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Hot Rod

DavidStack

Entry posted by DavidStack

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Hot Rod, arguably the greatest movie ever created, actually has quite a bit of physics incorported into it. The part I will focus on is when Rod fails miserably to jump the local pool. Barely making it halfway, Rod slowly spins forward while in the air and lands face first, bike and all, into the pool. His demise results from two things - lack of kinetic energy and conservation of angular momentum. While he did have a ramp leading up to the jump, it was not nearly big enough to clear the pool. Thus, his moped could not gain enough speed, which meant that he didn't have enough kinetic energy to convert to potential energy to reach the height he needed to reach. Not only so, but while taking off the jump, Rod leaned forwards. Since he couldn't control his angular momentum while suspended in the air, that initial momentum continued while he was in the air, leading him to rotate forward ever so slowly and land on his face. All in all, Rod clearly didn't understand the physics needed to clear this jump. However, he made the movie hilarious, which is all that matters I guess.

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