3/14/11

In Mr. Finley's class we did a phet simulation on the computers with a partner. We first said that the greater the force. faster the acceleration. The more massive the object the slower the acceleration. The less smooth the friction (surface force)is less, and it slows down the acceleration. Last unbalance force accelerates, and balanced force moves at a constant rate.

Our simulation was on a man pushing a box across the floor. We changed the surface in which we were pushing the object on and we changed the amount of force that the man was useing to push the object across the suface.

The applied force was 28.65N, and we put the object on ice. The box moved all the way acorss the ice to the wall but it moved very slowly across it. Then we applied 569N of force and it moved much faster than before. In both tests we only pushed the object once and use 569N of force one time. When we puched the box across the surface (which was wood) and we pushed it and the object slowed down after we fush it. We had to use a greater force to puch the object across the wood. We pushed the object with 600N of force and it sped up as we push it, then we pushed the object one time with 600N of force and the object moved at a constant rate. When we kept pushing the object it was unbalanced because there is nothing pushing against it and when we pushed it one time it is balanced because there is an equal force and it moves at a constant rate.

JH