Jump to content
  • entries
    30
  • comments
    13
  • views
    5,572

An Unfortunate Incident with Friction

aweld98

Entry posted by aweld98

368 views

 Share

Last Wednesday, my tennis team went to individual sectionals.  While we ended up losing 7-10, it was not before I ended up badly scraping my knee against the court.  See, the opponent hit a great shot, and as I accelerated and bent low to hit the shot, my knee came into contact with the tennis court.  The force I was applying due to my sprint was in the direction of where the ball was, yet the frictional force from the court on my knee was in the opposite direction, causing a net force on my knee.  This force caused me to miss the ball because it reduced the total net force from my sprint, making my acceleration smaller (application of Newton's second law: F=ma).  In addition, because kinetic energy= .5mv^2 and a decrease in my acceleration would have caused a decrease in my velocity, then my total kinetic energy had to have decreased.  While some of this lost kinetic energy was restored into potential energy (that I later converted into kinetic energy during the following points), some of this energy must have done work on my knee or transformed into thermal energy when I received that "rug burn" scar.

 Share

0 Comments

Recommended Comments

There are no comments to display.

Guest
Add a comment...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×

Terms of Use

The pages of APlusPhysics.com, Physics in Action podcasts, and other online media at this site are made available as a service to physics students, instructors, and others. Their use is encouraged and is free of charge. Teachers who wish to use materials either in a classroom demonstration format or as part of an interactive activity/lesson are granted permission (and encouraged) to do so. Linking to information on this site is allowed and encouraged, but content from APlusPhysics may not be made available elsewhere on the Internet without the author's written permission.

Copyright Notice

APlusPhysics.com, Silly Beagle Productions and Physics In Action materials are copyright protected and the author restricts their use to online usage through a live internet connection. Any downloading of files to other storage devices (hard drives, web servers, school servers, CDs, etc.) with the exception of Physics In Action podcast episodes is prohibited. The use of images, text and animations in other projects (including non-profit endeavors) is also prohibited. Requests for permission to use such material on other projects may be submitted in writing to info@aplusphysics.com. Licensing of the content of APlusPhysics.com for other uses may be considered in the future.

APlusPhysics Books

APlusPhysics Books

×
×
  • Create New...