Physics in Jet Skiing

When I went jet skiing for the first time this past Wednesday, I had to figure out the physics involved in it before I could get the hang of it. Some of the concepts involved in this activity are force, acceleration, and rotational motion. For example, you have to apply a constant force on the throttle if you want the jet ski to go at a constant speed. If you vary the amount of force applied on the throttle, the jet ski will end up accelerating and decelerating pretty often. It’s much harder to control the jet ski when its constantly speeding up and slowing down. After I learned how to apply a constant force to it, I had to figure out how much force I should put on the throttle without going too fast. Next, there is also rotational motion involved because there was a three-buoy course set up that we had to follow, and we couldn’t go past twenty feet from the buoys. Therefore, when I turned around the buoys, I had to make sure there was a twenty-foot radius and that my speed was constant so that I stayed in uniform circular motion. By keeping in uniform circular motion, I didn’t make too sharp turns or too wide turns. Finally, I learned how to jet ski based on some concepts I learned in physics.