There's no proper way for me to describe this project, because the groups did so many fun and unique things, but to provide a generalized overview, for the project, we were supposed to first design a script and storyboard, and ultimately create a video that would go in depth regarding the physics behind the specific activity and how we can improve our performance. The first thing we actually had to do before creating the script or storyboard was to decide what sport or activity we would be making a video on, and back handsprings weren't our first, second, or even third choice! We initially had the idea of pitching, but it was too generic, and our second idea was volleyball, which, once again, wasn't as unique as we wanted it. Our third idea was diving of off the thirty-feet boards, but we abandoned that due to the inability to film it, so we finally settled on something unique and interesting; back handsprings. Within the first two or three days, we compiled a list of the physics concepts that we would have to cover, and we also created a rough script and storyboard. The remaining days that we had, we spent filming the content that we needed, filming it once again, and conducting the calculations. Towards the end, a few days before the Film Festival, Jessica spent a lot of her time refining the content, voice-overs, and basically editing the video so that it would as good as we intended it to be.
Our video itself had five major tips or improvements that we wanted to get across. The first tip was to swing your arms backwards to generate enough momentum to carry your body through the flip, and that a greater momentum is vital to being able to actually perform a back handspring. Our second tip was that the acrobat must bend their knees at a certain angle to generate enough force to push themselves off of the ground, and we went on to show what would happen if a person didn't bend their knees and still tried to push off of the ground. The next improvement was that the person should arc their back thereby reducing the amount of work a person has to do in order to flip. The following video showed what happened when I tried to do the flip with a straight back. The fourth tip was that a person should reach backwards with their hands to increase the amount of time their hands are on the ground, which would thereby reduce the amount of force that would be exerted on their hands. Our final suggestion concerned the different types of surfaces on which a person can do a back handspring, and the subsequent calculations showed why trampolines have the least impulse and exert the least amount of force on the person's legs.
Physics Concepts:
Velocity- The rate at which an object covers a certain distance. In our video, we calculated the velocity of Kendal's arms which was the distance, 6.6 meters, divided by the time, 0.86 seconds, which ultimately had a velocity of 7.7 m/s.
Momentum- The tendency of moving objects to keep moving. We calculated the momentum of Kendal's arms in the first tip by multiplying her arm's mass of 5.17 kilograms by the velocity of 7.7 m/s, which would be 39.809 Ns.
Force- A push or pull on an object. In multiple instances, we calculated the amount of force the ground would exert on Kendal's arms or legs, e.g. the force her legs exert on the ground. Since momentum equals impulse, 44kg*2.06m/s=F*.23s, which is a force of 394.09N.
Newton's Third Law- This states that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. We used this because we found the force Kendal would exert on the ground, but according to this law, we can correctly infer how much force is being exerted onto Kendal by the ground.
Impulse- How long or forcefully you exert force on something. Since we know that impulse=momentum and impulse=Ft, we mainly used the formula Mass*Velocity=Force*Time to find a specific impact force.
Work- The amount of energy put into something. We used this concept to find the difference in how much energy a person would have to put into the flip if they did or did not arc their back, e.g. Work=Force*Distance; Work=394.09N*1.2275m; 483.745 Joules.
Other Concepts- We included parts of geometry in this, especially the angles of her knees as well as the circumference of the circle the rotation of her arms made. We also incorporated the basics of Film into this through editing, refining, and doing voice-overs.
Reflection:
This was an amazing project, not because of the fact that my group this time was significantly better and more collaborative, but we handled the setbacks very well and we were able to overcome these obstacles. From my point of view, the best part about this project was how much fun we had doing this, but how productive we were at the same time. We were up in trees, or in the middle of the football field during the time in which other classes were doing the runs, and we would be laughing half of the time with at least one of us taking videos of the others, which would go on to become bloopers. The only thing that I can think of that went wrong that was completely our fault was the fact that part of our group would be goofing off while the other portion of our group would be editing the video, but then again, it was a bit difficult to fit all four people in front of one tiny screen, so we could have solved it by having them do something else like the calculations if they were just watching. Another pit of this project was the fact that we lost part of our content multiple times, which required us to film specific scenes over and over again, taking up most of our precious time. An example of this was in the final days of filming, in which Jessica had stayed after school to finish things up, but when we went back and looked at it the next day, we had lost all of the recent changes. Overall, I'm proud of our final product, and the only things that I would change about this video would be to polish certain portions of this project. Throughout the course of this project, I realized that I'm quite handy when it comes to editing these sorts of videos, especially sounds, voice-overs, and other intricacies of the clips. I also found out that I'm good at writing and following scripts, especially ones that revolve around a certain point, because I am able to describe it to certain lengths. For me, though, the best thing I got out of this was the ability to climb trees regardless of whether I'm wearing shoes or not. But where I have my strong points, I also have some major flaws. A major flaw was that I would usually distance myself from the others to work on the calculations, leaving them to try and decipher my tiny handwriting, so to improve that, I should stay with them and work alongside them so communication will be better and I am more involved. Another thing I could have done better on was my speaking, which was choppy, and initially very unclear and fast, so with projects involving voice-overs and speaking, I should be slower and explain things clearly in my videos.
Our video itself had five major tips or improvements that we wanted to get across. The first tip was to swing your arms backwards to generate enough momentum to carry your body through the flip, and that a greater momentum is vital to being able to actually perform a back handspring. Our second tip was that the acrobat must bend their knees at a certain angle to generate enough force to push themselves off of the ground, and we went on to show what would happen if a person didn't bend their knees and still tried to push off of the ground. The next improvement was that the person should arc their back thereby reducing the amount of work a person has to do in order to flip. The following video showed what happened when I tried to do the flip with a straight back. The fourth tip was that a person should reach backwards with their hands to increase the amount of time their hands are on the ground, which would thereby reduce the amount of force that would be exerted on their hands. Our final suggestion concerned the different types of surfaces on which a person can do a back handspring, and the subsequent calculations showed why trampolines have the least impulse and exert the least amount of force on the person's legs.
Physics Concepts:
Velocity- The rate at which an object covers a certain distance. In our video, we calculated the velocity of Kendal's arms which was the distance, 6.6 meters, divided by the time, 0.86 seconds, which ultimately had a velocity of 7.7 m/s.
Momentum- The tendency of moving objects to keep moving. We calculated the momentum of Kendal's arms in the first tip by multiplying her arm's mass of 5.17 kilograms by the velocity of 7.7 m/s, which would be 39.809 Ns.
Force- A push or pull on an object. In multiple instances, we calculated the amount of force the ground would exert on Kendal's arms or legs, e.g. the force her legs exert on the ground. Since momentum equals impulse, 44kg*2.06m/s=F*.23s, which is a force of 394.09N.
Newton's Third Law- This states that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. We used this because we found the force Kendal would exert on the ground, but according to this law, we can correctly infer how much force is being exerted onto Kendal by the ground.
Impulse- How long or forcefully you exert force on something. Since we know that impulse=momentum and impulse=Ft, we mainly used the formula Mass*Velocity=Force*Time to find a specific impact force.
Work- The amount of energy put into something. We used this concept to find the difference in how much energy a person would have to put into the flip if they did or did not arc their back, e.g. Work=Force*Distance; Work=394.09N*1.2275m; 483.745 Joules.
Other Concepts- We included parts of geometry in this, especially the angles of her knees as well as the circumference of the circle the rotation of her arms made. We also incorporated the basics of Film into this through editing, refining, and doing voice-overs.
Reflection:
This was an amazing project, not because of the fact that my group this time was significantly better and more collaborative, but we handled the setbacks very well and we were able to overcome these obstacles. From my point of view, the best part about this project was how much fun we had doing this, but how productive we were at the same time. We were up in trees, or in the middle of the football field during the time in which other classes were doing the runs, and we would be laughing half of the time with at least one of us taking videos of the others, which would go on to become bloopers. The only thing that I can think of that went wrong that was completely our fault was the fact that part of our group would be goofing off while the other portion of our group would be editing the video, but then again, it was a bit difficult to fit all four people in front of one tiny screen, so we could have solved it by having them do something else like the calculations if they were just watching. Another pit of this project was the fact that we lost part of our content multiple times, which required us to film specific scenes over and over again, taking up most of our precious time. An example of this was in the final days of filming, in which Jessica had stayed after school to finish things up, but when we went back and looked at it the next day, we had lost all of the recent changes. Overall, I'm proud of our final product, and the only things that I would change about this video would be to polish certain portions of this project. Throughout the course of this project, I realized that I'm quite handy when it comes to editing these sorts of videos, especially sounds, voice-overs, and other intricacies of the clips. I also found out that I'm good at writing and following scripts, especially ones that revolve around a certain point, because I am able to describe it to certain lengths. For me, though, the best thing I got out of this was the ability to climb trees regardless of whether I'm wearing shoes or not. But where I have my strong points, I also have some major flaws. A major flaw was that I would usually distance myself from the others to work on the calculations, leaving them to try and decipher my tiny handwriting, so to improve that, I should stay with them and work alongside them so communication will be better and I am more involved. Another thing I could have done better on was my speaking, which was choppy, and initially very unclear and fast, so with projects involving voice-overs and speaking, I should be slower and explain things clearly in my videos.