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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'"

3 of 209 comments (clear)

  1. Next up: by paul248 · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Loogie Hocking.

    1. Re:Next up: by l810c · · Score: 0, Offtopic
      I had a friend that used to see how high he could hock loogies into the air and then catch them with his mouth.

      It grossed me out then and 20+ years later it still grosses me out. Just thought I'd share :)

  2. No pictures, movie by young_hacker_1991 · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    I was disappointed by the lack of pictures in the article, so I went hunting at one of the researchers' sites. Couldn't find the stone skipping machine, but I found a cool movie of a skipping stone. My dad and I used to do this stuff up in Michigan, it's nice to learn the physics behind it!