I just watched two episodes of the discovery show [Time Warp](http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/time-warp/time-warp.html). Really an interesting show. There are many videos that I could see some analysis project for (too bad I am like 20 projects behind schedule - I think of things faster than I can do them). There is one problem though. It seems like all of the people on the show like to use physics terms, but they use them incorrectly. This DRIVES ME NUTS. You can't have "energy going this way". Energy is a scalar, not a vector. You can't have "force flowing through this". You can't "put a lot of force in it". I know, I know... I should lighten up. These phrases all makes sense in common-speak. But what are they really trying to say when they say these things? They end up just sounding "sciency", but wrong.
Ok, enough of the negativity (although, I am pretty good at it). Here are some things I would like to explore:
- Conservation of momentum for colliding pool balls.
- Torque and friction for a spinning (but not rolling) pool ball.
- Crazy jumping guy landing after jumping 25 feet down. Show that by increasing the distance of the land, he decreases the force (work-energy).
- Crazy jumping guy running sideways on a wall. Show that circular acceleration creates a force between him and the wall that also leads to friction.
- Crazy-think-he-is-a-samurai guy pushes back and down on another guy's head to make him sit down.
- Crazy-think-he-is-a-samurai guy does "short punch" to push other guy back.
So, you see, I will be busy. I have to first capture these clips so I can analyze them, then do the analysis.
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Crazy jumping guy is more than likely wearing ultra-high friction (e.g., Stealth Onyxx) rubber soles. Don't try the extreme stuff with ordinary sneakers.