Preparing For Hershey

I sat in my seat, filled with excitement, ready for tomorrow’s journey. Today, we went over the preliminaries for research our project at Hershey Park, where we will measure the acceleration and make a complete analysis of one roller coaster. Professor Bill then gave us a couple of examples of the physics behind the thrill rides. We then meet the equipment that we will take onto our ride, along with how we were going to carry it on the actual ride without dropping it. Then we broke up into groups of 3 to 4 of our choice, which I like because I gave me another chance to meet as many people as possible. My partners for this epic project are Kim, who is from Spain, and Michael. After getting to know my partners and the equipment, we were dismissed for lunch.

Interns Showing Off The Equipment

After lunch, we came back to an incredible lab, that even came with a warning, “Try Not To Get Shocked.” Well back in the early 1900s, Robert Millikan was performing oil drop experiments to discover the charge of an electron. Today, we did a similar experiment with similar results in less than two hours. It really fun doing the experiments that the famous physicist used, which led to their discoveries.  I feel that I understand the concept a whole lot more than if I was just to read a book. Also, no one in my group got shocked, but I did hear that other groups weren’t as fortunate. Just before we were about to leave, Craig told me that I was chosen by the random generator to pick my roller coaster. Many of the other rides were chosen, but I was still able to pick one that seemed very scary, which means it is going to be fun. I chose the Sidewinder because it has loops, looks fast, and is not made out of wood, which is too scary for me.

Neil Performing The Oil Drop Experiment

After class, I went to play soccer with the same people as Tuesday. It was really fun, but my legs were quickly killing me after playing Tuesday and yesterday’s run with Clara. And just like Tuesday, random joggers joined in our game, which made the game more exciting. I think it is just crazy that everybody in the Penn area are really friendly, it adds a lot to the fun, which is why it is impossible to be bored at Penn.

Tomorrow is Friday! It’s going to be my favorite day at Penn, I can just feel it. The day begins with Hershey Park, and then ends with a movie, The Amazing Spider. It’s getting late and I am going to need a bunch of rest so that I can enjoy tomorrow to the max.