Blog 2: Physics of Bowling

At bowling practice the other day, I noticed a few interesting, physics-related things about the sport. I always wondered why the lanes were so oily; my favorite coach, Coach Alan explained that the oil "speeds up the ball." He was incorrect. The oil actually reduces friction between the ball and the wooded surface, so the ball can just maintain its initial velocity provided by our arms. If you notice in the video below of our best bowler, Adrian, his ball travels down the lane at a near-constant velocity: about 15 miles per hour (displayed on the monitors). By enabling the ball to travel at a near-constant velocity, the oil makes bowling much easier. I'll never complain about oily hands after bowling again.

Adrian's victory dance; notice our beloved Coach Alan standing nearby

I hope that if I apply my knowledge of physics to more aspects of bowling, our bowling team can reach new levels of greatness.

The motto of 'Iolani JV Red bowling

Blog 1: Vietnamese Fisherman

During the summer, I traveled to Vietnam with on the Freeman Foundation Trip. A few days into the tour, we biked to the Cua Dai Sea near Hoi An and got a fishing lesson from a local fisherman. He taught us to throw a net so it opened up wide as it hit the water, in order to catch more fish. Then he pulled the net, heavy with water, back onto the boat. He pulled faster as the net came closer to the boat because less water was holding the net back.

Rolling the net up - complicated business.

In Physics terms, he applied force to the net to give it a high initial velocity, and the velocity decreased at a steady rate as gravity acted upon the net. This means that the net had a constant, negative acceleration. As for displacement, the net's average displacement was high for the first few seconds, then leveled out for the remainder of the flight. When he pulled the net back, the net had an increasing negative velocity (as he pulled faster), and therefore a constant negative acceleration as well. The net's displacement also returned to zero during this portion. I found it fascinating that both actions had negative acceleration.

Velocity!

Needless to say, when I tried my hand at the net, all of my velocity and acceleration values were much lower.

The fruit of our labors.