Pearl Harbor and Family Fair

Wow, what a great long weekend! Pearl Harbor field trip, Family Fair, and an extra day off from school! And only 4 days of school this week! So at the Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor, I, along with many of the other ap physics students, were distracted by the thin film interference pattern on the surface of the water. There was a thin film of oil on top of the water because oil was leaking from the USS Arizona underneath the memorial. I could see the thin film interference pattern because light reflected off both the top and bottom of the thin oil film, creating regions of alternating constructive and destructive interference. The ripples in the water show harmonic wave motion probably created by a disturbance such as the wind/ rain (it was super cold-totally could have used a jacket) or the boats moving in other parts of the harbor. At Family Fair, I felt the imaginary outward force created by the circular motion of the Turbo Tubs. We turned the wheel really fast so that we could move at a high angular velocity. Thus, decreasing our equilibrium and feeling extremely dizzy afterwards... :P. This weekend was filled with a lot of physics and a lot of fun!