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Re: The Olympics



--- Michael Edmiston <edmiston@BLUFFTON.EDU> wrote:
It seems to me the girlfriend-gymnast has
contradicted herself and has
affirmed those who state the athlete leaves the
ground with angular momentum
when she states, "it is possible to decide which way
to twist AFTER leaving
the ground." If a person sometimes has to twist one
way and sometimes twist
the other way, in order to accomplish the same
maneuver, and she decides
this after leaving the ground, how else can we
interpret this other than she
is compensating for slight differences in launch
dynamics.

Let me clarify the claim. It is not true that a
gymnast sometimes has to twist one way and sometimes
the other. Instead, a given gymnast always twist the
same direction, a direction chosen based on
handedness. However, an experienced gymnast COULD
choose to twist the other way given identical launch
conditions. In the actual performance of gymnastics
the twist is not executed to straighten out and
compensate for any initial differences, but to produce
a net rotation for aesthetic effect.


Her perception
may be that she is not imparting angular momentum at
launch. But her
statements are consistent with the fact she is
imparting angular momentum at
launch and she has to compensate during flight for
slight excess or deficit
of angular momentum created by inconsistencies in
the launch.


Michael D. Edmiston, Ph.D.
Phone/voice-mail: 419-358-3270
Professor of Chemistry & Physics FAX:
419-358-3323
Chairman, Science Department E-Mail
edmiston@bluffton.edu
Bluffton College
280 West College Avenue
Bluffton, OH 45817



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