Electricity w/ a Comb

Sunday's are great days to learn and observe something new. I was sitting in my room trying to do homework when all of a sudden I saw my comb which I never use. So, on this particular sunday, I decided to try and fix my messy hair by combing it. I began combing thinking nothing of it other than, "alright, my hair is gonna look good!" I ran the comb through my hair many of times trying to make my hair like Ron Burgendy's but of course it never worked. I stopped putting the comb down on my desk when these small pieces of paper were attracted to it defying the laws of gravity. I lifted the comb and there they were, the small pieces of paper were attracted to the comb like it was some sort of magnet. I realized that what just happened had to due with electrostatics that I learned in physics class. Electrostatics involves electric charges, the forces between them, the aura that surrounds them, and their behavior in materials. Material objects such as the comb and the paper pieces are made of atoms, which means they are composed of electrons and protons. Therefore, I was able to charge the comb by transferring electrons from my hair to the comb because of contact and friction. In this case, electrons are transferred by friction when the comb rubs against my hair.

Overall, the comb had more electrons and so the positvies protons of the neutral pieces of paper were attracted to the negative electrons. It was quite fascinating!

Waves and a Dog

Todays theme - Waves in Motion. Vibrations creat waves. At Bellos Beach on a nice sun shiny day, pictured to the left, you see a lot of waves or water waves being created and a dog doing whatever dogs do. These waves are transverse waves. The motion of the medium (water) is transverse to the direction of the wave traveling towards shore. Therefore, the actual water is staying in place moving up and down as the wave travels to the shore. Also, the wave is carrying energy and information which could carry a person on either a surf board or a boogie board which is actually a lot of fun. If you look closely, you can see two waves going to meet each other which are like two crest going to create a super crest. But once the waves hit the shore, the vibrations are weak creating a very low frequency and a small wavelength and soon there is no more wave until new sets are created by the wind and new vibrations. As for the dog, he didn't want to go in the water because the waves were too strong and would drown him. He had more fun playing the sand.