Intro to Waves Lab

For this experiment, we used a spring and a stopwatch.

We started out with the spring stretched around six meters.

Part 1:

For this part, I placed my left hand about 50 centimeters up the spring while my right hand held the end back.  I then pulled my left hand back until it was close to my right, and let go. 

1) Describe in words and drawings what you see after releasing the spring.

It's hard to describe the motion in the spring, since it is unlike anything that occurs in everyday life.  It was if a current, that started from my left hand pulling back the loaded spring, traveled down to my partner's end of the spring, and then came right back.  The way I could tell a current was traveling was by the change in color that traveled down the spring (the change in color came from the loss of light when the spring cords touched).  

2) What happened to the wave when it reached the other end of the spring?

It was if the wave or current bounced off the other end and came right back towards me.  After the "bounce," the wave slowed down, but remained at a constant speed until it hit my end of the spring.  So the wave travels the same speed down the spring, until it hits the end, where it loses velocity.  The wave seemed to disappear after bouncing off my end.

Part 2:

For this part, while my right hand held the end of the spring, my left hand held the spring about 50 centimeters down.  I quickly moved that hand sharply out to the right about 30 centimeters and brought it right back.

3) Describe in words and drawings what you see after releasing the spring.

It looked like a wave, just like part 1, but this time it was much more visible.  This was due to the fact that the wave moved down the spring while that part of the spring stayed out to the right all the way down.  You can picture it by imaging an egg traveling down a snake's neck.  You can see the outline of the egg stretching the skin.  So that first sharp turn of the spring at the beginning traveled down to the end.

4) Describe in words and drawings what happens to the waves when it reaches the other end of the spring.

When the wave hit the other end of the spring, the egg-looking part of the spring changed sides, so now the outward current that was traveling towards me was on the other side than before.  The moving wave was smaller too; it didn't go out the full 30 centimeters.  Each time the wave hit an end, it would switch sides and shrink a bit.  The wave kept going until it's second time hitting my side, where it seemed to disappear.

5) Does the size of the wave change as it travels along the spring?  Describe both its amplitude and its wavelength.

As the wave traveled down the spring, the wavelength remained constant.  However, whenever it hit an end, the wavelength would slow a bit.  So a change in wavelength only occurred after hitting an end.  The amplitude also didn't change until after hitting an end.  The amplitude returned to equilibrium after hitting my side for the second time.

Part 3:

For this part, we did the same procedure as part 2, but used a stopwatch to see how long it took for the wave to return to my end of the spring.

6) How long did it take for the wave pulse to traveled from one end to the other and back?

I did three trials.  They came to be 1.75, 1.74, and 1.78 seconds.  So the pulse was traveling at around 6.85 m/s.

7) Do you think changing the amplitude of the wave will change its velocity?  Try it.

A change in amplitude ended up having no effect on the velocity.  If I pulled the spring out 50 cm instead of 30 cm, or 20 cm instead of 30, the time to return to my end of the spring was almost the same every time.

8) Do you think changing the wavelength will change its velocity? Try it.

The wavelength is represented by how fast the pulse travels down the spring.  We experimented by varying the speed in which I pulled out the spring to the side.  This also had no effect on the time it took for the pulse to return to my end.

9) Do you think stretching or shortening the length of the spring will change its velocity?  Try it.

This did have an effect on the velocity.  When we shortened the length of the spring to about four meters, we found the speed by doing distance/time or (m/s).  Since the wave had to travel down and back, the distance was eight meters.  The time it took for the wave to return to me took around 1.6 seconds after three trials.  So (8m/1.6s) = 5 m/s.  If you look up at part 6), the speed for six meters was about 1.75 m/s.  We found the speed through the same process when the spring was stretched nine meters, and the speed came out to be 9.5 m/s.  As you can see, lengthening the spring increases the velocity.  This is due to increasing tension in the spring.

Blog 1.5

One thing I noticed from the film but not the book is how during Charley and Willy's game of cards, Willy cheated by looking at Charley's cards.  To me, this shows what type of person Willy is.  Willy respects his brother, Ben, who clearly did some sketchy stuff to earn a lot of money in Africa.  It's as if Willy lives by the rule, "The end justifies the means."

Death of a Salesman: Golden Quote #1

"I lost weight, Pop, you notice? (Miller 35)

               In today's world, there are many different ways in which children try to get attention.  Some receive it through throwing tantrums, others by whining.  But some children try to earn their parents' attention by doing well at something, or by impressing them.  In Happy's case, he tried getting his father's attention by losing weight.

Three times during Act One, Happy asks his father this question (top).  Each time, there is no response; the scene either ends or a new character enters.  All of these quotes were ones from past memories though, during one of Willy's reminiscences.  The reader knows that now Happy is both physically very fit and very favorable with women, so his weight was a problem of the past.  But Arthur Miller was surely trying to make a point, having Happy ask the question three times.  My take on it is that Happy has always been "number two" or "an afterthought" in his father's mind.  The first-born son, Biff, seems to take up all of Willy's attention and thought.  It's as if Willy is trying to relive his life through his son Biff.  To be fair, Willy doesn't completely ignore his second son Happy, it's clear that he loves them both very much and wants them to be successful.  But all of Happy's life, he has listened to his father talk about Biff as if he's some type of god.  Typically when this happens in today's world, the "ignored" child might get angry and may act rashly in order to gain attention.  Happy doesn't seem to mind though.  He talks highly of his older brother and agrees with his father whenever Willy praises Biff.  It'll be interesting to see if Happy's reaction to his brother's glamor in his father's eyes changes.

               If you define success as having lots of money and a good job, then Happy became much more successful than Biff.  While Biff goes around the West earning small jobs at various cattle ranches, Happy has a comfortable job in New York City where he earns a respectable wage.  Maybe the reason for this is because during Biff's childhood, he didn't really need to prove anything to anybody.  Everybody loved his personality and he was very popular with the girls in school, so he didn't see why he would need to work hard in order to be successful.  Happy, on the other hand, didn't receive the constant praise, so he probably worked harder than Biff in order to make a bigger name for himself.  This is why it's not always a good thing to have such an easy childhood.  You might take it for granted, like Biff did, and regret it later in life.

The Single Greatest Thing About America is...

“The single greatest thing about America is… Aunt Jemima.” Not only is Aunt Jemima delicious maple syrup that Americans love to throw on almost all breakfast foods, but the picture on the bottle represents the stereotypical warm-hearted grandmother that is a significant figure in Americans’ lives. America needs an Aunt Jemima to feed them Grandma’s delicious homemade goodies.  Aunt Jemima is a way to keep eating grandma’s goods your entire life

College Graduate Advice

Dear recent college grad,

I would like to offer you one significant piece of advice for you as you enter the "real world."  That advice is to never accumulate credit card debt.  Credit card debt is an absolute killer, and a killer to much of our population.  According to an article by NerdWallet, the average American household credit card debt is $7,193.  This is obnoxious.  There should be zero credit card debt across the nation, because you should only use your credit card if you are certain you have the money in your bank to pay the bill.  If you are the average American who owes the previous amount in debt, imagine if you invested that exact amount ($7,193).  See below

If you invested that amount as a current principal, and never added to it for forty years (earned an average of 8.5% per year), you could make yourself almost $200k.  And hear this, if you only look at American households who have debt, the average credit card debt goes up to $15,418!  In total, American consumers owe $852 billion in credit card debt.  Yes, I said billion.  

There is another debt factor in the States even larger than that of credit card debt, and it is student loan debt.  According to projectonstudentdebt.org, the average American who borrowed money for college owes $26,600 in debt.  However, since you are already graduated and cannot retrace your steps and pick a cheaper college, we'll continue to focus on credit cards.  Credit cards can in fact be advantageous.  Many credit card companies offer special bonuses (such as frequent flyer miles), hoping their users will use the card more (to rack up their flyer miles), while falling deeper and deeper into debt.  So yes, credit cards can be great (offer bonuses and safer than carrying around huge sums of cash), but make sure you only use it if you know you have the money in the bank for what you're buying.  

I found an article that gives some great advice on using your credit card (Credit Card Advice).  I suggest you take a look at it.

Here are some key points I picked up from it:

1) If you are planning on traveling a lot internationally, find a credit card without a foreign interaction fee (can be up to 3%).

2) Pay off the balance of your credit card in full every month.

3) You tend to spend more on debit cards than credit cards, more on credit cards than cash, and more with small bills with large bills. So put some large bills in your wallet and take out the credit cards and you are less likely to spend much.  

I hope this advice will help you out, and I wish you the best of luck in your career!

Tucker Erdmann   

December 11 - Phase V

      For Phase V, the final phase, we covered the costs of our future home (down payment, mortgage, maintenance, and insurance).  Since I will likely be working in NYC when I'm older, I found a house in a nearby county.  http://www.homes.com/listing/172682880/1107_Pondside_Dr_Unit%3A_1107_WHITE_PLAINS_NY_10607.  This house is in Westchester, which is a great area but also expensive.  The house is listed at  $469,000.  But I'm saying that I can get it for $450,000 since the seller rarely gets the price they are asking for.  According to an online mortgage calculator, http://www.ginniemae.gov/2x_prequal/le_detail_estimate.asp, I will need a $81,737 down payment on the house in order to get a loan.  This is a bit under 20%, so it is accurate.  I still haven't used my $19,761 bonus from my first year of work, so I'll put that towards the cost of the house.  To pay off the rest of the down payment will cost $7,080 annually for 8.75 years.  However, my salary will probably increase by then so lets say it will take me six years to pay off my down payment.  For my mortgage, I would definitely get it at the bank I am working at, Bank of America.

According to ginniemae, to pay off my loan will cost $2,825 per month for thirty years.  So it will be paid off by the time I'm about 55.  For insurance, according to http://homeinsurance.com/New-York/County-Westchester.php, the average home insurance costs $694.00 per year.  For maintenance, according to http://www.bankingmyway.com/real-estate/home-equity/estimating-annual-home-maintenance-costs, annual maintenance costs are around $4000, or $333.3 per month. I don't think I need to take this out of my budget because I don't own that house yet.

          I talked to my dad about home insurance and maintenance.  He used USAA for his home insurance on his house in Maine.  He couldn't quite remember how much he paid each year, but he said it was around the average ($694.00).  He thinks home insurance is very important because it's not worth the risk of having all your stuff destroyed/stolen.  For maintenance, my dad was pretty good about keeping this budget low.  He didn't have many damages.  For example, no windows broke and no frozen pipes.  Twice the sewer got backed up, but insurance paid for that.  My dad saved lots of money by painting the house by himself instead of hiring a painter, and he re-stained the deck by himself.  So his annual maintenance costs were under $4000, but I might be too busy with work to do that stuff.

          I am still debating over renters insurance, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to get it.  Zack and I would be in a lot of trouble if there was a theft at our apartment, so we want to play it safe.  The average renters insurance in NYC costs $150-$300 a year, so we'll average that and say $215.  Renters insurance protects you from many things, including fire, hail, explosions, aircrafts, smoke, vandalism, theft, weight of ice, snow, or sleet, water related damages, and electrical surge damage.  That's a lot if you ask me!  I increased my salary by 5%, and this will allow Zack and I to get a 55" HDTV and a nice Bose sound system.  

December 9 - Phase IV

         Before finishing Phase IV, I went back to Phase II to finish up my furnishing section.  Zack and I had to partially work together for this section since some things we won't need individually so we can pay for them together.  I used Ikea to find my stuff.  My mom thinks that our apartment will probably come with a refrigerator, so that is covered.  Zack found a microwave on craigslist $60 total, so $30 each. Also on craiglist we found a dining room table with four chairs that only cost $75 total, so $37.5 each.  For my bedroom, I think I'll need a bed, a nightstand, a lamp, a desk, a chair, and a trash bin.  I might need some other small stuff like a clock and rug, but I can get those at a local cheap place (Goodwill).

Here is some of the stuff I found.  My bed is just a single bed.  For the living room, we also found a coffee table for our couch which costs $90, or $45 total. Zack and I are deciding whether or not we'll need a TV, or we can just use our laptops for TV and movies.  My mom and Mrs. Chaudhry both have extra silverware and plates we can use for eating.  Zack and I also will be eating out a lot, so we won't need much.
         For stage IV, I covered investments, financial freedom, and insurance.  Insurance was super easy. I said that I will be working for Bank of America, and I researched that their employees are covered by Aetna, which covers medical, dental, vision, leaves of absence, disability and life insurance. So my basica necessidies for insurance are automatically covered by my company! I don't need car insurance since I won't be owning one. I am going to ask Mr. Hallam about renters insurance.  For investing, I am definitely going to take advantage of my company's 401(k) plan.  For Bank of America, for every dollar you invest, they will match it (up to $17,000).  I will already have $2,500 to invest by the time I start working, so if I invest $17,000 annually ($32,000 with 401k) I'll make over 4 million by the time I turn 55.

So I'll be financially free by the time I turn 55.  I'll use my 401k for a 2050 Target Retirement Plan with Vanguard.  The rest of my annual salary will be used for my own savings toward a house.

        I had a look at Zarima's blog http://sb-sas33372.blogspot.sg/.  Here she talked about Stage I and II of her project.  Her apartment only cost $840 if she lives with a roommate! That is great for her, but I can't imagine the apartment being of that high quality.  Just like me, Zarima won't be getting a car since she'll live in Boston.  Maybe we'll meet up sometime since we live in nearby cities! Zarima found a nice house she could see herself living at in the future for only $200k.  I'm excited to see Zarima's final project.