Physics moments in Switzerland
1. In the Summer we decided to go to the top of a mountain and jump of a cliff with a parachute, so we jumped on the car and started heading up the mountain. I told my brother to put on his seat belt so that he does not shoot out from the car if we had to press the break, he laughed and said "how will I shoot out, it doesn't make sense". I explained to him what Newton' first law was, "An object in motion or at rest, will stay in motion or at rest unless affected by an outside force", So if the car stops, your body will continue to move forward which is explained in Newton's first law and you will shoot out of the car. But if you are wearing a seat belt, it acts as the outside force and stops you from shooting out.
2. In the car, my smaller brother punched me in the arm and got hurt, he exclaimed: "how did I get hurt if I punched you", I replied by saying that "every action has an equal and opposite reaction" Which in Newton's 3rd law. So i continued when you punched me with a force, my arm gave that exact same force right back at your fist causing you to get hurt.
3. a few minutes before our arrival my father saw a electrical wire leading to a huge box, he exclaimed "I wonder what these boxes are". I immediately responded that these where transformers, they step down the voltage in the power line. He asked how does it do that, I answered by saying that a transformer is made of a primary loop of wire carrying Alternate current which induces a voltage on the secondary loop of wire. I added by saying if you want to step down the voltage you have more loops of wire in your primary than in your secondary, and also when the voltage decreases the current increasing therefore keeping the power equal all the way through.
4. As we arrived at the peek of the mountain we found a group of people playing tug of war, I joined the losing team and told them don't use your arm to pull, but only to grab the rope and use your legs to push yourself backwards. A person answered by saying why. I replied by stating that when you pull with you arms, they just pull with the exact same force back at you, Newtons 3 law explains this "Every action has an equal and opposite reaction". But when you push forwards on the ground it responds with an equal and opposite reaction propelling you backwards. We tried it out and ended up winning the tug of war.
5. We got suited up for the cliff jump and I was the first one to go, I jumped off the cliff and before reaching the terminal velocity I was forced to open the parachute as I was getting closer to the ground. I felt a thrust upwards as soon as I opened the parachute. I thought to myself this is because my f air increases dramatically due to the increase of my surface area, this caused my net force to be upwards as the f air was greater than the f weight, A few seconds later I stopped slowing down and realized that I was going at constant velocity, I knew that I reached my second terminal velocity as my f air is now equal to my f weight, so I am not accelerating upwards or in any direction anymore.
6. After completing a fun day in the mountain, we decided to head back to the hotel, I entered my hotel room and suddenly all the electricity in the hotel was cut. I ran down to the lobby to ask what happened and they told me a fuse broke, 2 minutes later the electricity was back on, my brother asked how do they replace the wires that broke that fast. I replied by saying, none of the wires where affected due to the fuse, I added by saying the hotel is wired as a parallel circuit and not a series circuit so that each appliance can get the needed amount of current, not like the series circuit where all the appliances split the current available making them preform poorly. The fuse is placed at the beginning or end of the circuit, I expanded, as encase of too much current entering the wires the fuse would cut the hole circuit allowing no harm done to the wires, and the fuse has to be physically replaced. It is just made of a piece of wire that is more sensitive to current overload than the wires in the circuit.
7. In the Hotel, I decided to go to the shop downstairs and bought a swimming suit for my small brother. As I paid with my credit card asked, when your credit card is swiped, what is happening, how is the money taken? I answered him by saying that, first a card has a magnetic strip on it and the machine has loops of wire in it, so when the strip of magnet passes through the wire, the change in magnetic field of the wire induces a voltage in the wire which causes a current, as long as the magnetic field is constantly changing, the current then sends a signal to accept or decline the card.
8. My brother and I went back up to the room and I grabbed the phone charger and plugged it into the socket, he asked "Why does the phone charger have a small box?" I replied by stating that the box is a transformer. It is used to step up or step down the voltage needed for the device to work. I added by saying that a transformer has 2 separate coils of wire. AC is going through the primary wire, which causes a change in the magnetic field of the of the primary thus changing the secondary coil. This induces a Voltage into the secondary coil which causes a current, if the primary loops are more than the secondary then it is a step down, (voltage goes down), if the secondary is greater than the primary then it is a step up (voltage goes up).
9. My brother then plugged in his X-box which he had bought from America, and as soon as he turned it on the X-box made a huge bang sound and started smoking, my brother freaked out and asked me what happened. I started by saying that the current that comes out of the socket in Europe is greater than the current that comes out from America. Appliances in America are made to have a smaller resistance, due to the smaller current taken from the socket, So when you plug in an American appliance in Europe the small resistance receives a great current which causes the wires to burn and destroys the device.
10. dinner time was coming and we headed down to a restaurant, on the way we spotted a wind turbine and my brother asked how does it work, I replied by saying as the wind turns the turbine it causes magnets to rotate inside a loop of wire, which then changes the magnetic field of the wires thus inducing a voltage and causing current. This turns mechanical energy to electrical energy
7. In the Hotel, I decided to go to the shop downstairs and bought a swimming suit for my small brother. As I paid with my credit card asked, when your credit card is swiped, what is happening, how is the money taken? I answered him by saying that, first a card has a magnetic strip on it and the machine has loops of wire in it, so when the strip of magnet passes through the wire, the change in magnetic field of the wire induces a voltage in the wire which causes a current, as long as the magnetic field is constantly changing, the current then sends a signal to accept or decline the card.
8. My brother and I went back up to the room and I grabbed the phone charger and plugged it into the socket, he asked "Why does the phone charger have a small box?" I replied by stating that the box is a transformer. It is used to step up or step down the voltage needed for the device to work. I added by saying that a transformer has 2 separate coils of wire. AC is going through the primary wire, which causes a change in the magnetic field of the of the primary thus changing the secondary coil. This induces a Voltage into the secondary coil which causes a current, if the primary loops are more than the secondary then it is a step down, (voltage goes down), if the secondary is greater than the primary then it is a step up (voltage goes up).
9. My brother then plugged in his X-box which he had bought from America, and as soon as he turned it on the X-box made a huge bang sound and started smoking, my brother freaked out and asked me what happened. I started by saying that the current that comes out of the socket in Europe is greater than the current that comes out from America. Appliances in America are made to have a smaller resistance, due to the smaller current taken from the socket, So when you plug in an American appliance in Europe the small resistance receives a great current which causes the wires to burn and destroys the device.
10. dinner time was coming and we headed down to a restaurant, on the way we spotted a wind turbine and my brother asked how does it work, I replied by saying as the wind turns the turbine it causes magnets to rotate inside a loop of wire, which then changes the magnetic field of the wires thus inducing a voltage and causing current. This turns mechanical energy to electrical energy
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