Ask the Experts - Classical Mechanics

How can I more easily visualize what a horse-power means?

Where is the force of gravity stronger, on the top of Mt. Everest or at sea level?

Is weight determined strictly by the distance between and mass of two objects, or are other factors figured in; i.e. can a person be considered weightless underwater?

How fast must a car be travelling to generate 1G (gravity) of force on itself and it's occupants when stopped, as if hitting a wall?

Would this be perpetual motion:
1) You make hydrogen from water using energy.
2) you let the H₂ rise through a pipe capturing all its energy.
3) you burn the H₂ in a fuel cell at its highest height.
4) Then you let the water from the fuel cell run down a pipe capturing all of its energy.
5) Now all the energy you captured from the H₂ rising, the fuel cell burning,and the water falling is used to make more H₂.

What speed defines Mach 1? and why?

If I fire a cannon straight up into the air, the cannon ball slows down as it rises to its apex, then speeds up as it falls. At any given distance from the ground, is the ball travelling at the same speed on the way DOWN as it was on the way UP?

When was the first experiment done, or how old is experimental physics?

What is a geo-stationary orbit? Are there any other orbits?

If I were in an elevator that was free falling, would it help at all if I perfectly timed a jump before it hit the ground floor? Would anything help the situation?

What is a sonic boom and how is it produced?

If there was a hole through the earth would you be stopped in the middle due to gravity or would you fall straight through?

Why can you ride a bike with no hands?

How a satellite can pick up more speed after circling the sun? I believe it is called the slingshot effect? Wouldn't any speed gained from the gravitational pull of the sun be counteracted by the same gravity when the satellite was distancing itself from the sun?

Why do dimples on a golf ball allow it to travel farther?

Why your ears pop when you are riding on an airplane?

What is the physics behind the voice change which occurs when one inhales Helium?

How do you determine the distance of lightening from where you are standing using the sight of lightening and the sound of the thunder?

Is the geographic NORTH pole of the earth a magnetic NORTH pole? Once you have reached the north pole of the earth, what happens to your compass? Which way would it be pointing?

What are Newton's three laws?

How do airplanes fly and where can I find more information about it on the internet?

In movies why do wheels of a moving car appear to rotate backwards to the actual direction?

How do yo-yos work? Why do they come back up after being thrown down?

What is the physics behind a frisbee in flight?

Can you compress a liquid (water)?

I know that gravity keeps us on the earth, but what prevents us from being pushed or pulled through the floor, earth, etc. (besides concrete, wood, and soil)? Does it have something to do with opposite forces?

Why can a person lay on a bed of nails and not be injured? What is this scientific theory called?

Do falling objects drop at the same rate (for instance a pen and a bowling ball dropped from the same height) or do they drop at different rates?

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Science Quote

'Physicists like to think that all you have to do is say, these are the conditions, now what happens next?'

Richard Phillips Feynman
(1918-1988)

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