Jungle Fun!

On Saturday, I went to Jungle Fun at Alamoana Center with my sister. We wanted to watch people play games and cruise around. It was pretty crowded there. I haven't been to Jungle Fun in quite a while, so some of the games were new. We didn't intend to play any games so we left after staying there for ten minutes or so.

Before leaving, my sister pointed out a cow attached by a string to the ceiling flying around in circles. The cow's circular movement had something to do with physics so I decided to take a picture of it.

As the cow moves in a circles, it is accelerating because the velocity is constantly changing direction. Acceleration is caused by a force acted upon the object. According to Newton's second law of motion, an object experiencing acceleration must be experiencing a net force. In the cow's case, centripetal force causes the cow to move in a circular path. Centripetal force is known as the center seeking force because the force is directed toward the center of the circle. Without this force, the cow would not be moving in a circular motion, but in a straight line. Newton's first law of motion or law of inertia states that objects in motion tend to stay in motion with the same speed and the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force. Therefore, centripetal force is the unbalanced force needed by the flying cow.

If an object has a small mass, then the centripetal force is small. If the string that the object is attached to is short, then more centripetal force needs to be applied. The cow flying in circles is a product of physics due to centripetal force. That is so cool!

Playing Frisbee

Over the weekend, my sister and I played frisbee in our frontyard. In this picture, my sister is throwing the frisbee to me. As she releases the frisbee into the air, the air moving above the frisbee flows faster than the air underneath it. Due to the Bernoulli principle, the lower air pressure on top of the frisbee compared to the pressure underneath the frisbee causes the flying disk to rise.

Newton's Third Law, which states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, is also shown in the movement of the frisbee. While the frisbee moves, it forces air down (action) and air forces the Frisbee upward (reaction).

Once in the air, the frisbee remains stable because of its angular momentum or spinning. Gravity also has an affect on the frisbee by accelerating its mass to the center of the earth.