Re: The Olympics

[Doug Craigen <dcc@ESCAPE.CA>]

John Barrer wrote:
> Doug - I see your point, BUT if that's so, then "how
> come" an egg drop project that is top-heavy will
> rapidly tumble on its way to the floor. I have seen
> many toothpick projects with the egg perched on top of
> an elaborate energy-absorbing structure quickly rotate
> in free fall so that the egg lands first! John Barrere

I don't know what experiment you are refering to, but in my experience
being top-heavy does not cause a falling object to rotate.  As a quick
test before risking putting my foot in it yet again... I went to me tool
box and took a variety of top heavy objects such as hammers and dropped
them from a few different angles of inclination, and in all cases they
hit the floor at the same angle of inclination as I had dropped them
from. (reading that last sentence I'm a bit worried since there is a
grammar analysis going on in another thread, but I'm too tired to go
back and rework it right now, I'll just take any flames that come ;-)).

I think the free-body question is a good basic one, its what I always
tell my students to do so why not myself or a colleague?  Having thought
about it a bit now I can see all kinds of dynamic ways of achieving zero
angular momentum rotations, but I cannot see any way of constructing a
free body  diagram demonstrating that a static shape begin rotating due
to gravity alone.

\_/^\_/^\_/^\_/^\_/^\_/^\_/^\_/^\_/^\_/^\_/^\_/^\_/^\

Doug Craigen
          http://www.dctech.com/physics/about_dc.html