GATEWAY TO SCIENCE: Sports and Games, Episode 1

                                              MY NEW TV SHOW!    

THESE ARE THE TIMES YOU CAN VIEW IT ON QATV, CHANNEL 8:
Fri., Feb. 14, 6:30 p.m.  --  Sat., Feb. 15, 8:30 p.m.  --  
Sun., Feb. 16, 12 noon  --   Mon., Feb. 17, 4:00 p.m.
Fri., Feb. 21, 8:00 p.m.  --  Sun., Feb. 23,  6:00 p.m.

Well, I've just done episode 1 of Gateway to Science:  Sports and Games.  It was done with the help and facilities of Quincy Access TV.  Glad to have finally gotten it started!  Frank was my co-host.  After a conversation about some background of the show, we later showed two videos put on by the National Science Foundation (Science360.gov) and NBC (NBCLearn.com).  

The first video was "Figuring Out Figure Skating."  Before showing it, we reviewed two of its science points.  The first was about how a figure skater speeds up and slows down while spinning.  She gains speed by pulling in her arms, close to her center of axis and reducing drag.  She slows down by extending her arms, away from her center of axis, increasing drag.

 

The second science point concerns angular momentum.  Normally when you think of momentum, it's about motion going in a straight line, also called linear momentum.  However, it is different when something is turning.  When the force you apply to someone or something is a turning force, we call this torque.  Torque generates angular momentum.  Why is it called angular momentum?  Think of a circle.  A circle has 360 degrees, full of angles as you go all around the circle.  This is why we say a rotating or turning object has angular momentum.

Using a swivel chair from the studio, we tried to illustrate how a figure skater speeds up and slows down.  However, the initial spin wasn't too strong.  The extending and pulling in of the arms of the volunteer -- Frank -- did not illustrate this point as dramatically as we hoped it would.  We didn't want to try it again for fear of his getting dizzy!  (I got dizzy doing a practice spin!)

After showing the video, I read off a list of other videos that I recommend watching for different reasons.  They are:

AIR LIFT:  SKI JUMP     About generating lift.  Beautiful to look at.

BLADE RUNNERS:  SHORT TRACK SPEED SKATING   3 laws of motion

DOWNHILL ALPINE SKIING     Focuses on the 2nd law of motion.
                                            Speeding forces and slowing forces.

SAFETY GEAR                        Good explanation of elastic collision.

BOBSLEDS, BANKING ON SPEED   Pulls many physics terms together; 
                                                  brings in some history with Galileo.

SHAUN WHITE AND ENGINEERING THE HALF PIPE     Well illustrated.
Attention skateboarders!  Relates design and engineering.

SCIENCE OF SKIS - SCIENCE OF SKATES - COMPETITION SUITS
These videos get into materials science and engineering.

MATHLETES      Arithmetic, algebra, calculus applications.  Geometry, too:  great illustration of the angle of access at the hockey net.




After this, in preparing to show "Aerial Skiing, Ski Jump," I presented a preview of the video.  Aerial ski jumpers employ three different types of twisting:
1, The WHOLE BODY is involved with contact twisting. When you apply torque to a mass, the rotating mass has angular momentum.
2, The ARMS use tilt twisting, precise arm movements that regulate spin, speed and orientation.
3, The LEGS move in a way similar to that used in hula hooping.

Hula hooping was then nicely demonstrated for us by Mark Crosby of QATV who, happily, did not require too much cajoling to be pulled in as a volunteer.  He did quite well.

After the video was over, we segued from the Winter Olympic sports to the popular winter sport of sledding.  I read the first few pages of a book I wrote, "The Sled:  A Matter of Some Gravity."  I wrote it a year ago when I had a chance to work with some of the children at Head Start, Quincy.  Being there with the children spurred me on to write a story for them in which a little science is added to a child's play.  I only had time to read a few pages, but at the next show I'll read the rest of the story.  I hope anyone with young kids will encourage them to watch.

I showed an assortment of some of the things I've been collecting over the years, including sport science books, games such as jump ropes, toys such as balloons and frisbees, etc.  They'll be used in future shows.