Riddhika Parmar, Week 11: The Power of Momentum
Riddhika Parmar
Week 11 - 2/16/22
The Power of Momentum
I am taking Physics this year and I love how the concepts I’m learning relate to the real world we all live in every single day. One physical concept, momentum, essentially means: “the strength or force that something has when it is moving forward, as in ‘The wagon gathered/gained momentum [=it moved faster] as it rolled down the hill. The wagon lost momentum [=it moved more slowly; it slowed down] as it rolled up the hill’” (merriam-webster.com).
Physics becomes so interesting when it is applied to non-tangible concepts too. For example, the “strength or force that allows something to continue or to grow stronger or faster as time passes, as in ‘The company has had a successful year and hopes to maintain its momentum by introducing new products’” (merriam-webster.com).
The concept of momentum can be applied to junior year of high school. Junior year is considered the toughest year for just about every high school student. Is there anything positive about the constant hard work that never lets up and only seems to pile on more, the lost hours of sleep, lost hours of hobbies, lost hours of family time, lost hours of personal self care time, lost hours of vacation days doing nothing else at all? There is.
All of this will ultimately end. The undeniable power of momentum ensures that at some point, the number of positive past experiences will be overwhelming enough to overcome any challenges and fuel future successes.
Everyone hits momentum at a different rate. For some of us, it will be now in the second semester of junior year, with only one more year of high school to go. For some it will hit after this semester ends and the summer begins. For others it will be after the summer and fall of this year. Just know that it will surely have to happen. The laws of science just exist and cannot be stopped by mere humans. At some point of time we will be able to experience an effortless ride driven by the powerful force of momentum, built up as result of all the work we have done.
photo credit: https://kneissl.com
I feel as though life itself is a never ending cycle of momentum. We are constantly catching wind and then slowing down when we need to take breaks. I believe all of us are victims of doing the former more than the latter, and this is what causes us to lose focus in life. If we accept that momentum has two sides to the spectrum, both speeding up and slowing down, we may be able to live a more balanced life without constantly burning out. All this said, I hope Junior year catches momentum so it can be summer and we can all finally gain back our personalities.
ReplyDeleteIt's really interesting that momentum is honestly very similar to energy. It's either we lose or gain momentum in our lives. When we have the energy or at the start of the week, we have the momentum we need to get up and go to school but in the span of 5 days, we burn ourselves out with the pile of homework we have had to do and the late night studying we've had to do to do well on our upcoming tests. The weekend gives us a little momentum as we have a little more time to rest, but it's almost the same as weekdays, sitting and doing work. As time goes, our momentum honestly just keeps decreasing. High school has definitely downgraded our momentum like never before and it only gets worse from here. I hope someday we are energized with the momentum we had as little kids because that felt good.
ReplyDeleteHi Riddhika,
ReplyDeleteI certainly hope your ideology is right. As I am writing this at 11:00 at night, I keep telling myself that I can sleep after just one more blog comment. I end up spending ten minutes on one of these and convince myself to write another while I am still focused. I never know when I will gain momentum while doing something, which is why starting is always the most difficult step. I find that once I start, I often begin to enjoy whatever assignment I am working on (unless I completely do not understand it) and put in more effort. It is interesting how I never thought of this phenomenon as momentum. It is a rather metal momentum that I hope to harness more often in order to stay productive.
Hey Riddhika, I thought it was really interesting how you related a physics concept to something applicable to all of us in real life. When I first started reading your blog post though, I subconsciously related the power of momentum to the trend of the richer getting richer and those at the bottom remaining there. Those who are extremely successful in whatever their specific endeavor is tend to feed off of that momentum to become exponentially better at that skill as they can use the skills that they already have and the motivation that comes with previously successful experiences to propel them further. However, those who are not as adept at a particular thing and are not as confident tend to stay at the bottom as they don't have the same. momentum to push them forward.
ReplyDeleteHi Riddhika! I'm glad that you are enjoying physics. Upon changing my mind about submitting my POAS at the early deadline, I witnessed a slight change to my worldview. After weeks of guilt of not tending to this paper, making the decision to choose happiness allowed me to begin working with ease. You could say I picked up some momentum and started meeting deadlines more easily.
ReplyDeleteHi Riddhika! First of all, I’m in your physics class and I’m jealous how you have only good things to say about physics. But the concept of momentum when applied to non-physics topics becomes so interesting. I’ve never thought about all my hard work in that way, but because of all this, I do feel a guarantee or hope that it will all pay off in the future. But at the end of the day, I feel like momentum stays a concept. There is no way it is true for every single person in the world (although I am manifesting it is true for me).
ReplyDeleteHi Riddhika! This was so motivational! We often underestimate the amount of power we ourselves hold and all the opportunities that are waiting for us in the future. I often get way too caught up in the work piling up, and I forget to think about all the things that could happen in the future. I feel it is important for us to believe that all our hardships will come to an end one day as nothing lasts forever.
ReplyDeleteHi Riddhika, I just finished reading Nivedita’s blog about time and I feel they relate pretty well. In life, when you have a force stronger than friction, life becomes easier and you have more time to do things you're passionate about. There are a couple of things that can remove friction in school: starting work or studying early, getting sufficient sleep, and sufficient exercise. This year for me my momentum wasn’t so strong because I could not limit my friction. Hopefully, I can increase my study force and get more momentum so I can finish this year without burning out.
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