Post Hovercraft Blog

Riding on the hovercraft felt like nothing I have been on before. Of all the rides at Disney World, this was exceptional. The only thing I can compare it to would be the magic carpet from Aladdin. You are physically sitting on a surface, however that surface is floating in the air. If I could tell someone what to expect, it would be that it was a really strange feeling. Not good or bad, but something I would want to do again to get a better understanding of how I felt about it.
I learned about the three phases of the activity: the push, the gliding, and the stop. I learned that the one push that I got at the beginning would be the same remnants of the force if I was half a mile away. During the middle stage where there are no forces acting on the hovercraft, there was no net force but I was still moving. This concept was hard to wrap my head around at first, but makes more sense now.
According to this lab, acceleration relies on an outside force. Not much is needed, but once the force has acted on the object, it could move in that direction forever unless disturbed by another force.
During the middle section of the hovercraft ride would be when I would expect to have constant velocity because that is when there are no outside forces acting on the hovercraft such as the push and the stop.
Some members were harder to control because they have more mass. The initial push made all the difference in where the hovercraft went, and reset when the other group members caught the person and turned him around to be sent back across the gym. The lighter group members were easier to push because they have a lesser ability to control where they go.