My Physics Class

Nelson Ramos Rodriguez

In our physics class, we learned many different factors that affect motion, and the complexity behind the whole concept.  The concept of motion is defined as the change in the position of an object, or the displacement. This displacement, can be measured by how fast or how slow it travels with respect to a time frame.  The word speed captures the rate by which a particle, or an object, travels certain distance in a margin of time. When direction is applied to the magnitude of the speed, then the word that describes this behavior is velocity. Nevertheless, velocity is not necessarily a constant value. When it increases, it means it is experiencing acceleration; whereas when the velocity decreases, it is decelerating. Acceleration is defined as the rate of which a velocity changes with respect to a time frame. 

After learning these basic concepts, we proceeded to learn about what is force, and the great discoveries that Sir Isaac Newton made while studying these trivial concept. Actually, he created three major laws that try to captivate the general behavior involving motion. This great physicist made one of history’s greatest contribution, after being struck by it, literally! He discovered that force, is an attraction that keeps us attached to the ground, and not wandering off through space. Gravity, is not really a force; instead, it is an acceleration; the force that we experience by being stuck to the ground depends on how much mass does each body contain. The first principle that describes general motion, states that any object at rest, or at uniform velocity, will maintain its state as long as no net force acts on it. Force by itself, is defined by Newton’s second law, that states that it is proportional to the mass of times the acceleration that the body is experiencing. This second principle gives us a very important equation that relates force to the acceleration implied in the body. The third law describes objects in collision, or contact in general: when an object exerts a force on another object, the second object exerts an equal in magnitude and opposite in direction force. 

Considering my field of preference being mechanical engineering, the course has been immensely helpful in understanding the whole skeleton of what my field consists. Be it for designing a fast car, an aerodynamic airplane, or a prestigious speed boat, the course of physics is a very important topic that should be always taken into account, since being a mechanical engineer consists of applying the theory that physics implies in order to make efficient machines that improve daily life, rather than making it more complicate for society than it already is. To be able to better understand physics in my field, it is very helpful to get a hands-on experience that gives me the knowledge that I need in order to be a successful engineer that can make this world a better place. The Physics class that I have taken this semester has boosted and motivated me to further learn about how much does the world and even the universe involves physics, motion, and many other behaviors yet to be discovered.