Interrupted Pendulum

A pendulum swings from a support post and another post is added to interrupt its swing. We desire to know the maximum height at which the pendulum will perform a full loop around the post. The pendulum requires both potential and kinetic energy in order to complete a full loop. Therefore, it will never be able to return to its height of release while completing a full loop. Ultimately, the pendulum has enough energy to complete a full loop when interrupted at a height equal to two-fifths its initial height of release.

 

NASA | It Doesn't Take a Planet to Make Some Rings

A study by NASA scientists sounds a cautionary note in interpreting rings and spiral arms as signposts for new planets. Thanks to interactions between gas and dust, a debris disk may, under the right conditions, produce narrow rings on its own, no planets needed.

 

Free falling in outer space - Matt J. Carlson

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/free-falling-in-outer-space-matt-j-carlson

If you were to orbit the Earth, you'd experience the feeling of free fall, not unlike what your stomach feels before a big dive on a roller coaster. With a little help from Sir Isaac Newton, Matt J. Carlson explains the basic forces acting on an astronaut and why you probably shouldn't try this one at home.

 Lesson by Matt J. Carlson, animation by Josh Harris.

 

Hewitt-Drew-it! 50.Circular/Elliptical Orbit

Paul distinguishes circular and elliptical orbits with force vectors for each.

 

Hewitt-Drew-it! 49.Satellite Speed

Paul shows how a satellite's orbital speed in close Earth orbit relates to Earth's curvature.

 

Space Flight: The Application of Orbital Mechanics

This is a primer on orbital mechanics originally intended for college-level physics students. Released 1989.

 

Alice & Bob in Wonderland: Why doesn't the moon fall down?

Why doesn't the moon fall down? Join Alice & Bob in nine fun-filled, animated adventures as they wonder about the world around us.

 Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics.

 

Hewitt-Drew-it! 38.Centrifugal Force

Paul talks about centrifugal force using bicycle tires, ants and other examples

Other Hewitt-Drew-it! videos

Hewitt-Drew-it! 37.Centripetal Force

Paul talks about centripetal force, banked curves and tangential velocity.

Other Hewitt-Drew-it! videos

Hewitt-Drew-it! 34. Circular Motion

Paul discusses his father working as a ticket collector in a merry-go-round and ties this to a Burl-Grey problem involving circular motion.

Other Hewitt-Drew-it! videos

IDTIMWYTIM: Centrifugal Force

In this edition of IDTIMWYTIM, Hank addresses the so-called centrifugal force, and explains why you really mean centripetal force.

Other Sci-Show videos

Why the solar system can exist

If gravity is so attractive, why doesn't the earth just crash into the sun? Or the moon into the earth?

Other Minute Physics videos

Science off the Sphere: Dancing Droplets

NASA Astronaut Don Pettit, aboard the International Space Station, demonstrates some interesting interplay between water droplets and charged knitting needles in microgravity.

Other Science off the Sphere videos

Vehicles in circular motion on a vertical wall

Engine Governor

A short animation showing how and why the centrifugal governor was invented by James Watt. The centrifugal governor was required to assist i the development of machines and technology and was necessary for the industrial revolution to occur.

Is There Gravity In Space? (Why Are Astronauts Weightless?)

If you've seen footage from the International Space Station or any of the space shuttle missions, you know that astronauts float around as they orbit the Earth. Why is that? Is it because the gravitational force on them is zero in space? (Or nearly zero?) The truth is that the strength of the gravitational attraction is only slightly less than it is on Earth's surface. So how are they able to float? Well, they aren't floating - they're falling, along with the space station. They don't crash into the Earth because they have a huge orbital velocity. So as they accelerate towards the Earth, the Earth curves away beneath them and they never get any closer. Since the astronauts have the same acceleration as the space station, they feel weightless. It's like being in a free-falling elevator (without the disastrous landing).

Other Veritasium videos

Centrifugal Force (Brightstorm)

The centrifugal force...is it a real force?

Source:  Brighstorm

See other Brighstorm videos

Simple harmonic motion and uniform circular motion

Simple harmonic motion (at left) is a projection of the uniform circular motion (at right).

Other animations by Yves Pelletier

Julius Sumner Miller - Physics - Centrifugal Force

This is Julius Sumner Miller and physics is his business. Various demonstrations involving centrifugal force.

Other physics demonstrations by Julius Sumner Miller

Centrifugal or centripetal?

A passenger in a frictionless (!) turning cart slides outward. If an observer is looking from the moving cart, he thinks that a centrigual force pushes the passenger outward. But according to an observer at rest, the passenger moves in a straigth line at constant speed (while the cart is turning beneath him). An inward force of friction accelerates the cart toward center of the circle (centripetal acceleration); without this centripetal force, the passenger can't turn and continue in straight line because of its inertia.

Other animations by Yves Pelletier