Okay, so, today I messed around with some physics stuff, just for kicks. I started off pretty simple, you know, just recalling some basic things.
I remembered this one story about Archimedes. The dude was chilling in his bathtub when he figured out how density works. Apparently, some king asked him to check if a crown was pure gold or if the goldsmith had mixed in some silver. That got me thinking, “How did he even do that?” So, I went digging around my brain, trying to remember how density works.
First Experiment
- Tried: I took a bunch of random stuff from around the house—a spoon, a plastic toy, a rock—and tried to see if I could figure out their density.
- Did: Filled up a big bowl with water, dropped each item in, and watched what happened.
- Realized: The spoon sank right away, the toy floated, and the rock… well, it sank, but I felt like it sank differently than the spoon.
Then I thought, “What about energy?” I know, pretty broad, right? I remembered that energy is basically the ability to do work. So I tried to come up with a way to see that in action.
Second Experiment
- Built: This is where things got a bit more interesting. I took some cardboard, made a ramp, and grabbed a few toy cars.
- Did: Sent the cars down the ramp at different heights and watched how far they went.
- Saw: The higher the starting point, the further the cars rolled. That made sense—more height, more potential energy, more speed.
After that, I wanted to try something a little bit different. So I thought, “Why not build something with paper?”
Third Experiment
- Materials: I just needed some paper, I used newspaper, and some tape.
- Did: I rolled the paper into tubes, folded it into different shapes, and basically tried to make the strongest structure I could.
- Learned: Paper is way stronger than I thought. By just changing the shape, I could make it hold a lot more weight than I expected.
By the end of the day, I didn’t turn into a physics whiz or anything, but it was a fun way to kill some time and remember some stuff from school. Plus, it got me thinking about how much cool stuff is going on around us that we don’t even notice. I might even take the kids to a science museum. Or we could just go for a walk in the park and try to spot some physics in action. It’s pretty much everywhere if you look for it! There are so many things I want to try. Maybe I will try some of them tomorrow.
