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Dancing

Both of my sisters used to dance and when I was younger I went to their dance recitals.  Every year I went, there was always that one dancer who would spin on her toe for the longest time.  I always notice that when ever the dancer slowed down while spinning, she whipped her legs around in a circle again and then she started to spin faster.  I have always wondered how one leg motion could keep you spinning for the longest time.  Well this simple spinning of a dance can be explained through angul

jwdiehl88

jwdiehl88

Curving a Soccer Ball

Curving a soccer ball, seems easy enough.  Everyone is able to do it, on purpose or accidentally.  All you have to do is kick a soccer ball.  And yet, there is so much physics in how a person can curve a soccer ball.  The reason a soccer ball curves is because the kicker kicks the ball at a certain angle and velocity causing the ball to spin.  However, once the ball is in the air, it is really the air that is curving the ball.  This seems impossible, but the air resistant will curve and bend the

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jwdiehl88

Cello

Cello, the best string instrument, creates beautiful music.  But how does a cello create sound?  Well, sound is produced by the vibrations of the string, and these sounds resonate inside the cello.  Cello strings are fifths (five notes apart) and each string creates their own frequency when you place your finger down on different parts of the string.  As you place your finger down the fingerboard to the bridge of the cello, it creates a higher frequency.  As you place your fingers up the fingerb

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Breaking a Board

I used to practice martial arts and one day in our dojo, my sensei decided that we should have fun by breaking boards.  Although breaking a board seems impossible for a person who doesn't do martial arts, it is quite simple if we look at the physics of breaking a board.  For example, a person needs to generate a certain velocity to impact the board at a certain position.  A person should make the impact/position of where your hands end, up past the board.  Otherwise your hand will have a tendenc

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jwdiehl88

Airplanes

The last time I was on a airplane was when I was traveling to Florida for vacation.  I wondered how almost 200 people and the mass of the plane didn't weigh the plane down.  The forces on the airplane is at equilibrium when the airplane reaches at a certain altitude.  Additional when the airplane reaches at a constant velocity therefore the forces on it all must be balanced.  This means that the lift force (L) generated by the airplane wings must equal the airplane weight (W), and the thrust for

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jwdiehl88

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