From a young age, children are attracted to the magic of the swing - or should I say the physics of it. Although it is true that toddlers' forward motion is provided by their parents' pushing of the swing, older kids manage to increase the speed of their motion without any external force helping them. This is explained by the theory of the parametric oscillator. By raising his/her body at the lowest moment of motion and lowering themselves at the highest, the child manages to increase his/her momentum, thereby lengthening the arc traveled on each swing.
Showing posts with label Circular motion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Circular motion. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Swinging Back and Forth
From a young age, children are attracted to the magic of the swing - or should I say the physics of it. Although it is true that toddlers' forward motion is provided by their parents' pushing of the swing, older kids manage to increase the speed of their motion without any external force helping them. This is explained by the theory of the parametric oscillator. By raising his/her body at the lowest moment of motion and lowering themselves at the highest, the child manages to increase his/her momentum, thereby lengthening the arc traveled on each swing.
Friday, November 2, 2012
Centripetal Acceleration
Centripetal force is the force which allows an object to travel in a circular path. This force always acts toward the center of the circle in uniform circular motion; meanwhile, the velocity of the object remains linear (tangential to the path of the circle). The fact that the net applied force (and 
the acceleration) is perpendicular to the direction of motion causes the linear velocity differ at every instant, creating a circular path for the object to follow.
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