Related papers: The complexities of falling freely
When a ball hits a surface, does the angle of reflection always equal the angle of incidence? Not at all! Depending on the interplay of the ball's spin and speed and the force of friction, the ball's behavior after the bounce may differ…
Earth rotation is one of astronomical phenomena without which it is impossible to think of human life. That is why the investigation on the Earth rotation is very important and it has a long history of study. Invention of quartz clocks in…
Mechanics texts tell us that a particle in a bound orbit under gravitational central force moves on an ellipse, while introductory physics texts approximate the earth as flat, and tell us that the particle moves in a parabola. The…
Is there an approach to quantum gravity which is conceptually simple, relies on very few fundamental physical principles and ingredients, emphasizes geometric (as opposed to algebraic) properties, comes with a definite numerical…
A gravitationally collapsed object can bounce-out from its horizon via a tunnelling process that violates the classical equations in a finite region. Since tunnelling is a non-perturbative phenomenon, it cannot be described in terms of…
A small and light polystyrene ball is released without initial speed from a certain height above the floor. Then, it falls on air. The main responsible for the friction force against the movement is the wake of successive air vortices which…
A vertically hanging chain is released from rest and falls due to gravity on a scale pan. We discuss the various experimental and theoretical aspects of this classic problem. Careful time-resolved force measurements allow us to determine…
Fundamental constants are a cornerstone of our physical laws. Any constant varying in space and/or time would reflect the existence of an almost massless field that couples to matter. This will induce a violation of the universality of free…
The conventional semi-empirical formula for collapse distance [Phys. Rev. 179, 862 (1969), Prog. Quant. Electr. 4, 35 (1975)] has been widely used in many applications. However, it is not applicable when the dispersion length is smaller…
The downward acceleration of the virtual electrically charged fermion particles of the quantum vacuum is responsible for the Einstein Weak Equivalence Principle and for our perception of 4D space-time curvature near the earth. Since the…
The motion of a block slipping on a surface is a well studied problem for flat and circular surfaces, but the necessary conditions for the block to leave (or not) the surface deserve a detailed treatment. In this article, using basic…
We suggest a lecture on Newtonian gravity, discussing how the use of the scientific method allows to rule out some of the models for the shape of Earth leaving a spherical Earth as the only possibility, in agreement with empirical…
The paper proposes an alternative to the Foucault pendulum for detecting various movements of rotation of the Earth. Calculations suggest that if the duration of a "free" fall becomes longer the eastward deflection will be amplified in…
We analyze what happens to the average duration of a game of Chutes and Ladders as the probability of rolling $\delta \in \{ 1,2,3,4,5,6\}$ approaches 100%. We utilize Markov models, and Monte Carlo simulations in Python. We also introduce…
When a thick cylindrical coin is tossed in the air and lands without bouncing on an inelastic substrate, it ends up on its face or its side. We account for the rigid body dynamics of spin and precession and calculate the probability…
This paper examines the details of an inelastic collision when a bullet shoots a block vertically upward from below. With the assumption of constant interaction force between them, we obtain quantities of interest including the displacement…
The problem of creating a three-sided dice with the probability of it landing on each of its sides being equal to 1/3 has been around for many years. Various approaches have been attempted, but as different authors achieved at different…
We generalize the derivation of electromagnetic fields of a charged particle moving with a constant acceleration [1] to a variable acceleration (piecewise constants) over a small finite time interval using Coulomb's law, relativistic…
Consider a coin tossing experiment which consists of tossing one of two coins at a time, according to a renewal process. The first coin is fair and the second has probability $1/2 + \theta$, $\theta \in [-1/2,1/2]$, $\theta$ unknown but…
Ba\v{z}ant et al. have proposed a model for a gravity-driven collapse of a tall building that collapses after column failure in a single storey. Therein the collapsing building is described by three distinct sections. The top section which…