Angular snowmentum
We've had almost no snow all winter then we got this lot in a couple of hours. It always causes great jollity amongst the students especially the ones who haven't seen snow before. Great jollity normally involves throwing snowballs at each other. It's a strange phenomenon, maybe it's because you can be violent without hurting anyone? Luckily we have a very clear tradition that students don't throw snowballs at teachers.
Another more peaceful pastime is skiing. I'm not sure who the student is in the video but it was Bassie who did the filming. There is some interesting physics going on here. How does he initiate the turn? It looks like he is taking off on a flat or slightly downhill section which would make this very difficult. To rotate there must be some clockwise torque, to create this torque I think there must be a small hill that projects his feet upwards, as this happens he leans back causing his body to rotate. if I did the same thing the rotation would cause me to land flat on my back however the skier (I will find out his name) tucks his knees in which reduces his moment of inertia. once in the air angular momentum will be conserved so reducing moment of inertia results in an increase in angular velocity. Pity he didn't land it. The student was Marco Singoi, I saw him today walking with crutches, oops!
Tags: angular momentum