9/28 Tuazon

*THE CLASS PRELUDE.*

Just think--I left Kreider's first period Pre-Calc class to learn some good old-fashioned physics with Coats-Haan.

I walked in, as many a physics student before me, and dropped my heavy books onto the table. I looked up at the first plan of the day written on the board, which Ms. Elifrits would probably read as, "Checkmark pee fifty-three, numbers seven dash ten." This is more commonly known as "Check p. 53, #7-10," which was last night's homework problems.

Sonny trailed in not far behind me to his chair, diagonal from me. He was dressed in a beige vest and dark green cargo shorts as Russell, the Boy-Scout-like character from "Up," in celebration of Disney Character Day. Emily pointed out that "Up" is actually a Disney Pixar film, so it doesn't truly count as a Disney film.

I left them to go to my folder in the front of the room, where I found my now-graded "Pairs Check - Speed & Velocity" sheet sitting inside my blue file. My partner Pat and I got a 3/3. I proudly returned to my seat.

Class began soon after.

*THE ACTUAL PHYSICS CLASS.*

Everything turned in: As the white board explained, we only checked our homework. So we turned in nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch.

Coats-Haan walked around, checking to make sure we had our homework before giving us an answer key to last night's problems. As we compared our answers to hers (which included a really cute sketch of a bear for problem #7), Coats-Haan, kneeling on her computer chair, told us a sad story about how technology (her computer and the network) was not working. Later, as I progressed through the school day, I found out that all the teachers' technological components were not working (4th period with Hume, in fiery frustration: "Technology just isn't on our side this month, guys!").

Thankfully, Coats-Haan's 3M was working just fine, and I'm happy to report that this made her practically float with glee, as she usually does when she gushes over the little things in life (like creating red boxes covered with smiley-faces to cover up powerpoint notes). While we finished checking with the key, it is probably safe to assume that Coats-Haan sang a few rounds of "Baa Baa Black Sheep" before asking if we had any questions.

And we did. The Notorious #8, as I have dubbed it, left many of us (maybe even you) in a cloud of confusion. Most of this was because we did not know how to begin setting up the problem.

The story goes like this:

"A hiker goes some ways West (6.44 km) at 2.68 m/s, backtracks some ways East (unknown to us) at 0.447 m/s and ends up with a total average velocity of 1.34 m/s, W. How far does the hiker walk East?"

Using her handy-dandy 3M, Coats-Haan revealed that the key to this problem was using the equation "Avg. velocity = Change in x/Change in t" (Avg. V = delta x/delta t) and plugging in all the known information to solve for the Change in t going East (1801 s). The 1801 s would be multiplied by the velocity going East (0.447 m/s, E) to find the Change in x going East, which ended up being 805 m.

Now don't worry. Sachi and I (and probably many other fellow peers) have taken more detailed, step-by-step notes for how to work out the Notorious #8. Coats-Haan says you should practice this problem a lot, because if you can do the Notorious #8, you can do anything. Or, at least, you should be able to solve the Not-So-Notorious #10, which is similar to the Notorious #8.

Following this single problem, Coats-Haan gave us time to study for our big test tomorrow.

Which reminds me...

Assignments made: This is technically still nada, BUT all 20 questions of the Kinematics Test Review that Coats-Haan gave us yesterday are still promptly due tomorrow (Thursday) at 8:27 a.m.

Perhaps it should be noted that other than asking about the review's Notorious-Jr. #7, which is about a Cheetah stalking its prey, Emily blatantly distracted me, Sonny and Pat from getting much of our review done in class today. Coats-Haan even scolded her. I mean really, the nerve of her to hinder our tax-payer physics education... It's beyond me.

If you must know, I did learn a couple things from our conversations. I found out that Asian Americans have the highest rate of suicide because many do not talk about their stress and that Dwight did not invent the Stream of Consciousness blogging-style (no matter how much he wants to believe he did).

*THE QUESTION OF THE DAY.*

Coats-Haan also left me a really nice note, which you can see if you scroll down a bit.

In it she asked, "What do you think will be on the test tomorrow? Love, Coats-Haan." (How sweet...)

If you really want my two cents on this, Coats-Haan, I think the test will have questions representative of our oh-so-valuable Kinematics Test Review. You know, a good chunk of people running up and down x-axes, pop star tour buses zooming down a highway at "Way too fast!! They should SLOW DOWN!!" velocities, a couple ROXY calculations... The good stuff.

With that in mind, for students reading this blog post, if you haven't already checked the Kinematics Test Review key on the physics website, you should do so. It's quite helpful.

Until next time, Reader. Stay smart.