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Physics Holds the Key To Performing the Flipping Water Bottle Trick (arstechnica.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: Think of how ice skaters extend their arms and legs to slow down rotation coming out of jumps or spins. It's the same principle: conservation of angular momentum. Once the bottle is set in motion, its angular momentum remains constant. But shifting how the mass inside (the water) is distributed increases the bottle's rotational inertia (how much force is required to start or keep it moving). This slows down the bottle's rotational speed. Physicists from the University of Twente in the Netherlands decided to analyze the underlying physics [of flipping a half-full bottle of water so it lands upright] more thoroughly in a series of rigorous experiments and develop a theoretical model. For the first version of the experiment, they used a partially filled water bottle. For the second version, they reduced the variables from the large number of water molecules in the bottle to just two tennis balls in a cylindrical container. In both cases, their measurements clearly showed the dramatic decrease of the container's rotational speed, resulting in a nearly vertical descent, so the bottle landed neatly and upright. Tracking the sloshing of the liquid and the changing positions of the tennis balls demonstrated the redistribution of mass, shifting the moment of inertia.
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No shit, physics holds the key to pretty much everything. :-P
What is this water bottle trick, and why are they so triggered by it?
Was this from the "No Shit Department of Things That are Obvious"?
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But what happens if we attach it upside to a cats back and flip it? Does the cat land on its feet or upside down? What if attach toast with jam on one side? Does the toast still always land jam-side down in accordance with murphy's law?
You don't say! -_-
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
Before I, a millenial, can ensure everything gen Z loves is made un-cool, more research must be done. Specifically:
- Scientific inquiry into the physics of fidget spinners
- a full computational simulation and kinematic treatise on the fortnight dance
- finite element analysis and thesis on the nature of the Tide pod.
- historic carbon dating of Post Malone to determine the potential for the existence of a Pre Malone, or a Present Malone (particle physics as needed)
Good people go to bed earlier.
Physicists from the University of Twente in the Netherlands decided to analyze the underlying physics [of flipping a half-full bottle of water so it lands upright] more thoroughly in a series of rigorous experiments and develop a theoretical model.
I sense they are gunning for an Ig Nobel Prize with this critical and ground breaking research.
I thought a task that involves physical movement through space would be explained by chemistry or biology...
This is my signature. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
And they are getting paid for it I assume.
If not, cool project.
If so, just another step towards Idiocracy (with regards to the research topics at the beginning of the movie).
BlameBillCosby.com
The flipping water bottle trick only works for inertial frames of reference. Get back to me when you work out Special Flipping.
Well all of the Slashdot posters today seem to be gunning for most snide comment.
Maybe they didn't read the whole summary? Because I for one thought it was pretty cool they reduced the problem down to a canister and two tennis balls to demonstrate the same effect in an easier to understand way.
People may find this pointless. but you never know when understanding something others consider to be obvious or not worth knowing may be helpful. You never know what kid may get into science because of being fascinated by this reduction.
I say, good work!
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Really!? I thought all this time it was by magic! </sillyme>
I guess that explains this teacher's ability to do so many flips then!
AC comments get piped to
"Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should."
"Just as there is nothing so unreal as reality TV, there is nothing as unsocial as social media." - Alistair Dabbs
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Physics!
Who knew?
......I wish the physicists of the world would get warp drive figured out instead........
You're messin' with my Zen Thing, man.....
This is what happens when millennials are old enough to go to university.
When they came for the communists, I said "He's next door. Take him away. Goddam commies."
The flipping water bottle trick only works for inertial frames of reference.
Actually, it doesn't. It requires a gravitational force to cause the bottle to land. Since a uniform gravitational field is indistinguishable from a frame undergoing constant acceleration the flipping water bottle requires an accelerating i.e. non-inertial frame to actually work. Hence there is no Special Flipping, only General Flipping.