Physics of Olympic Proportions

Ok I'm really sorry, but this isn't going to be one of my best blogs. I've had a pretty junk weekend and a not so great week last week too. :(

Well, as you probably know, the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics started this past week. And I'll admit, I've been hooked. I see some sort of physics in every event I watch. I guess I'll focus on two of my favorite events: Curling and Short Track. I also apologize because I have to use pictures that aren't my own. Sorry, Doc.

I like Curling because I think it's funny. It's entertaining. The object of the game is to get the stone as close to the center of the circle thingy as possible. One person let the stone go at a certain point and two other team mates sweep the ice vigorously in front of the moving stone. According to Wikipedia, the brushing is supposed to decrease the amount of friction between the stone and the ice. Thus, the team can change the speed of the stone as well as change the direction without touching it. Even more physics is involved because the stones sometimes hit each other. This demonstrates conservation of momentum and sometimes it is almost perfect due to the near frictionless ice.

I like Short Track because I like Apolo Anton Ohno. :) And because it's such an unpredictable sport. I realized that short track is kind of like uniform circular motion. The skaters accelerate around the bends of the track, and depending on how long the race is, there can be many of them. The racers can reach pretty high speeds, and those high speeds allow the skaters to lean toward the ice at insane angles around the bends. When the skaters hit someone else, the collision causes the skater to lose speed because his or her momentum is transfered to the other skater.

Okay, well I guess I've done enough damage here for one post. Have a good week everyone. :) Wish me luck for a better week too...>.<...