a)
Riding on a hovercraft feels like you're gliding on air. As you observe other classmates (or someone else) riding the hovercraft, you believe that the hovercraft is going very slow. However, you're observation is wrong as soon as you get on it and you begin to glide. One of the most important keys to riding the hovercraft is making sure your weight is evenly distributed throughout the hovercraft so that the hovercraft can be balanced through the air and have a smooth glide.
Riding a sled, skateboard, etc. is different than riding a hovercraft because on such transportations there is friction on the bottom of the objects, which because of friction the objects will eventually come to a stop. This is because of Newton's First Law, which says that an object in motion tends to stay in motion unless acted upon by an outside force. In this case, the friction is the outside force.
b)
Inertia: The more mass you have the more force you need to stop the hovercraft.
Net Force: As the hovercraft is moving forward there's a certain number of Newtons acting upon it that keep it continuously moving forward. However, when Walker becomes the outside force causing the hovercraft to come to a stop, his number of Newtons is higher than the hovercrafts, which is why the hovercraft stops.
Equilibrium: As you're on the hovercraft in the air, you can feel the how it's balanced; that it is actually gliding through the air.
c)
Acceleration depends on an outside force pushing the hovercraft to increase it's speed
d)
I would expect to have constant velocity as I'm gliding through the air on the hovercraft. For example if I'm on a skateboard I'd expect to have constant velocity as I'm gliding through
e)
The members of the group that were harder to stop were the ones that had the most mass.
Hola.
ReplyDeleteWe both explained what net force, inertia, and equilibrium are in our posts. However, I did not include what it looks like to see others gliding on a hovercraft- the fact that it looks slower than it feels.I think that your responses are more structured than mine so props for that.Another interesting thing that you mentioned was about proportioning your weight when on the hovercraft. The only comment I have, which isn't even really adequate, is that I think you are missing like one period that you forgot to put in. Other than that its perfect.