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The Physics Behind Kayaking


skyblue22

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blog-0840268001368738801.jpgHave you ever been kayaking before? Well, if you have doesn't kayak paddling seems like a confusing motion? Since water is a liquid when you push against it, it would seem like it would just move out of the way. But it does not, when you push against the water, you actually move forward not the water. Why is this?

The reason you move forward is because of newtons 3rd law, which states that for every action(paddle) there is an equal and opposite reaction(movement). This means that for every paddle stroke you do, the pull of the stroke along the water is equal to the movement that you experience.

Newton's 2nd law states that the force exerted on an object equals the mass of the object multiplied by it's resultant acceleration, which can be shown by the equation f=ma. For example, if the kayaker has a total mass of 50kg and they exert a force of 150N then you would divide 150N by 50kg in order to find the acceleration, 3m/s^2.

Can you guess how many canoes and kayaks there are in the image above? Well, the kayak/canoe raft consists of 1,902 boats, which sets the Guinness Book World record for the largest raft of canoes and kayaks!

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