Colorado PhET is an educational website for simulations and other educational purposes. Colorado PhET hosts over a hundred simulations, including Projectiles Data Lab.
The projectiles data lab is an excellent physics simulator with a lot of variability. It is very an extremely easy-to-understand simulation, and is excellent fun. It also has a lot of charts and graphs that help you understand it’s physics.
What does this help us understand?
The projectile data lab is a simulation that can help understand how different forces applied to projectiles will affect the projectile. Also, you can see how different launchers affects the range.
What is a Simulation?
The projectile data lab is an example of a simulation. A simulation is a much better method of learning than that of a teacher. A simulator usually has many different variables to adjust. For example, in the projectile data lab, you can change the launcher, change the projectile, and also change the orientation of the launcher.
What is it’s Primary Purpose?
The projectile data lab’s primary purpose is to teach physics and how different projectiles and launchers affect how far the projectile goes.
How Does it Achieve This?
The projectile data lab achieves teaching physics by letting the user change and adjust different aspects of the simulator. For example, you can choose between three different projectiles: Rock, pumpkin, and piano.
Other Interesting Facts
The projectile data lab has a histogram on the top that records how far each projectile went. You can play it here:
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For the past three weeks, me and my team has been assigned to take apart a computer. BUT… if we broke anything, we would have to buy a new one. If we didn’t have to pay, I would have been excited. But since we do have to pay, I was nervous.
Before I opened the case, I thought for a while first. What could it look like? was it a giant mess of wires with randomly placed computer chips? Or was it a mysterious purple cloud that floated around and controlled the screen? Could it be a little alien inside? I had no idea.
Therefore, I slowly let the mystery unfold. I grabbed a screwdriver and unscrewed two screws. Then, one of my teammates unlatched a hook while the other teammate slid the cover of the computer off. A dark green motherboard slid into view. There were a lot of wires, but definitely no mysterious purple cloud.
We took out the motherboard!
We unscrewed the motherboard and took it out. I identified a few parts. The motherboard (connects all the wires and microchips together), the heat sink (usually a fan, it cools down the CPU), the RAM (random access memory, is where information goes to before you press ‘save’), the hard drive (information goes there from the RAM, after you press save), and I peeked underneath the fan, and I saw a metallic grey round slab (it was the CPU, that does all the calculations), and at one of the sides of the case, I saw a whole. So I looked around the motherboard, and I saw the I/O port (which is the input/output port, that takes in power and gives out information).
Then, our team slowly took the fan out, a little bit at a time, doing the screws slowly, but not entirely, like our teacher showed us. Otherwise, the pressure would go to one side, due to the springs underneath, and squash the CPU, opposite of what the springs are actually supposed to do, which is pushing the fan away from the CPU. It actually took a really long time, and due to the ‘we need to pay for broken parts’ thing, we took a really long time, and then our teacher asked why we were so slow, and then snatched our screwdriver and quickly unscrewed and took of the fan. So I guess I was over-careful.
Underneath, I saw a latch holding on to the metallic grey piece I saw before. I knew instantly it was the CPU. There was a latch holding on to it. My teammate unlatched it, and then I picked it up. I started exanimating it, but the I looked at my hand in horror. It was all gray with weird goo. I looked at the bottom of the CPU, and saw the same disgusting gray goo. I asked the teacher, and he told me that it was for transferring heat from the CPU to the fan. I later realized that otherwise, the fan would not be very useful.
Confused by the giant mess.
Later, me and my team were curious about how the hard drive looked, so I suggested to take it out. we pressed two buttons and the case slid out. Then, we took the hard drive out. That was our big mistake. We examined it, and saw a hot glue like feeling paste, BUT… when we tried to put it back in to the case, screw-like blue pins kept falling apart. No matter how many times we tried to squeeze the hard drive out, the blue pins would fall out and then the process would repeat. Finally, however, we figured that we had to put the pins in before the hard drive. But even then, it took a long time to stuff it in.
In my opinion, I think that the coolest part of the computer is the CPU, because how it does all those calculations is just fascinating. The most surprising part of the project is definitely how all the components can fit in such a cramped box.
The everyday PC set for gaming, working, or homework is far more complicated than a lot of lights and a few wires. It has many components. All unique from the other. When I first saw a computer, I never really thought of how it worked. But as we get older, we get curious. This assignment has made me understand that the computer is really complicated. This experience was a really fun thing to do. I would rate it 7 out of 10.
A computer is a very fascinating device – it is revolutionary. At the press of a button, you can watch a movie. At the press of a button, you can play a game. At the press of a button, you can call someone. But how does this all work? I will explain.
The Motherboard – The Highway of a Computer
The motherboard is a platform for many chips and components. The motherboard connects wires and components together. For example, if the CPU (Central Processing Unit [ I will talk about it later]) needs to send information to the memory (RAM[also talk about later]), it will pass through a wire on the motherboard to do it.
The CPU – Central Processing Unit – The Brain of a Computer
The Central Processing Unit – better known as the CPU, is where all the math and decisions are made (the users’ decisions.) The CPU is a crucial component for the computer. And above the CPU is a fan or a water cooling system called the CPU cooler. The CPU is on the Motherboard, with a lot of wires connecting to it.
The RAM – Random Access Memory – The Notebook of a Computer
The RAM – also known as the Random Access Memory, is where all the information goes before you press “save”. It is called Random Access Memory because you can randomly access it. After you click “save”, all the info goes to the hard drive and the solid state drive.
The Hard Drive and The Solid State Drive – The Long Term Memory
The HDD and The SSD – is the long term memory of the computer. After the RAM sends it’s stored information to either one, it stays there unless deleted by the user. The difference between HDD and the SDD is that the HDD has many moving parts, and is older, however, the SDD is more compact, has no moving parts, and is newer technology.
The Monitor – What your eyes see (usually)
Most of the outputs, if not all, come from the monitor. All the light, the things that you see (well, usually) comes from the monitor. The monitor is the more formal way of saying ‘screen’.
GPU – The Computer’s Stylist
The GPU, is also known as a Graphics Processing Unit, and it needs a graphics card to work. This is because the GPU can use the graphics card to get better images. Better Graphics Card=better graphics
Summary
The computer has many functions, and it all comes from different bits and pieces, and it may seem like magic, but it’s not. It is GENIUS!
Python is an easy-to-learn programming language that is good mostly for calculations and word questions or randomized numbers. Pictures and video games can be made but not by me. I once thought that python would fun and easy, but it turns out that it is harder then I thought, but is still quite simple and intuitive.
I have learned that variables, which are kind of like boxes with numbers and strings, can be called anything, but if you spell it differently when you try to use the same variable, it will give you an error. And when you change something and want to run the program, you can press “run” and then underneath, it will say “run module”. Then it will take you to the shell and you can enjoy your program. Also, you ca In python, there is a thing called functions which is basically making blocks in scratch. It is where you put code into the place where you define the function, and you put code in it. That way, you can keep calling the function by just typing a few words and letters.
One challenge I faced is when I had to figure out what “sort” does. After a long time, I finally found out that it turned lists into alphabetical order, for example, if your list had “zebra”, “hippo”, “rhino”, and “elephant”, then it will turn the list into, elephant, hippo, rhino, zebra.
I will tell you about a few computer words. Back-up, landscape, orientation, and save as or save.
Back-up is when something in the N.A.S. or maybe other storage areas get burnt up or deleted, then the back up can send another file to another new storage.
Orientation is how the paper is placed and drawn/written on. Orientation has two kinds, landscape and portrait. Most websites that make documents have this. In Microsoft word it does.
Landscape is a type of orientation that is longer horizontally. most people draw landscapes, places, animals, and skies.
Portrait is another kind of orientation. When you use a portrait it is usually essay or books or tests if you are writing, and paintings of faces or people when it is drawing.
save-as is when you save any document into a file. Then you can create a name for it. and any time you want to make updates to the uploaded document, you can make the changes in the documents and click save. That way, you do not need to keep making different files.
Why are simulations important? Well, there are many different ways it is better than an experiment. One way is that it is safer. In simulations, you could fly out from the sky but still survive. Another way is, is it possible or not. In simulations, you can make the gravity to two times as heavy as Earth.
This simulation, Energy Skate Park, it simulates different energies and gravity. Some energies they use are, kinetic, potential, thermal and more. It also explains gravity, speed and how different shapes make different speeds. Kinetic energy is the motion, potential energy is how height changes the speed, thermal energy is the speed all the particles are moving in an object. Also, temperature is the average of thermal energy something contains, and gravitational energy is the gravity.
You can add tracks by dragging the track into the screen, you can click on a different character to change your current one, and you can drag the person to anywhere on the track, and it will start moving if you designed the track well.
Simulations like Energy Skate Park actually help everyday life. When you start skateboarding off a mountain, the peak of the mountain is when you have the most potential energy and as you come down, you lose potential energy and gain kinetic energy.
In the game, you can change many aspects. You can change the track, the gravity, the mass, the skater, and to stick to the track or not. There are four sections to choose from. One is the intro, and it briefly introduces you to the game, another is measure, which tells you how fast and how high the skater went, and in graph, you can see how much potential and kinetic energy it has in each time. One is graph, which compares kinetic and potential energy. In playground, you can play with all the functions in the game.
I recommend simulations like Energy Skate Park because experiments are harder to set up and it is free. Energy Skate Park is an easy to understand simulation and it is useful in day-to-day life.
The internet is a wire that connects many networks together. A network is a group of many computers together. And the internet is also called a interconnected network. Many people confuse internet with Wi-Fi, but Wi-Fi is wireless and any wireless device will have a AP which is then connected to the switch, which is connected to the router and then to the internet. Every server has a network. For example, google is a network. and when you download something to the cloud, you are using someone else’s computer. This is because that server is connected to your computer. Even if you delete a message, the chatting server still knows what you said. And do you Know how the servers hold so much information? Well, they use huge server rooms that have thousands of computers there.
And if you have an apple computer, that is probably connected to another apple device.
the I/O [input/output] subsystem controls and sorts all the information that goes through the keyboard, mouse, and things from the plugs of the front and back panel. Then, all the information goes to the CPU, and the CPU will process the info and turns into what you look at in the screen.
what is the CPU?
the CPU[central processing unit], is the device that has to process the info from the I/O and turn it to what you see. But the CPU might not be as useful as you thought. The CPU cannot remember, it just helps the computer think. If there are things the CPU doesn’t know, it will ask the memory. But because it gets billions of commands and it will get hot. That is why there is a fan.
what is the memory?
The memory is the remembering part of the computer. If the CPU is trouble remembering, the Memory will help. But the memory has limited memory. If there is too much to remember, then it will give it to the hard drive, which will then write it down.
What is the Hard drive?
The hard drive is like the notebook of the computer, it is like the memory, but instead of remembering, it writes it down. But if one of the “notebooks” are full you will need another one.
QUESTION TIME
What can the CPU do and not do?
what is the memory
what comparison can you make between the hard drive and a notebook?
In my opinion, I think that the google docs are better because you can type in anything and right click then, you will get a definition. But in Microsoft word, if you spell something wrong there will be a red line underneath and right click then you will get a few choices of stuff.
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But in the sites, it is more child-friendly that is because there are no inappropriate stuff, also there are also much easier definitions! Microsoft word for me is the best because you can get templates of what kind of things you want for example, you can get a template of a restaurant menu.
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