Physics Class Review

Physics is the study of the relationship between energy and matter. It's basically a study on why everything in the world acts the way it does. Through physics, you learn all about how light works, why objects move/rest the way they do, and so much more.
I thought this class was super fun! I was dreading the six hour classes that we had,  and I was terrified of the idea of having to spend six weeks with a boring teacher. While the classes were a bit unbearable at times, Mr. Blake definitely made class more interesting, with his joking around while still managing to get the points across. We always had interesting lab demos, which provided a hands-on learning process as well as much appreciated breaks from sitting still for so long. Everyone in the class seemed to get along well, and because of that, the class atmosphere was always laid back and comfortable.

We learned so much in this class! I'm not very confident that I'll remember everything we learned in a few months from now, but we covered so much in the past six weeks.  
Unit 1 was all about introducing ourselves to physics. We didn't really learn anything actually physics related, but we did learn a bunch of stuff anyway. We learned about the different graph shapes and the relationships the x and y axes had with each other, as well as the difference between accuracy and precision. Accuracy is based on how close you are to a certain value, while precision is based on the consistency you have of hitting the same value.  Besides that, we reviewed scientific notation and how to do conversions.  
Unit 2 is where we actually began learning actual physics concepts, and this unit was all about kinematics, or the study of motion. We learned how to make motion maps, and the differences between scalar and vector quantities. Scalar quantities, are measurements that have magnitude (muchness), while vector quantities have both magnitude and direction. We also learned a lot of vocabulary words and their definitions, such as position, distance, displacement, velocity, speed, and acceleration. We also began using graphs more, learning how to draw position vs. time graphs, and velocity vs. time graphs, as well as the three graphing rules: 1) the slope of a position vs. time graph is velocity, 2) the slope of a velocity vs. time graph is acceleration, and 3) the area under the "curve" of a velocity vs. time graph is the distance traveled.
Unit 3 focused on acceleration. We learned how to draw acceleration vs. time graphs, just by looking at a velocity vs. time graph. We also learned the three equations that became very useful for not only this unit, but many after. They were d=1/2at^2+Vot (d,a,t), V=Vo+at (v,a,t), and V^2=Vo^2+2ad (v,a,d). With these equations, we learned how to solve word problems, and the process on how to solve word problems effectively.
Unit 4 was all about projectiles, which was confusing, since we started having to pay attention to two different axes that were independent of each other. Because the axes were independent of each other, we had to use multiple equations for the problems, which sometimes became confusing, but was manageable after a while.
Unit 5 was about forces in equilibrium, which involved vectors and using trigonometry. We had to draw many diagrams of vectors in this lesson, and learned a method for finding whatever it was we were looking for, by using Mr. Blake's patented bureku technique, which involved breaking up the diagonals of vectors. We also learned about force, which is a push or a pull and is a vector quantity. We learned Newton's three laws of physics, as well as how to draw free body diagrams, which provided us with a better understanding of the problems we were doing.
Unit 6 was kind of the same thing as unit 5, since it was pretty much entirely based on Newton's second law of physics, which stated that acceleration was equal to the net force of an object divided by its mass (a = fnet ÷ mass). We learned about pulleys, which change the direction of force, and drew a lot of free body diagrams in this unit as well, which was helpful.
Unit 7 focused on momentum and collisions. We learned that momentum was mass times velocity (p = mv), as well as the law of conservation of momentum, which, as the title hints at, stated that momentum, in a close system, is always conserved. We also learned what impulses are (changes in momentum), how to find them (impulse = force x change in time), as well as a new graphing rule, which was that under the curve of a force vs. time graph, the area is equal to impulse.
Unit 8 was all about energy and work. We learned the Law of Conservation of energy, which states that energy cannot be created or destroyed, it only changes form. We also learned about the different types of energy: there is kinetic, which is the energy of motion, potential (gravitational) energy, and spring potential energy. We also learned about work, which is the change in energy, and Hooke's law, which helps you find the force of a spring.
Unit 9 was based on waves and sound, which was both confusing and interesting. We learned about vibrations, which are wiggles in time, waves, which are made up of vibrations in space, and media, which is the stuff that carries the waves. We also learned about different parts of waves, like the wavelengths, amplitudes, periods (amount of time it takes for one complete cycle to occur), crests, troughs, nodes, and anti-nodes.

Unit 10 was one of the hardest units, and it was all about light behavior. We learned about what light was, the speed of light (3x10^8 m/s), and what a light year was. We also learned the differences between opaque and transparent, as well as what the electromagnetic spectrum was. We learned about different types of reflections, such as specular reflections and diffuse reflections. Besides that, we learned about white light, which is light that carries all the frequencies of ROYGBIV, and what the color wheel of light was. Not only that, but we learned about why the ocean and sky are blue, and how rainbows are made. The Law of Reflection was also a big topic, as well as what refraction is and how to find the angles of incidence, angles of refraction, and what the index of refraction was. Lastly, we learned about parallel rays and focal rays, and how to find the image of an object in a reflection.

I think what I liked the most about this class (I talked about this earlier), was the overall atmosphere of the class. Despite the grueling hours everyone spent in class, we all seemed to have fun in class. The labs were fun and entertaining, and Mr. Blake always had an energetic personality, and his energy was infectious. I think the only thing about the class that I would improve, is by giving us maybe a few more breaks in class, since two breaks isn't enough. Either that, or take 10 second breaks to just stretch and jump around a bit. Other than that, I had a really fun time in class this summer, and I would actually be willing to take a class like this again... I also had really awesome table partners, so they just made this class even more fun.