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The Physics of Lupe Fiasco Kick Push


ihsseniorhill

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blog-0901865001397019281.jpgSome of you may be familiar with Lupe Fiasco's song Kick Push. This song is basically about a skater boy who meets a skater girl and skate off into the sunset. Now I don't know a lot a bout skateboarding but I know a little bit about the physics behind it.

Let start with part of the first verse:

First got it when he was six didn't know any tricks

Matter fact first time he got on it he slipped

Landed on his hip and busted his lip

For a week he had to talk with a lisp like thissss

The average six year old is about 42 inches tall. When we convert this to meter we get about 1.07 meter tall. As the six year old falls his energy is converted from potential to kinetic energy. Let's say he when he tries to step on the skateboard he slips and fall. From the info we have we could calculate various things, but for now lets find the velocity at which he collided with the ground.

vi= 0m/s

Vf= ?

d= 1.07 meters

a= 9.81m/s2

t=?

we can use the equation vf2 = vi2 + 2ad so vf2= (0m/s)2 + 2(9.81m/s)(1.07) when we calculate this we learn that he fall with a finial velocity of 4.5 m/s

we can also find how long it took him to fall. t= √2d/a so t= √2(1.07m)/ (9.81m/s2)

we find that he fell in .47 seconds

Now we can end the story right here

But shorty didn't quit it was something in the air

Yes there is always something in the air in Physics. We usually refer to this as air resistance. But don't worry we will neglect for now. The impact it has on our data is so small that it is negligible.

Yea he said it was something so appealing

He couldn't fight the feeling something about it

He knew he couldn't doubt it couldn't understand it brand it

Since the first kick flip he landed

Labeled a misfit a bandit cucump cucump cucump

His neighbors couldn't stand it

Doppler Effect!!! As the skateboarder moves away from the neighbors they observe this annoying sound with a lower frequency and lower amplitude. As he moves towards his neighbors house they experience this sound with a higher frequency and higher amplitude. Meaning the closer he gets the louder the sound is and the higher pitch the sound is. Yeah I can understand his neighbors frustration.

So he kick push kick push kick push kick push coast

And away he rolled jus' a rebel to the world with no place to go

So he kick push kick push kick push kick push coast

So come and skate with me just a rebel looking for a place to be

So lets kick and push and coast

So when the skater kicks they are increasing their potential energy. PE= mgΔh. By kicking his foot up the skater has increased their height of their foot. When he pushes the skater is creating a force. We know this because a force is defined ass a push or pull on a object. This force is what accelerates him. F=ma. or in other words a=F/m his acceleration is equal to his force divided by his mass. So if he is accelerating then his 'push' must be increasing because his mass is not changing. Lastly the skater coasts. This has to do with Newton's third law. There net force is equal to the force of his push subtract the force of friction. If there was no friction the skater would be able to coast forever. But because friction works in opposition to the force of the push over time the skater slows down. This is why he has to reapply this force with another kick and push.

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