Bobsledding

Last night, I was watching a little of the Olympics. Bobsledding came on and although I’m usually bored by bobsledding, I decided to watch it because a U.S. team was about to go. The first U.S. team was kind of disappointing because they tipped over on their side at the end, costing them big time. However, the last team was another U.S. team, and they did outstanding, so I think they got gold. They apparently got first by 0.04 seconds, a miniscule amount of time. When the announcer was explaining how they went so fast, physics popped into mind. He said that what go them the fastest time was that all the bobsledders on that team kept their heads super low. This was the factor that sped them up because there’s a natural G-force that is trying to pull them up, but they did a good job of opposing that force by staying so low. By keeping low, they also cut down a lot on their air resistance, which helped to cut down their time. I learned something about bobsledding while the announcer explained the “G-force”. I knew that the bobsledders kept low to avoid air resistance, but I didn’t know that a G-force was also pulling them up at the same time, making it harder for them to go as fast as they can.

Winter Olympics

Since I've been watching the Winter Olympics as much as possible, I realized that there is quite a bit of physics involved in many of the events of the Winter Olympics. In fact, in some of the events, physics plays a major role in how well you do; one little mistake in your movements can cost you a medal. When I was watching Apollo Ohno in the speed skating final yesterday, he said that if he hadn't had that one little slip, then he could've won gold, but he came up short and got bronze because of that one mistake that slowed him down. In addition, in all the downhill sledding sports such as luge, bobsled, and skeleton, any little movements away from the center can cause air resistance and slow you down. The announcers even said that a little mistake at the top can be more costly than a smaller one at the bottom of the track because you don't have much speed yet at the top. While watching ski jumping, I was wondering why the skiiers bodies get so paralled to their skis, and I deduced that there is physics involved in this technique. I thought that they get as parallel to their skis as they can because it causes less air resistance, allowing them to jump farther. Overall, the Winter Olympic games involve a lot of air resistance, velocity, and momentum.

The Physics in Rides

I was so busy this past weekend that I had no time to go to the Punahou Carnival (which, I suppose, can be a good thing since I go to Iolani). However, thinking about the carnival made me get the idea of writing my physics blog about the physics in carnival rides. For instance, the Swings and the Ferris Wheel are good examples of uniform circular motion. On both rides, you sit in something as it goes around in a circle at a constant speed but constantly changing velocity. Pharaoh’s Fury is an example of a ride that moves like a pendulum. It goes back and forth, has its greatest velocity at the bottom, and its least velocity at the top of either side. Ring of Fire is a roller coaster, which demonstrates acceleration. After the roller coaster is released from rest at the top, it accelerates at a constantly rate downward and then decelerates at a constant rate back to the top. These are just a few examples of physics is carnival rides, but all rides have some kind of physics involved in them.