Science Infoblog

Year 11 Physics. Aircraft design.

johnwest — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 23:52:39 +0000

Click on comments at the bottom of this post and answer the questions. The best 5 answers will each receive a mars bar.

First of all watch this clip of a Boeing 767 take off.

A Boeing 767 is travelling at 80 meters per second when it takes off.

(1) What is the speed of the aircraft in kilometers per hour

(2) How long does it take for the aircraft to reach its take off speed from the start (when it is stationary).Time to the point the aircraft just begins to lift off the runway

(3) Use this time to calculate the acceleration of the aircraft as it moves down the runway.

The equation you need is a = (change in speed)/change in time

(4) Calculate the total thrust needed to produce this acceleration by using the equation:

F=ma

The aircraft weighs approximately 200,000Kg when it is fully laden. Remember to use the correct units in your answer.

(5) The shape of the aircraft wing changes as it approaches cloud level. Why is the wing designed to behave in this way.

(6) What airport do you think the aircraft is taking off from, why?

Finally click on the blue comments button below this post to leave your your answers. You will be asked for an email address and there may be a delay in your comment appearing on the blog.

Good luck!

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gaming:Nintendo Wii in the science classroom

johnwest — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 23:54:18 +0000

Many games are driven by physics engines that mimic motion in the real world in a virtual counterpart. Phun discussed earlier is a simple 2D example. A number of classes had a brief look at the technology behind the Nintendo Wii and the physics concepts underpinning the games. The boxing game will have to be banned in future as students let loose in a virtual world were determined to punch each others’ lights out risking a virtual school suspension

get your vodpod

Some physics concepts identified include:

Don’t forget the homework!

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Open day in the Science Department 2008

johnwest — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 10:24:30 +0000

A large turnout despite the weather.

Create Your Own

science department staff in action:

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First NZ Robotics, competition day Friday!

johnwest — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 09:01:46 +0000

Introducing the teams.

Team Helicoptinator:Mason Maddox (bot pilot), Jacqeus van Burick, Christopher Trotman, James Whitehouse, Andrew Gill.

Team Topbot: Alesha Murray (bot pilot), Arielle Sullivan, Jason Blakemore, Nicola Summerfield

During a day of intense practise and competition Team Helicoptinator maintained a 100% record to win the event. Team Topbot won their second game in great style and were narrowly edged out in the other two games.

The Road to the Final.

Team helicoptinator agonised a great deal about the value of their helicopter adjustment but in the end it did frustrate the best efforts of the oppostion to score. Team workand good offensive and defensive strategies were the key to their success. They won their three group games, a semi final and the best of three final 2-0.

In the semifinal watch the helicoptinator blue team bot piloted by Mason scoop up the counters and drive them into the corner for a big score.Watch also as the platforms are maneuvered onto their side of the field for extra points

Team helicoptinator won the first two games to take out the best of three final. These games were made more difficult by the fact that lights were dimmed to make the conditions more challenging.

Team topbot had a thrilling win in their second game. Watch how Alesha maneuvers the blue flagged bot with the yellow card on the rear bumper to position the platforms on their side of the arena for extra points. She followed this up by scoring with counters in the corners. Good strategies and teamwork.

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FIRST New Zealand Robotics competition

johnwest — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 19:20:47 +0000

FIRST stands For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology. Two teams from Green Bay attended a Robotics boot camp yesterday and today their robots will be in competition with more than 30 robots from other schools. They were given some instruction and ideas by a team of students from California….. and then asked to build their robots.

Both teams had their robots up and running within and hour and by the end of the day were training how to beat other teams in todays competition. We have future robotics engineers at Green Bay…..next step designing a robot to explore Mars perhaps?

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AS90190 Describe aspects of geology. Te Henga Rocks

johnwest — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 04:52:11 +0000

During your geology course you will have found that igneous rocks form large crystals when they are allowed to cool slowly and small crystals when they the cool fast. When a volcano spews lav out into the ocean volcanic glasses (obsidian) or special formations called pillo lavas can result.

Pillow lavas form when molten rock comes in contact with cold sea water. Toothpaste shaped tongues of lava are squeezed away from a large feeder tube. We can see this happening around Hawaii today. Kilauea burst into life about 500,000 years ago and has been pumping huge volumes of lava into the ocean ever since. There is evidence to suggest that similar activity was responsible for producing rock structures at Te Henga on Auckland’s west coast. The volcanic region that existed then must have matched the size of the Ruapehu massif which has been around for the last 250,000 years

If you head towards the southern end of Te Henga beach the rocky cliffs are mostly quite spectacular formations of pillow lavas. They originated in the same way Kilauea produces them now. They lie on top of slightly older volcanic conglomerate.

Now try the quiz if you are really bored and don’t have a life.

Te Henga beach rocks

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Test your chemistry knowledge. Try the “reactions of metals quiz”

johnwest — Mon, 26 May 2008 06:43:08 +0000

How much have you learned about metal chemistry. Test your knowledge with this quiz.
reactions of metals

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Auckland Disaster Video Awards Finalists….AS90190 Describe aspects of geology.

johnwest — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 02:00:34 +0000

As part of their coursework a class of year 11 students had to imagine that they were in a newsroom reporting on increased earthquake activity around Auckland. This seismic activity had finally culminated in the disastrous formation of a new volcanic cone within the Auckland City limits. While students were working on their project the Auckland City Council civil defense planning team were doing an exercise testing their ability to cope with the real thing.

The videos show learning in progress and by themselves are not an outcome .

In the first video a scientist is being interviewed about the causes of the disaster.

and seismic activity shook the newsroom around in the second

The final video in the series rocks!

The winner of the video award will be announced shortly.

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Sixth form field trip to Piha ver 2.0

johnwest — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 20:51:05 +0000

Another intrepid band of students doing scientific research at Piha

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What did you think of the field trip?

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6th form Biology trip to Piha

johnwest — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 10:02:11 +0000

Sixth from students braved the elements today as they investigated life on the windswept rocky coast at Piha….

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What did you think of the field trip?

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