Progress #2

After  3 weeks of gathering words for my presentation I have made a few changes. I have expanded my search from strictly the dictionary to various websites dedicated to the discovery of some of the more elaborate words. This new technique has led me to the discovery of some peculiar words such as bacchanalia, pulchritudinous, and one of my personal favorites, floccinaucinihilipilification. I feel as though this method of searching has provided me with more useful results and I will continue to go about things using the method. 

Progress #1

After ten days of progress, I have come across some very interesting words. Some of the more extravagant examples include omphaloskepsis, williwaw, hibernaculum. So far, I have used a large dictionary as my only resource, however, I plan on using multiple resources such as online dictionaries and various other methods. My goal is to create an end product that will flawlessly enrich the vocabulary of everyone in the room. My final presentation will consist of the audience choosing words for me to read aloud using the jeopardy template that you provided for me. 

Introduction

For my second 30 Day Challenge I will attempt the amazing feat of learning a new interesting word every day for 30 days. This will be an eventful and educational 30 Day Challenge. It will help to enrich my ever increasing vocabulary and could potentially assist me in classes such as English. I feel as though there will be no significant problems during this challenge. It is a simple and straightforward challenge but it could be extremely beneficial. My number one resource will be the dictionary as all words are located there. For my presentation I believe I will create a PowerPoint set up like a jeopardy game. A list of words will be displayed on the front page and once clicked on, will display its definition and possibly a sentence containing the word. I look forward to this challenge and the construction of my presentation.  

Progress #2

This week, I focused directly on the physics behind the golf swing. The golf swing has physics written all over it and is a great example of angular motion. As Tiger Woods is one of the best golfers to ever live, his swing is the perfect display of how it should look when the physics behind the swing are all correct. Tiger Woods has four major steps to his swing. 

Step 1: At the back of his swing, Woods utilizes his flexibilty to reach far back, extending his range of motion while keeping his rotating torso directly over his right leg.

Step 2: As he begins his swing, Woods builds up club head velocity by turning his torso quickly and pressing his right leg forward. Throughout his swing, Woods wastes little energy by maintaining his position above the ball. 

Step 3: As he drives through the ball, he uses his hips, shoulders, and wrists to concentrate his force and create a very high initial ball speed. Within 2 feet off the tee the ball is traveling at around 180 mph. This is around 20 mph faster than the average tour pro. 

Step 4: Woods allows the club head's momentum to extend his follow-through far around his back, completing a long and smooth clubhead rotation. 

Most club heads weigh about the same, so the key to being able to hit the long ball lies in the club head velocity. The faster your club head is going at the bottom of your swing, the greater the amount of kinetic energy that will be transferred from club head to the ball.

As my presentation is next week, I plan on constructing a PowerPoint including this information as well as evolution of the golf club.

Progress #1

During the last week I have chosen to focus my attention on the evolution of the golf club. Many of the earliest golf clubs were handcrafted. They were made of persimmon due to its durability and high-density mass. Mass is the measurement of an objects resistance to acceleration and the more mass an object has, the more force is needed to accelerate it. In the golf club making process, mass distribution is crucial to maximize power and control. Rotational inertia is also apparent in golf. The further an objects mass is away from the axis of rotation, the harder it is for the object to rotate. Around 1980, wooden club heads were replaced by metal. Today, titanium is the most common metal used for club heads, however, there are many new materials and designs that are being put into use. All this is part of the ongoing challenge to deliver the perfect impact to the ball.

I am having a few difficulties with my learning so far, although NBC Learn has made some resources available to me, I'm having difficulty getting into the actual psychics behind the golf swing. I was able to find things such as the evolution of the golf club as well as other golf related statistics. I have been surprised by how many times the golf clubs design has changed. My plans for the next week of my 30-Day Challenge are to get into the actual physics behind the golf swing. I plan on covering the different angles of the golf swing as well as discussing the roles of properties such as mass and rotational inertia.

Introduction

For my 30 Day Challenge, I have taken on the challenge of learning the physics that are involved in the golf swing. I chose this for my 30 Day Challenge because golf is a sport that interests me and learning the physics behind it would be beneficial to my game. I will explore a few different resources. I will use a variety of different sports related websites that are geared mostly towards golf. I will also consider the opinion of my golf instructor Cathy. There are some challenges that I may run into eventually. One problem I may have is that I may have a hard time consistently finding new information for 30 days. Another problem I may run into is finding solid information that is directly related to the physics of the golf swing. I do not know how much information there is available to me.   I will most likely construct a PowerPoint presentation for my final project. I feel like that will be the most effective method to share what I have learned with the class.