In this project, my group and I created a video for the Physics of a Perfect Volleyball Hit using multimedia. This project was fro the sports teams at San Marin High School and the goal was to complete a video that explained the physics behind the selected sport, and how it would help our sport teams. Our major problems that we faced during this project were how we will put all of our required work into the video, as well as communicating our ideas clearly in our video. First, as a group we discussed what sport we wanted to focus on. After some debating we decided on volley ball and the physics of a hit. Next, we made a storyboard with all of the shots we wanted to be included into our video, and from there we prioritized what equations we wanted highlighted in our final product. After that my group and I started to compile the shots we needed from our storyboard, and used our script to make voice overs. When we had all of our required work in the video and completed all of the calculations, it was time to edit our video together. Piecing the video together was a challenge for us because it involved lots of patience and we had to remember who our audience was and how to clearly communicate our findings to people who may not know all of the factors in physics. To make sure that our calculations were clear, we made sure to transfer them into more understandable units from the metric system. Then my group and I made sure that we had a clear message that these physics applied to and how it would help our players or what to do to improve their performances.
I feel that our final product had all of these components in them and were communicated clearly. Below is our final draft.
I feel that our final product had all of these components in them and were communicated clearly. Below is our final draft.
In our final video, my group and I had created a well edited video explaining our findings and how they can be related to volleyball players. We presented this video to our peers and got feedback from them on our strengths and what needed more work on this project. There was also a formal presentation at a film festival at San Marin that included our video. The video has clips of college volleyball players hitting as well as videos of San Marin students playing. We also included voice overs in our video explaining and detailing our work and equations to find our calculations. Our final product also includes the basic instructions of how to hit a volleyball successfully over the net giving tips as to approach the ball and how to have a strong hit ( it also explains the court dimensions and the weight of a standard volleyball). The main features of our video are the college volleyball players in hitting lines, the stop motion calculations, and our clip showing a suitable angle for hitting. The first main feature is our video of college players hitting the ball, because it shows how experienced players hit as well as how they approach the ball. Most importantly these clips show a slow motion video of players hitting the volleyballs, so it gives you an extra chance to see how this aspect of volleyball works and we got most of our calculations from these clips. The second main feature is our stop motion calculations that show how my group and I figured our the physics behind hitting. This is also an important clip, since it is extremely easy to follow the equations step by step. This helps, because our audience is mostly made up of people that may not know much about physics. The third main feature of our video is the clip showing a suitable angle for hitting/spiking a ball over the net. This is a main feature, becasue it clearly shows what message we what to get across, and makes the voice over easier to follow since you can see the angle we are talking about on the screen.
Below, you can find photos of my groups original/final storyboard and script. The script also contains our final calculations as well as links to our videos used in the final product. You can see below that my group and I changed some of our aspects from our script in our final video, but the same message went across.
Below, you can find photos of my groups original/final storyboard and script. The script also contains our final calculations as well as links to our videos used in the final product. You can see below that my group and I changed some of our aspects from our script in our final video, but the same message went across.
To Better Understand:
Acceleration- Acceleration is the rate of change of velocity speeding up or slowing down. The standard metric system units for acceleration are meters per second squared (m/s^2). In our project the acceleration of the volleyball was 71.2 m/s^2.
Vertical Velocity- The vertical velocity was acceleration due to gravity multiplied by time (ag * t). The vertical velocity that was found in our tests was 10.16 m/s ( meters per second).
Horizontal Velocity- The horizontal velocity was the distance horizontally divided by time (d horiz/ t). The horizontal velocity that my group and I found was 14.63 m/s. ( meters per second).
Force of Impact- Force of impact is mass multiplied by velocity is equal to force times time (mv=Ft). The force of impact that we found was 287.78 N (newtons), or in other units it would be 64.68 lbs (pounds).
Total Velocity- The total velocity is found by using the Pythagorean theorem which is a^2 + b^2= c^2. Using this formula on a clip of our player hitting the ball we found the total velocity which was 17.8 m/s ( meters per second).
Mass- Mass is the amount of matter in an object, or the number and size of atoms. The units for mass is kilograms (kg). We found that the mass of the volleyball was 0.27 kg.
Time- Time is defined as the progress of events, and the unit for time is seconds (s). We found the time of impact as well as the total time the ball traveled in the air. The time of impact was 0.0167 s, and the total time the ball traveled was 0.25 s.
Distance- Distance is defined as how far something has traveled. The units for distance in the metric system is meters (m). For our project we found the distance that the ball hit the ground at was 12 feet, or 3.6576 m. The other distance that we found was total distance the ball traveled which was 4.45 m.
Momentum- Momentum is the tendency of a moving object to keep moving ( how hard it would be to stop). The equation and units for momentum are P=mv and the units are Kgm/s or Ns.
Impulse- Impulse is how long and how forcefully something is pushed, " amount of share". The equation for impulse is J=Ft and the units for it are the same as momentum; Kgm/s or Ns.
Reflection
All in all, this was a really interesting project and I have learned a lot from our work. Two things that I did well during this project was time management and leadership. The first thing that I did well the past few weeks was how to control my groups time management as well as mine. An example of how I showed time management during this project was when my group and I had all of our clips done before the deadline and also finished our storyboard with complete details. This shows that I had time management because we had all of our clips done before they were due and we did not procrastinate. The second thing that I did well during this project was showing leadership. An example of how I showed leadership during the project was when my group and I first picked out our sport and I took control of the situation and got the group started off on the right foot. This is an example of how I showed leadership, because I took charge of a tough situation and kept that consistent rhythm throughout the project. The other thing that was a bonus in the project process was that everybody had an equal share of leadership and was able to contribute to the group.
Still, there are some areas in which I can approve. Some would include communicating ideas to my group and problem solving. The first skill that I still need to work on is communicating ideas to my group. One specific incident that showed I needed to improve on communicating ideas to my group is when we miss-communicated on what materials that we needed to bring one day. This shows that I need to work on communication with my groups is because if during a really important project my group and do not communicate clearly with each other, it could lead to serious consequences. I can improve upon this skill in the future by making sure that all of my group members can reach me outside of school so if any of us are ever confused we can all communicate with each other.The second skill that I need to work on is problem solving. An example of when this was shown as an area for me to improve on is when my group and me had to figure out how we would calculate a typically difficult equation, but we eventually figured out except we did not know where to start. This shows that I need to improve in this area of skills, because in real life you nee to have these difficult problem solving skills in college and beyond. In the future I can work on this skill by making sure that I am more proactive in group discussions and remember to tell myself that it is okay if an idea or suggestion fails, because that is how I can learn from my mistakes.
In conclusion, this project really opened up my mind to the power of using multimedia to explain scientific research. It was a new angle for me to explain findings and calculations, but because it was so different it really made me more interested in the whole project. I think that in the future I will be more confident using media to showcase my work, and I think this is a good skill to have because media is becoming more popular these days so that means more people will be able to access my work or findings easily.
Acceleration- Acceleration is the rate of change of velocity speeding up or slowing down. The standard metric system units for acceleration are meters per second squared (m/s^2). In our project the acceleration of the volleyball was 71.2 m/s^2.
Vertical Velocity- The vertical velocity was acceleration due to gravity multiplied by time (ag * t). The vertical velocity that was found in our tests was 10.16 m/s ( meters per second).
Horizontal Velocity- The horizontal velocity was the distance horizontally divided by time (d horiz/ t). The horizontal velocity that my group and I found was 14.63 m/s. ( meters per second).
Force of Impact- Force of impact is mass multiplied by velocity is equal to force times time (mv=Ft). The force of impact that we found was 287.78 N (newtons), or in other units it would be 64.68 lbs (pounds).
Total Velocity- The total velocity is found by using the Pythagorean theorem which is a^2 + b^2= c^2. Using this formula on a clip of our player hitting the ball we found the total velocity which was 17.8 m/s ( meters per second).
Mass- Mass is the amount of matter in an object, or the number and size of atoms. The units for mass is kilograms (kg). We found that the mass of the volleyball was 0.27 kg.
Time- Time is defined as the progress of events, and the unit for time is seconds (s). We found the time of impact as well as the total time the ball traveled in the air. The time of impact was 0.0167 s, and the total time the ball traveled was 0.25 s.
Distance- Distance is defined as how far something has traveled. The units for distance in the metric system is meters (m). For our project we found the distance that the ball hit the ground at was 12 feet, or 3.6576 m. The other distance that we found was total distance the ball traveled which was 4.45 m.
Momentum- Momentum is the tendency of a moving object to keep moving ( how hard it would be to stop). The equation and units for momentum are P=mv and the units are Kgm/s or Ns.
Impulse- Impulse is how long and how forcefully something is pushed, " amount of share". The equation for impulse is J=Ft and the units for it are the same as momentum; Kgm/s or Ns.
Reflection
All in all, this was a really interesting project and I have learned a lot from our work. Two things that I did well during this project was time management and leadership. The first thing that I did well the past few weeks was how to control my groups time management as well as mine. An example of how I showed time management during this project was when my group and I had all of our clips done before the deadline and also finished our storyboard with complete details. This shows that I had time management because we had all of our clips done before they were due and we did not procrastinate. The second thing that I did well during this project was showing leadership. An example of how I showed leadership during the project was when my group and I first picked out our sport and I took control of the situation and got the group started off on the right foot. This is an example of how I showed leadership, because I took charge of a tough situation and kept that consistent rhythm throughout the project. The other thing that was a bonus in the project process was that everybody had an equal share of leadership and was able to contribute to the group.
Still, there are some areas in which I can approve. Some would include communicating ideas to my group and problem solving. The first skill that I still need to work on is communicating ideas to my group. One specific incident that showed I needed to improve on communicating ideas to my group is when we miss-communicated on what materials that we needed to bring one day. This shows that I need to work on communication with my groups is because if during a really important project my group and do not communicate clearly with each other, it could lead to serious consequences. I can improve upon this skill in the future by making sure that all of my group members can reach me outside of school so if any of us are ever confused we can all communicate with each other.The second skill that I need to work on is problem solving. An example of when this was shown as an area for me to improve on is when my group and me had to figure out how we would calculate a typically difficult equation, but we eventually figured out except we did not know where to start. This shows that I need to improve in this area of skills, because in real life you nee to have these difficult problem solving skills in college and beyond. In the future I can work on this skill by making sure that I am more proactive in group discussions and remember to tell myself that it is okay if an idea or suggestion fails, because that is how I can learn from my mistakes.
In conclusion, this project really opened up my mind to the power of using multimedia to explain scientific research. It was a new angle for me to explain findings and calculations, but because it was so different it really made me more interested in the whole project. I think that in the future I will be more confident using media to showcase my work, and I think this is a good skill to have because media is becoming more popular these days so that means more people will be able to access my work or findings easily.