Maybe I shouldn't have started this blog now, not with everything that's been going on.

In my mechanics class ion Thursday afternoon I started on the new lesson which is related to their experiment on Wednesday, friction.

I reminded them that the frictional force is always parallel to the surface and opposite the direction of intended (not necessarily executed) motion. I reviewed the normal force, which I had discussed with them before, and which is part of the equation for the frictional force.

I disabused the notion one of them (obviously with prior knowledge) had that the normal force is always opposite the weight of the object, although I wouldn’t be able to give a concrete example of it until the next session (which I’ll discuss more about later).

I also differentiated for them static frictional force and kinetic friction, and the fact that the coefficient of friction is a numerical value less than one with no unit (zero for a frictionless surface and 1 for a completely adhesive surface such as flypaper).

Those were the only new concepts added to the summation of forces along the horizontal and the vertical, which would then still be solved the same way that we did in the previous topic.

After discussing a couple of examples on friction along a horizontal plane, I said that we would proceed to a slightly more complicated topic, which is friction on an inclined plane.

Immediately there were students who asked that it be postponed to the next meeting. I conceded, but went on to give them another example of friction.

I gave one of the unconventional problems that I encountered three terms ago, which was the one about the maximum acceleration that a runner could attain given only the coefficient of friction between his shoes and the ground, where friction did not impede the speed of the object moving but actually helped the speed, when the friction is higher.

We also discussed their field trip. I told them that on November 8 they had to confirm whether they’re going or not, because if less than 30 gave their intention then we would not be able to get the educational tour discount. I also said that I would be collecting the money and passing out the waiver forms on November 11.

And just like with my Mathematical Methods 1 class earlier, I also taught them how to compute for their midterm standing based on the two fifty point quizzes and one hundred point exam we’ve had.

For those who were worried about not having earned enough subject credit to get at least a passing grade by the time finals rolled by, I had one of the students (who is also in my MM1 class when I first told them) announce that they could up their grade by joining the Interactive Science contest, but with their deadline as December and not February, so as to be graded by finals. This was in accordance with the agreement we the organizers reached during the last faculty meeting to increase participation. I’m already planning to do the same for my mechanics classes next term.

And that’s Thursday. I’ll discuss Friday onwards in the next posts. Class dismissed.