The physics concept that sky diving can teach you the most about is called projectile motion. Projectile motion is the affect on an object that has both air resistance and horizontal factors that change the motion of the object. The formula you need to know to find your horizontal velocity is velocity equals distance over time (v=d/t). This formula can also be used to find the distance and the time (horizontally only) of your fall. Horizontal velocity, unlike vertical velocity, stays constant the entire time that you are falling through the air. When it comes to vertical velocity, you will gain 9.8 meters squared each second you are going down and loose that much each second you are going up. The second you jump out of a plane to sky dive, you start gaining velocity. You keep gaining velocity until you reach something called terminal velocity. Terminal velocity is a state where your weight is equal to the air resistance acting on you, so your velocity will stay the same until something changes your weight or your air resistance. You can also learn about acceleration while sky diving. Once you jump out of the plane, you will first accelerate and then the acceleration will decrease until it is at zero when you are falling with terminal velocity. Once you are at terminal velocity, you deploy your parachute because the two things that affect air resistance are surface area and speed. The parachute adds surface area to you which adds air resistance, and causes you to slow down until you have reached a new terminal velocity. The acceleration is decelerating during this change. This is not the only way to learn about projectile motion, but it would definitely be the best field trip to take.
Activity Number 2: Spend money with a credit card
This activity is probably one of the weirdest ways you can learn about physics, however, it is also the most common. Every credit card is embedded with a series of magnet. Every credit card machine has loops of wire surrounding the area used to swipe the card. Each time a card is swiped, the magnetic field of the magnets inside the credit card alter the magnetic field of the loops of wire inside the machine. This alteration causes a voltage to be induced into the wire which causes a current. This process is a physics concept called electromagnetic induction.
Activity Number 3: Carry a backpack up the stairs
It's surprising to think that we use physics concepts every day of our lives, but, we do. When you carry your back pack around, you are doing a physics concept called work. Work is the ability an object has to do something. The equation for work is work equals distance times time. The thing you must know about work in order to understand when you are doing work on your back pack is that in order for work to be done force and distance must be parallel. This means, that because your backpack has a force down and you are forcing it up, you are doing work on it when you walk up the stairs. However, when you walk down a straight hall way, your back pack's force is still down but your distance is now perpendicular to the force. This means that you aren't doing any work on the back pack.
Activity Number 4: Go to a Wrestling Match
In almost every sport at least one or more physics concepts can be applied. In wrestling, center of gravity and base of support can all help the wrestlers with their strategy to win. Center of gravity is the point on the object that holds it up and is normally right above and in the center of the base of support. The center of gravity for people is our hips. So, if the wrestlers lower their hips, they can move their center of gravity closer to the base of support. This simple move causes them to be much more stable, and therefore be tackled less.
Activity Number 5: Go to a Roller Derby
In roller derby there is a move called the sling shot. This is when one player holds the other players foot or hand in their hand and then they pull the player around them and shoot them forward. This helps them win because of a physics concept called tangential velocity. The girl that is shot forward gains speed because she is farther away from the center of the "circle" that the girl can create with her arm. Because she is farther away, she needs to go twice as fast as someone who would be right next to the girl who shot her forward because the girl right next to her would not have to move as fast to go one rotation. So, the girl is shot forward at a speed much greater then the girl who pulled her forward or the girls who are just skating regularly, and that team wins.
Activity Number 6: Fly in a Circle on an Airplane
Have you ever wondered why tilting a plane makes it go in a circle? Well, that is because of a physics concept called centripetal motion. This is because when you draw the vectors of both the support force and weight (or force of gravity) of a plane, you get a line that is pointed inwards and down, and that is what is called the centripetal motion. Here is a picture to help you better understand:
A baseball game can help you learn about one of Newton's 3 major laws, Newton's second law. This law states that acceleration is directly proportional to force and inversely proportional to mass. Baseball can help you learn about this because is it so helpful to understand this law by applying it to hitting a baseball. The harder you hit the baseball, the higher the acceleration will be because acceleration is directly proportional to force. The lighter base ball you have, the more the baseball will accelerate because acceleration is inversely proportional to mass.
Activity Number 8: Learn how to Ice Skate
In partner ice skating, there is a move when the guy throws the girl up into the air and she spins and then lands. It is probably one of the most challenging moves in partner figure skating, but it is also one of the coolest. The reason that this is possible is because of the physics concepts called rotational inertia and angular momentum. When an object has high rotational inertia it means that most of its weight is away from its axis meaning it is difficult for that object to spin. When it has low angular momentum, however, it means that most of its weight is near the center of the axis, making it much easier for the object to turn. In order to do this ice skating move, the woman must have very low angular momentum. This is why she pulls her arms into her chest as tight as she possibly can as soon as she is thrown into the air. Angular momentum is when there are as few sharp angles on an object as possible so that it will be easier to turn. This is another reason why she pulls her arms so tight into her chest and lays them as flat as possible. Here is an example.
Activity Number 9: Go to the Ocean and Watch the Tides
The physics concept that can teach us the most about tides is the universal gravitational formula. This formula is force equals gravity times mass one times mass two all divided by the distance between the two masses squared. Gravity in this formula should always equal 7 times ten to the negative 11. When the moon is on the left side of the earth, the distance to the right side of the earth is very large, therefore the force on the ocean on the left side of the earth is very small. This is because force and distance are inversely proportional in the universal gravitational formula. The moon is not always in the same place so there are two different types of tides. When the moon is either on the right or left side of the earth the tides are called spring tides. Spring tides are when there is a full or new moon, and the tides are average meaning not high or low. When the moon is either above or below the earth the tides are called neap tides. These tides are higher or lower than normal tides because of the distance to ocean is from the moon. Because the moon has a cycle of twenty seven days, the tides are different each months, so you can not predict them.
Activity Number 10: Ride a Hovercraft
Riding a hovercraft helps to learn about Newton's first law of inertia. The law of inertia states that an object in motion will stay in motion and an object at rest will stay at rest unless acted upon by an outside force. A hovercraft riding on a hovercraft you can experience this law because if another person pushes you a lot then you will glide at the same rate until someone else stops you or until you hit a wall. A hovercraft also helps to learn about acceleration because seeing different sized people being pushed you can see that mass and force affect acceleration. This is because the heavier people need to have a much bigger push to go the same speed as a smaller person.
