What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object?
You may not like the answer. But here it is, this question doesn’t make sense. It stems from two contradicting axioms (statements taken to be true by definition) which nullify whatever result we derive from them.
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You might ask: How do I use the parallelogram law in real life?
My answer: all the time.
In fact, you might be using it right now! But just like inertia, it’s intimately wired into our lives that we don’t even notice when we’re using it. If you have ever rowed a boat, been to the gym, played basketball, or shot an arrow with a bow, hell if you’ve ever thrown anything at anything. Then there’s a good chance you have subconsciously referred to the parallelogram law in your mind.
Ever notice how Olympic weightlifters usually spread their arms out wide in an overhead press position? That’s not arbitrary, in addition to enhancing their stability, that pose ensures the weight of the plates on the sides is distributed equally to both arms. It is a perfect way in which the body balances off the weight of the plates between its two arms. And it is consistent with the parallelogram law.
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Let’s kick off this article with a riddle – you ready?
A vehicle goes past a light pole. Yet it’s always at the same distance from the light pole. How is this possible?
Take a few moments and think about this.
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See it the way Sir Isaac Newton saw it.
Galileo and Aristotle agreed on the same thing: what goes up must come down.
What they didn’t agree on is the why. Why do objects fall back down?
Their two perspectives, the Galilean and Aristotelian respectively, fiercely clashed in the late 1500s and early 1600s. It is one of the most popular and documented ‘feuds’ in the history of physics and helped inspire a paradigm shift of the 15th Century.
This article will revisit the two perspectives, mainly focusing on their differing views on free fall motion.
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logic will take you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.
When we hear of a “thought experiment” today, we usually think of Albert Einstein. But there is an unsung hero of this skill that is rarely talked about, Galileo Galilei.
Now, you may be thinking that I am talking of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Galileo’s most famous experiment. But no, this is purely a thought experiment, it doesn’t involve climbing 294 steps up a leaning tower in Italy.
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I will answer this question, “Can an average person become a self-taught physicist?” in two ways: the short and the long answer.
The short answer is YES. With enough passion, hard work, and determination you CAN challenge yourself to become a self-taught physicist. In fact, there are household names in physics with relatively minimal formal education.
The long answer though, is unlikely. I’ll spend the rest of the article explaining why.
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Are you a high school or an undergrad physics student on a look for YouTube channels to supplement your classes? Well, I’ll give you my personal favorites that have generally been of great help to me and hopefully, they’ll be of great help to you!
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The best way to understand the fundamental differences between inertia and friction is with an example. So, we’ll lead with that.
Let’s say you are riding the bus home after a long day at work. The bus is crowded. You are standing, supporting yourself with the overhead rails. Suddenly, the driver slams on the brakes.
Your body lurches forward involuntarily – this is inertia. However, simultaneously, you intuitively tighten your grab on overhead rails, preventing yourself from smashing into the gentleman ahead of you. This is friction.
Over the course of this article, we will revise five (5) fundamental differences between inertia and friction.
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