Friday, May 16, 2014

Sound Waves and the Doppler Effect

Sound Waves and The Doppler Effect

The Doppler Effect: the effect produced by a moving source of waves in which there is an apparent upward shift in frequency for observers for whom the source is receding. Now, what exactly does that mean? Well basically the Doppler Effect is basically the change in frequency and wavelength of a wave relative to where you are. 
Sound Waves: a wave of compression and rarefaction, by which sound is propagated in an elastic medium such as air. Which is basically changes in air pressure that produces sound. 

The picture above is an example of the doppler effect. 

Saturday, April 19, 2014

waves in the world

Waves In the World


Waves are created by wind! Yep that's right, wind. Believe it or not there is an actual transfer of energy from the energy in the wind to the water. This is why wind advisories are important! Now what exactly goes on in the water and what determines the heights of those waves? Well, what happens is, the shape of the wave is energy but what determines the amplitude of that wave is the depth at which the water particles have to orbit. As the water gets deeper the orbits get smaller and peter out thus enabling them to move faster, but when the orbits get closer to shore they start to hit the bottom and slow the wave down
The picture above is an example of when the wind has just transferred energy into the water and a wave is being created, as you can see, the crest is starting to curl. This is also an example of the energy pushing the water to a shallow area where the orbits get closer thus slowing the wave and actually making the wave steeper. 

Sunday, April 13, 2014

Wave Superposition

Wave Superposition


Wave Superposition: the total amplitude caused by two or more waves extending across the same space is the same as the sum of the amplitudes which would have been produced by the individual waves. Basically, the wave superposition definition I just gave is a long fancy way of explaining what a ripple is. In the picture above you can see that because of the fact that these ducks are in the water creating energy to surge through the water over an extended area, you can also see that the various waves being formed, when the waves converge they create one large wave that ripples out over the circumference of this pond. 

Sunday, April 6, 2014

Waves

Waves: a disturbance or oscillation that travels through space and matter, accompanied by a transfer of energy. In other words, a wave is basically a transfer of energy that is generated from different oscillations or disturbances that travels through space and matter.
The picture above, although it is hard to see, is an example of some waves on the north shore. The different parts of the wave are the trough: which is the bottom of the wave, the crest: which is the top of the wave, wavelength: which is the distance between the two crests, amplitude: which is the distance from the trough to the crest. The wavelength and amplitude are used to measure the size of the waves for surf advisories.

Sunday, March 9, 2014

Multimeters in the Real World

Multimeters in the Real World 
Multimeter: (n.) an instrument designed to measure electric current, voltage, and usually resistance, typically over several ranges of value. Now what the heck does that mean? Well, a multimeter is simply used to measure things such as current, voltage and resistance. This tool is typical for workers such as electricians and contractors who deal with having to set up wires and electricity in a home. 
I felt that the picture above was appropriate because it depicts an electrician using his multimeter in his workplace, thus using it in the real world. 


Sunday, March 2, 2014

Energy and How it is used in my home

Energy: (n.) the strength and vitality required for sustained physical or mental activity. 


For me personally, my family and I use majority of our energy through power strips and outlets in small household appliances such as chargers, internet and cable modems, televisions and various other appliances plugged into the infinite amount of power strips we leave plugged into the wall sucking power we're not using, thus the picture above. Granted, we remember to set our water heater to a certain temperature so that we aren't using too much energy along with remembering to turn off the lights we don't need, but there is always someone leaving their power strip with their charger, hair dryer curling iron and flat iron on in their bathroom that just sucks out energy that no one is using. 



Sunday, February 23, 2014

Series and parallel circuits

Series: a circuit in which resistors are arranged the same, so that the current only has one path to take.
Equation: R(total)=R1+R2...
Parallel: a circuit in which resistors are arranged with their heads connected together and their tails connected together. 
Equation: 1/R(total) = 1/R1+1/R2... 


The picture above, although it may not be an original picture, I feel like it ideally depicts exactly what a series diagram is because it shows the pathway that the current flows on. It also shows that as the energy flows to each lightbulb, each one of them get dimmer as the current goes on. 

I know it may be hard to understand exactly what is going on in this picture, considering how small my TV is and how far away it is from the light, but the point of this picture is to show you how parallel circuits work. Without parallel circuits, my TV being on along with the light in my room at the same time would not be as bright as they are in this picture. This is because with the parallel circuits, current has more than one way it can flow, making it easier for the power to get to more than one thing at once. Thus making it possible for both my TV and light to be on at the same time without either one being inefficient or dim.