Ok, Science Geeks…
I remember way back in high school Physics, there was a question about pulling out a car that was stuck in the mud, and there just happened to be a telephone pole nearby.
Oh, and you had a chain or a very strong rope.
So, you tie the rope to the front of the car, and you tie it to the telephone pole so it’s taught. You exert perpendicular force on the rope, and are able to move the car with your measly strength, using physics (vector addition) to your advantage.
I don’t need to know the formula for calculating the force on the car, but I do want to find a simple explanation of why this works. Does anybody know of a simple way of explaining it (vector addition, I believe) for non-geeks?
Believe it or not, this has a costuming application…
(Jeff - I’ve googled to get it that far, but I don’t remember enough to create a good explanation of the phenomenon :-p )
Oh, and you had a chain or a very strong rope.
So, you tie the rope to the front of the car, and you tie it to the telephone pole so it’s taught. You exert perpendicular force on the rope, and are able to move the car with your measly strength, using physics (vector addition) to your advantage.
I don’t need to know the formula for calculating the force on the car, but I do want to find a simple explanation of why this works. Does anybody know of a simple way of explaining it (vector addition, I believe) for non-geeks?
Believe it or not, this has a costuming application…
(Jeff - I’ve googled to get it that far, but I don’t remember enough to create a good explanation of the phenomenon :-p )