Newton's Laws of Motion in Volleyball

Author's note: During my one on one meeting with Mr. Roehl, I was scheduled to have a writing evaluation the next week. I decided I wanted to write something that could be put on my home page, considering I haven't posted recently. I didn't know what to write about though, so Mr. Roehl suggested that I did a piece on how Newton's Laws of Motions affected setting in volleyball. After doing some research, (and receiving help from my dad) I definitely understood the concept much better. In this piece, I will try to use better transitions, and focus more on my conclusion.

Newton's Laws of Motion affect anything and everything that has mass. Whether the object you are dealing with is 100 pounds, or two ounces, all three of Newton's Laws will apply. The first law states that an object in motion will stay in motion and an object at rest will stay at rest until an unbalanced force acts upon it. This one is fairly self-explanatory. The second law shows the relationship between forces, mass and acceleration. In that law, part of the statement shows that force is equal to mass multiplied by acceleration. Finishing off the group of Newton's Laws is the third law which implies that for every action there is an equal reaction.

I tried to apply all three of these laws to setting a volleyball. With the first law, setting involves a volleyball in motion. The ball gets to it's highest peak in it's movement, then gravity overpowers the upward momentum of the ball and causes the ball to come back down. The next force acting on the volleyball would be me. I am stopping the ball from moving one way, then sending it across the court in another direction.

When I am pushing the volleyball across the court, I am applying a force to the ball. Force is the mass of the volleyball, multiplied by the acceleration I have placed on it. Since the mass of the volleyball isn't that much, the strength and speed of which I set it will be a large part of how much force is on the ball.

When the force of the volleyball is being applied by gravity, the interaction between the ball and my hands can be very immense or miniscule. The first thing I do when I set is I prevent the ball from going downward, and forcing it to go up instead. That is the action that I take against the ball. Because every action has an equal reaction, my pushing upward on the ball is actually causing me to be shoved downward. Therefore, my action against the volleyball has a reaction to my body. If I am pushing out, my body, as a reaction, will be pushed in. This causes my entire body, as well as the floor, to absorb the force the ball is placing on me.

Now imagine how many tasks everyday involve the three laws that Newton put together. Most likely every single second of your day is proving that every time you move, there's a reaction to that movement. Your television remote is going to have much more force flying across the room than a piece of paper if the same amount of acceleration is placed on both objects. The pencil sitting on your desk won't move if an unbalanced force doesn't apply to it, because it won't just get up and walk away.

Grand Canyon Project

Author's note: After my vacation to the Grand Canyon, I decided that a simple writing response would not be enough to reflect on what I experienced. Instead, I chose to do a project on the Grand Canyon, and created a website of my information learned. Below is the link to my weebly. If you have any comments or suggestions for my website, please comment on this post.

This is the link to my website: http://grandcanyon2.weebly.com/

The Wonderful World of Cartoons

Author's note: After watching a cartoon with my friends little brother I decided to further investigate why they find such simple, unrealistic ideas as intriguing as much as they do. Every time someone would fall, Nick, Cassie's little brother, would burst out laughing and I didn't really understand what was so funny. In my piece I worked on using techniques such as metaphors.

Inside a kids cartoon you can do anything. Most likely nothing can truly harm you. Falling off a cliff will only give you some cuts and bruises, and when you are covered in filth, you can be sparkling clean by the shake of a head. You are indestructible.

Why do kids enjoy cartoons? It's simple. They love how the characters have fun and adventure, and they enjoy pretending cartoons are their world. Wishing that one day they could be like SpongeBob. Children enjoy going on silly and unrealistic adventures too. Or, they could be like Dora and be able to fend off evil by the key words, "No swiping!" Who wouldn't want to be able to discover treasures in less than thirty minutes?

How can a little kid watch the same exact episode repeatedly over and over and still have interest? The theme song of Wow Wow Wubzy gets nailed into my head after two times. The lines of the characters start coming to me at three and four times. Yet the kids seem surprised at every turn in the plot and are still intrigued when Wubzy played basketball for the seventh time that day.

Some of the younger audience actually looks up to these characters. However many of them adore the cartoon characters just because of their pink hair or funny tail. Would they still like Mickey Mouse if he were just a regular human being with mouse ears? Think it through. Would you still enjoy the shows if only the lessons and adventures were the same? I doubt it.

Stage one of their T.V. favorites. Adventure and silly characters, what will be next? Will they still love their old favorites? Or will they move on, and discover that the shows they used to love, are not as entertaining as they used to be?

McDonald's Persuasive Essay

Author's note: I'm doing a project on McDonald's and had to do a persuasive writing piece for the week so I decided to write about the different types of McDonald's consumers. My main purpose was to follow the 5 paragraph essay format.

We all know that McDonald’s isn’t good for you. That’s a well known fact. However, could McDonald’s be healthy if you eat it in moderation? Some people believe that dieting and exercising are key if they want to eat at McDonald’s about once a week. Others, mostly kids, assume that they won’t get overweight from eating there 2-3 times a week. Nothing bad can happen to them, right? Then there’s the third type of McDonald’s consumer. The one who knows that having McDonald’s maybe once or twice a month isn’t so bad if they consider it as a treat. Which one are you?

The first type of person is the dieting and exercising person. It’s true that staying in physical shape by working out allows for minor faults like having a weakness for McDonald’s salty fries. They are so addicting, to some more than others. A diet plan also helps if you crave the greasy but delicious burgers for a treat after a long week. All these types of people just have to remember is that even though diets and exercise are great ways to stay healthy, McDonald’s once a week is still a little much. Maybe try swapping every other trip going to a sub place instead.

The second type of person is completely different. They don’t try to make a healthy life style; they just assume that nothing bad will ever happen to them. For most kids, and a lot of adults, this describes them perfectly. Kids are the ones who use the “I play a sport and I have a high metabolism anyway” excuse. Adults are more likely to use the “I don’t have time for anything else” excuse. There’s plenty of time to eat healthy if you find other fast service places.

Lastly, there’s the type of person who knows how much is too much. They realize that once a week is just not a smart choice. Maybe one to three times a month, counting it as a treat, instead of just a substitute for a home-made meal. These people tend to be healthier, cooking more at home or eating sandwiches instead of burgers, fries, and shakes. They have control over their food intake. These are the people that other people envy.

There are three types of people, those who think they have control, those who don’t care, and those who do have control. Which one do you want to be? Or more importantly, which one are you?

The Pier People, the Youth, and the Frogs.

Authors note: I wrote this piece because it came up in one of my brainstorming lists. If you are unfamiliar with this concept, you may want to try it. What you do is have someone give you a word and tell you when to stop. You write/ type a word that links to the first word in a way others may not be able to understand- but that's okay- and just keep branching off from there. You could end up with 30 words, or just 7. It's pretty funny to read some other peoples lists. Give it a try sometime. Anyway, this was a memory from when I was about seven and spring weather was starting to set in.


I think back to the time when I was about seven. The joy of the lake unfreezing and the pier building people coming back to reassemble our pier. This meant warmth. This meant adventures lying ahead. This meant memories will be made.

My friends Ally and Sammy had come over that day. When we saw the builders doing their job outside our window, we thought they could use some entertainment. So, being the six, seven and eight year olds we were, we decided they could use some music.

We grabbed some white lawn chairs and set them up near the sea wall so we were within hearing range of the workers. Next, we grabbed the musical wooden frogs you stroke with a stick and climbed on top of the chairs. Beginning with just the beat of the wooden frogs croaking, we built up our show from there.

My parents reminded me of this day when I looked at the picture -- Only the picture helps me bring back a slight recollection of doing this-- of us singing to them. Only, I wouldn't call it singing. More like chanting. "Go pier people! Go pier people" Croak. Croak. Croak. "Go pier people! Go pier people!" Croak. Croak. Croak.

The only barrier that kept us in the adorable category and away from crazy was our youth. Youth is a great thing that keeps your imagination wide open. The youth doesn't have to be lost on everybody once they become "old". They shouldn't be considered crazy if they can have a fun perspective on the world. Try to keep your mind open. You'll never know what you'll find.

Green Chrismas

Author’s note: After writing my free verse poem about a snowless Christmas, I found myself wanting to write more than just a short poem about Christmas 2011. I write this piece as I hear the rain on my window. Isn’t there supposed to be snow on December 30? Feel free to express your opinion about a “Green Christmas” as opposed to a “White Christmas”.

A slight smile appears on my face as I dream of the perfect Christmas: Seeing the tree, presents, snow, and not seeing the beer and cookies I left out for Santa the night before. But then, I woke up and realized that one thing was missing. What happened to “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas?” A pinch of anger spreads throughout my body as I can still see the grass. “Merry Christmas….” I mumbled to myself as I got out of bed and walked down the stairs.

If I block out the leafless trees, it very well could be a rainy summer day. With the incredibly green grass and my snowless driveway, I feel as if fall is never ending, and winter just got up and walked away. We live in Wisconsin! How has it not snowed yet?! It’s almost New Year’s Day, and besides the pointless snow that melts away in an hour, there’s nothing…nada…zip.

I don’t need a blizzard to please me. I just can’t leave 2011 behind with only the snow from 10 months ago. Maybe just a reassuring three inches would be nice. It’s not that hard to shovel either. Just barely enough to play in, it’s the perfect amount. That’d be a great way to end the year.

The green feeling loses its effect when the leaves have fallen and have been swept away. It’s too late for a White Christmas, but is it too much to ask for a white New Year’s?

Coral Reefs

Author’s note: I am writing this piece to go along with my Coral Reefs Project, which is posted on my wiki, but I am also trying to improve my writing scores. The main category that I’m trying to improve on is my introduction techniques. Also, my conclusions aren’t all that great so I’m trying to improve my score or level of proficiency as well.

You’re scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef. Waves crash above you, but as you dive deeper the water becomes still. You see thousands of fish swimming above and below you and you wonder, why here? Why did they all decide to live here? They have the entire ocean to spread out, yet the reef is completely packed with all kinds of species. Each has a special feature or look to it. Rainbows of fins twirl around you. They’re all so unique, so different, yet they all share the same home.
Why do they all come here?

The reason each and every single one of them decided to live here is a simple answer. Coral. Most live in crammed living conditions so that they can have just a little bit of coral. The coral can provide many things for fish and other underwater species. Coral can be used for safety, food source, and shelter.

The shelter and safety that coral creates is truly amazing. Not only do its cracks and crevices provide homes and shelter for several animals on the reef, but its foundation allows other plants to grow on top of it which supply the fish with both homes and food. A good example is the anemone. The anemone is a plant that grows on coral that provides for the clown fish. The clown fish is the only fish that is immune from the stings of the anemone. Also, the clown fish’s main food source is the leftover food that the anemone doesn’t eat.

Unlike the clown fish, almost all other fish have to find food on their own. Luckily, because the coral is so packed with fish, the bigger fish have it easy hunting wise. The little fish, well….. Not so lucky. Little fish rely on the coral for safety. Whether it’s blending in with the coral or simply hiding in the cracks, the smaller fish would we dinner if it weren’t for the coral.

Coral reefs are marvelous natural wonders. I hope it is understood why they play such a huge role in the underwater ecosystem.