anything you do is a part of Force. Look around you, and chances are you'll see things moving. Cars move. People move. Elevators move up and down in tall buildings. Shopping carts move around in supermarkets. Balls fly through the air when they are thrown. You might not think about why these things move. Cars, elevators, and balls don't just move by themselves. Something is making them move. Forces make things move.  

High impact - Pull - Force

                                     Pull 

What is Pull?

The force pull means you're pulling something towards you or something else. Things such as when you are having a game of tug of war, use pull in the game. You pull the rope towards you and then the other tea pull the rope towards them.  When you have a picture or recipe you want to hang up where do you put it? The fridge! Most people choose to use a fridge magnet to hang something on their fridge. The fridge has a magnetic pull which attracts the magnet to the fridge. 

What else does Pull do? 

Pull is the force that magnets use to work. Magnets are any object that has a magnetic field/ It attracts different objects like pieces of iron, steel, nickel and cobalt. Ages ago, there were some Greeks that found out that lodestone attracted pieces of iron. From that day on... people have been studying about how magnets work. If you are aware of some of the latest trends, you will know that there was this magnetic face mask trend. This mask uses a magnet to take it off. That mask would use the pull from the magnet to pull extra gunk out of your face. 

What would happen if there was no pull?

Without pull we couldn't get things to move. No one would be able to move or do anything because you need pull to move as well as motion. Did you know that if there was no pull, there would be no planet Earth? Because the gravitational pull is what holds the earth together!

Pull around you...

Pull is all around you. If you want an example of pull... go to your dinner table in a restaurant or in your house and find a chair. Place you hands on the head of the chair and pull the chair out. If you didn't have the pull force, you wouldn't be able to eat food ( and that would be really sad if it was KFC). 

High impact - Kinetic energy - Force

                                                                 

                               Kinetic Energy 

What is Kinetic Energy?

Kinetic Energy is when it something gathers all of its energy while something like a marble is rolling down towards the bottom of a marble run track. It gathers a lot of force when it is going around bends or swirls because unlike straight pieces those swirly ones should have more energy to collect only because its not as fast as a straight piece. 

What else does Kinetic Energy do?
Kinetic energy is used on a plane. The plane has a large amount of Kinetic Energy in flight because of its huge mass and fast velocity. Basically kinetic energy is anything in motion. Even when you are sleeping, you are still producing kinetic energy.  When you are cycling down a hill, your body is producing some kinetic energy and has some stored potential energy. 

What would happen if there was no Kinetic Energy?

If there was no Kinetic Energy then nothing would be able to move. Everything would be paralised. People wouldn't be able to move, dance, talk or anything. Because Kinetic Energy gathers all the force around you and gives you motion, which keeps you moving. 

Kinetic Energy around you...
Kinetic energy is all around you. If you want an example of Kinetic Energy, find a marble run track. This will show you all the forces and how they work on the marble. The kinetic Energy will keep the marble in motion because it gathers all the energy and it makes the marble move. Another example is when you stand on a ladder and hold a ladder, when you hold the ball , there is potential energy. When you release the ball, there is a whole lot of kinetic energy being released. 

High impact - Force - Air resistance.

 Air Resistance

What is Air Resistance?                                                                   Air Resistance is a frictional force that air applies against a moving object. As a object moves, air resistance slows it down. The faster the object is moving, the more air resistance applied against it. Air resistance effects all moving things from airplanes, trains, cars, bicycles, even living things like a flying fox. 


What else does Air Resistance do?                                                On a sailboat the moving wind meets the resistance of the sail, and it pushes the sailboat along the water. When a flag is on the flag pole the movement of the wind meets the resistance of the flag which causes it to move around. When you throw a ball on the ground it will roll for a small distance and then it will stop. What causes that? Air resistance and friction. When you are sky diving and you are in mid air, you have a parachute right? When you launch the parachute the air resistance will cause the parachute to slow down. 

What would happen if there was no Air Resistance?                     Any moving object would only stop if it met a obstacle. Any moving object would not slow down if it was in the air. If there was no Air Resistance hailstones and rain would hit the Earth faster, but they would melt before they hit the ground because of the heat being produced by the speed. 

Air Resistance around you...                                                       There are many sources of Air Resistance around you.  For example 
Drop a leaf of paper and a pen at the same time. Which one dropped faster? The pen of course. Why? The pen is sleek and has a round waist, allowing air to easily move out of its way. The paper has a huge flat side, which makes it difficult for air to move past.               
                                                  

High impact - force - Friction

Friction

What is friction?                                                                             Friction is the resistance of motion when one object rubs against each other. When two different objects rub together, they cause friction. When an object like a ball, rolls along another object like grass, friction causes the ball to slow down and stop. When you rub your hands together, your hands create friction. Which creates heat. 

What else does friction do?                                                                                        Most things in the world would be impossible if there wasn't any friction. For example the friction between the tires of a car and the road make it possible to drive a car. Another example for friction is a roller coaster! Roller coasters depend a whole lot on friction. Friction causes the cars to slow down on the track and not go too fast. Friction causes some of the energy of motion to be converted into heat. This is why rubbing two sticks together will eventually produce a fire.

What would happen if there was no friction?                                      If there was no friction, we wouldn't be able to walk. We wouldn't be able to walk because it would be like walking on ice. If you are walking on ice, you are likely to fall over. That is because friction is reduced. It is reduced because there is less friction unlike when you walk on concrete and grass. If there was no friction, we wouldn't be able to write! We wouldn't be able to write because without friction, the pen or pencil will fall out of your hand! An eraser uses friction to get rid of pencil mistakes. Rubbing the eraser on the lead wears out the eraser due to friction, while the particles worn off gather up the pencil lead from the paper.

Friction around you...             
This is a simple friction experiment for you to try. It is called "Sticky rice friction". 
Materials - 
Dry rice
1 chopsticks
Empty 20oz bottle

Method
1. To begin, fill the bottle with rice. Try sticking the chopstick down into the bottle. When you grab the chopstick and pull up, what happens? The stick should just come right out.

2. How do you make the rice stick to the chopstick so you can just pick it up? You've got to add more friction. Here's how: Put the lid on the bottle and tap the bottom of the bottle on a hard surface. Do this a few times to compact the rice and get rid of the air pockets. Now you should have room to add a bit more rice to the bottle

3. Once you've added a bit more rice, stick the chopstick back into the bottle. This time, when you pull up on the chopstick, you should be able to pick up the whole bottle.

4. If it still doesn't stick, try tapping the bottom again. You may have to add more rice as well. Sometimes letting the rice settle for about an hour will help if it doesn't seem to be working.

How does this experiment work? 

High impact - force - gravity

Gravity 

What is gravity?

Gravity is the force that attracts a body to the center of the earth. Every object on the earths surface that has mass, will have some sort of gravitational pull. The bigger the object is, the stronger the gravitational pull is. Gravity is what keeps planets in orbit around the sun and it is what keeps the moon in orbit around the earth. The closer things are, the more gravitational pull is there.

What else does gravity do?                                                                 Gravity creates the stars and planets by pulling together the magnesium, aluminium, helium, and hydrogen from which they are made of. Gravity holds down the atmosphere and the air that we breathe. Gravity keeps you on the ground, it stops you from flying off into outer space. Gravity is what gives you weight, it is the force that pulls your body towards the earth. Gravity keeps satellites in orbit around the earth so we can call, watch tv, listen to the radio and text.

What would happen if there was no gravity?

If there was no gravity then there would be no Earth. It is the Earth's mass that makes it have gravity. In order for there to be no gravity, the Earth would have to have no mass. But if the Earth didn't have mass, it wouldn't exist anymore! If there was no gravity, anything and everything would fly off into outer space. Since Earth is only held by gravity, the Earth would fall apart into chunks and have a little trip into space. 

Gravity around you...                                                                           There are sources of gravity all around you. For example find a pen, hold it in your hand and let go.  What happened? The pen fell to the ground didn't it? That is gravity pulling the pen to the Earths center.