Swinging a bucket (sure beats kicking it!) in AP Physics
When the 16 students who comprise L-S's AP Physics class arrived first period today, their teacher, Dr. Tom Habowski, did a demonstration involving swinging a bucket of water in the air. He quipped that in the event the experiment failed, he had "highly absorbent" paper towels ready to go to clean up a spill. He did not need them.
When done correctly (and swung at a sufficient speed), the water does not fall out of the bucket; the centripetal force "holds" the water in the bucket since the water has a tangential velocity pointing horizontally.
"I just thought of this experiment this morning," Habowski says, going on to comment that it has been several years since he has swung a bucket of water in class.
The class enjoyed the activity.
Senior Beth DiBiase says, "I thought it was really cool when [classmate] Chaz [Wolf] did it on the first try."
--Benjamin Pontz, LSNews.org Editor-In-Chief
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| Dr. Habowski demonstrates centripetal force. |
The class is studying circular motion and centripetal force, so the experiment fit into one of its homework problems about tension on a rope when swinging a bucket.
When done correctly (and swung at a sufficient speed), the water does not fall out of the bucket; the centripetal force "holds" the water in the bucket since the water has a tangential velocity pointing horizontally.
"I just thought of this experiment this morning," Habowski says, going on to comment that it has been several years since he has swung a bucket of water in class.
The class enjoyed the activity.
Senior Beth DiBiase says, "I thought it was really cool when [classmate] Chaz [Wolf] did it on the first try."
--Benjamin Pontz, LSNews.org Editor-In-Chief
