Related papers: Physics of Bamboo Rifle
We describe the physics of an articulated toy with an internal source of energy provided by a spiral spring. The toy is a funny low cost kangaroo which jumps and rotates. The study consists of a mechanical and a thermodynamical analysis…
Archery lends itself to scientific analysis. In this paper we discuss physics laws that relate to the mechanics of bow and arrow, to the shooting process and to the flight of the arrow. In parallel, we describe experiments that address…
The physics of walking is explored, using a toy as a concrete example and a 'toy' model applied to it. Besides the Newton's second law, the problem is also discussed from the thermodynamical perspective. Once the steady state (constant…
Thermodynamics could be seen as an expression of physics at a high epistemic level. As such, its potential as an inductive bias to help machine learning procedures attain accurate and credible predictions has been recently realized in many…
An explanation is given for two peculiar phenomena - Foo Fighters and microwave oven plasma balls. Both are proposed to arise from the interaction of microwave energy with areas of hot, partially ionized, gas. In the former case it is…
A vacuum-powered device that shoots ping pong balls at high subsonic speeds has been used for physics demonstrations for more than a decade. It uses physics that are easily understood by students, even though its operation is not…
Gee-Haw Whammy Diddle is a seemingly simple mechanical toy consisting of a wooden stick and a second stick that is made up of a series of notches with a propeller at its end. When the wooden stick is pulled over the notches, the propeller…
Physical principles are involved in almost any aspect of cooking. Here we analyze the specific process of baking pizzas, deriving in simple terms the baking times for two different situations: For a brick oven in a pizzeria and a modern…
A geyser can be reproduced by a toy experiment composed of a water pool located above a water reservoir, the two being connected by a long and narrow tube. When the bottom reservoir is heated, the system experiences periodic eruptions of…
The forces that act internally in a trebuchet as it delivers a shot depend on the motions of throwing arm, counterweight and sling. These motions are considered known experimentally or theoretically and given in the form of time-dependent…
Fiberboids are active filaments trapped at the interface of two phases, able of harnessing energy (and matter) fluxes across the interface in order to produce a rolling-like self-propulsion. We discuss several table-top examples and develop…
Behavior in the context of game theory is described as a natural process that follows the 2nd law of thermodynamics. The rate of entropy increase as the payoff function is derived from statistical physics of open systems. The thermodynamic…
Each observable ballistic phenomenon of a spin-stabilized rifle bullet can be explained in terms of the acceleration of gravity and the total aerodynamic force acting on that bullet. In addition to the coning motion itself, Coning Theory…
We consider the problem of the motion of a projectile thrown vertically upward from a surface. In addition to gravity, the drag force of the medium is taken into account, which is considered a quadratic function of the relative velocity of…
The biological cell exhibits a fantastic range of behaviors, but ultimately these are governed by a handful of physical and chemical principles. Here we explore simple theory, known for decades and based on the simple thermodynamics of…
A classic problem of the motion of a projectile thrown at an angle to the horizon is studied. Air resistance force is taken into account with the use of the quadratic resistance law. The projectile motion is described analytically with…
Out of thermal equilibrium, an environment imposes effective mechanical forces on microscopical nanofabricated devices, chemical or biological systems. Here we address the question of how to calculate these forces together with the response…
A bouncing rubber ball under a motion sensor is a classic of introductory physics labs. It is often used to measure the acceleration due to gravity, and can also demonstrate conservation of energy. By observing that the ball rises to a…
A Bose gas in an external potential is studied by means of the local density approximation. Analytical results are derived for the thermodynamic properties of an ideal Bose gas in a generic power-law trapping potential, and their dependence…
Brownian particles placed sequentially in contact with distinct thermal reservoirs and subjected to external driving forces are promising candidates for the construction of reliable thermal engines. In this contribution, we address the role…