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Stone Skipping the Scientific Way

Posted by michael on from the hop-skip-and-jump dept.

Quirk writes "National Geographic has a bit on the scientific analysis of stone skipping. Using a machine launching aluminum disks Lyderic Bocquet, a physics professor at the University of Lyon, and his colleagues discovered the 'magic angle' of 20 degrees as that required to maximize skipping. 'Jerdone Coleman McGhee of Wimberley, Texas, holds the current Guinness Book of World Records title for a 1992 toss that yielded an impressive 38 bounces across the Blanco River in central Texas'"

2 of 209 comments (clear)

  1. Original Paper by otisaardvark · · Score: 5, Informative
    http://arxiv.org/pdf/physics/0210015

    Warning: not for the faint-hearted!

  2. old news by alex_ant · · Score: 5, Informative

    the allies figured this out in ww2. Nazi dam bombing