Using Dictionaries for Physics

Arrange information

To compare different scenarios, one can arrange essential information in a dictionary where it is easily accessible for calculations.

Let’s consider an example from a construction site where four different objects need to be lifted to the appropriate floor.

# create dictionary for scenarios in which work is completed

beam1 = {"floor": 18, "weight": 5000}
beam2 = {"floor": 20, "weight": 4000}
window1 = {"floor": 10, "weight": 200}
window2 = {"floor": 7, "weight": 200}

construction = [beam1, beam2, window1, window2]

Calculate work

We know that the work required to lift an object is given by

\(W = Fd = mgd\)

where \(W\) is work, \(m\) is mass, \(g\) is gravity, and \(d\) is distance from the ground.

Each floor of a building is approximately 10 feet high.

# iterate through the list to add the work required for each
for i in range(len(construction)):
    work = construction[i]["weight"] * construction[i]["floor"] * 10
    construction[i].update({"work": work})

print(construction)

[{'floor': 18, 'weight': 5000, 'work': 900000}, {'floor': 20, 'weight': 4000, 'work': 800000}, {'floor': 10, 'weight': 200, 'work': 20000}, {'floor': 7, 'weight': 200, 'work': 14000}]

Determine the most and least work-intensive objects to lift.

# iterate over list of items to form list of work
workRequired = []
for items in construction:
    workRequired.append(items.get("work"))

mostWork = max(workRequired)
leastWork = min(workRequired)