SamNells
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Here's a tricky one, how is there physics involved in not moving?!?!?!??!?! Impossible you say? Neigh! Gravity. The only reason it's possible to not move or be constantly accelerating is because of the downward force of gravity, caused by the rotational inertia of the earth, so as long as the earth keeps spinning, you can keep doing nothing. Pretty Sweet, right?
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Ever get so mad that you just want to hit something really hard, and you do, and it breaks? Well here's why it breaks! (hope this doesn't make you too angry). When you hit something, you're transferring the mechanical energy of that object to the object that you are striking. Now if the force is hefty enough (force = mass x acceleration), it will cause the weakest point in that object to give way and break... like that hole in your wall.
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Yep. here it is, an easy one. Falling. First, if we keep in mind that on earth everything accelerates downward at 9.8 meters per second due to the force of gravity. So, that means for every second you are in the air, you go about ten meters per second faster than you were the previous second. For an example, you fall for 5 seconds, at the end of that five seconds you hit the ground at about 50 meters per second (or about 22 miles per hour), ouch! hope you live through that one.
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Drumming (and percussion in general) is a very interesting form of music making, I mean, it's the only instrument that you get to whack the crap out of! The physics behind hitting a drum, and how it produces its sound is actually quite fascinating. When you strike a drum with a drum stick (or your hand, a brush, a mallet, etc...) you actually create a physically visible pulse in the drum head, this pulse generates a sound wave that becomes amplified by pushing the air in the shell of the drum (the wooden part, for those of you who are wondering) to a resonant head at the bottom of the drum. The resonant head then vibrates at the same frequency of the batter head that was struck by the drum stick, and the result is a beautifully deep punch of a tone that's sure to rattle your brain.
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The Physics of Riding a Skateboard
SamNells posted a blog entry in Sam's Blogging Blog of Blogginess
Skateboarding is a very diverse extreme sport, some do it just for the ride, while others work their way up to performing tricks on their skateboards, using their feet, the friction of the skateboard, and the courage of an idiot. Since the physics involved in actual skate boarding tricks is immensely complex, in this blog I will be explaining the physics behind simply riding a skateboard. When riding a skateboard, in order to accelerate, one must create rotational energy in the wheels, by balancing most of their weight on the skateboard with one foot, and using friction to their advantage by placing the other foot on the ground and pushing off (much like walking, only you accelerate much more quickly). once in motion, the rider may return the other foot to the skateboard and ride on, however, immediately after the final push. One begins to decelerate at a pretty consistent speed (taking into consideration the surface one is travelling on and the efficiency of the bearings in the wheels) so "pushing" is a constant necessity to keep the board in motion... And that is the physics behind riding on a skateboard.