How to Design a Real-Life Hot Wheels Loop
I get a minimum height of 2.5R. So if the loop is 4 meters high (with a radius of 2 meters), the car would have to start 5 meters above the ground to just make the loop. Of course, this assumes there’s no energy loss due to friction; you’d probably want to start a bit […]
How to Run on the Moon
When the elevator is stopped, the two forces are equal and opposite, and the net force is zero. But if you’re accelerating upward, the net force must also be upward. This means the normal force exceeds the gravitational force (shown by the lengths of the two arrows above). So you feel heavier when the normal […]
How to Measure the Impact From a Collision
Not only do I get the “shape” of the acceleration curve for the colliding cart, but I also get a maximum acceleration of –6.67 meters per second squared. With that acceleration and the mass of the cart (0.566 kilogram), we get a maximum impact force of 3.73 newtons. This isn’t quite the same value I […]