Flying Circus of Physics Answers

Students selected, researched, and answered questions posed in The Flying Circus of Physics by Jearl Walker (Hoboken, NJ, John Wiley & Sons, 2007). The assignment they followed is described here. Click on any link below to read their answers.

Chapter 1: Slipping between falling drops (Motion)

• Question 1.1:  Run or walk in the rain?  (Brent Dorr)
• Question 1.12:  Head-on car collision (Tessa Burt)
• Question 1.45:  Karate (Lara Chanthongthip)
• Question 1.48:  World Trade Center collapse (Johanna Milne)
• Question 1.51:  Cats in long falls (Mary Malnati)
• Question 1.91:  Tight rope walk (Alyssa Gibbins)
• Question 1.100:  Ballet (Elizabeth Anderson)
• Question 1.135:  Fly casting (Cody Craigie)
• Question 1.158:  Parachuting with a pumpkin (Devan Jones)

Chapter 2: Racing on the Ceiling, swimming through syrup (Fluids)

• Question 2.12:  Flying snakes (Cheryl Gipfert)
• Question 2.15:  Golf ball aerodynamics (Lila Scantling)
• Question 2.19:  Speed swimming in syrup (Callie Seip)
• Question 2.24:  Vortex in a coffee cup (Jennifer McIntire)
• Question 2.69:  Surfing (Nicole Jones)
• Question 2.97:  Ducks stay dry (Mo Mulligan)
• Question 2.102:  Stepping on a wet beach and into quicksand (Annie Levine)

Chapter 3: Hiding under the covers, listening for the monsters (Sound)

• Question 3.11:  Bullfrog croaking (Adam Thornton)
• Question 3.15:  Penguin voices (Teesa Yacco)
• Question 3.44:  Shattering a wineglass with voice (Stephanie Halsey)
• Question 3.59:  Popping bullwhips and wet towels (Rachael Cox)

Chapter 4: Striking at the heat in the night (Thermal Processes)

• Question 4.1:  Dead rattlesnakes (Megan Meeks)
• Question 4.24:  Fog at the top of a Coke bottle (Kayla Bullinger)
• Question 4.42:  Drinking hot coffee, eating hot pizza (Kim Moore)
• Question 4.70:  Inflating bubbles and balloons (Amy Hartman)
• Question 4.71:  Making cakes at high altitudes (Tonya Lacy)
• Question 4.80:  Cooking-oil fires (Troy Phillips)

Chapter 5: Ducking first a roar then a flash (Electricity and Magnetism)

• Question 5.10:  Shocking exchange of gum (Katie McGuire)
• Question 5.11:  Danger of powder floating in the air (Rosalie Alexander)
• Question 5.19:  Wintergreen glow in the closet (Nic Barkdull)
• Question 5.31:  Bacterial contamination in surgery (Liz Masie)

Chapter 6: Splashing colors everywhere, like a rainbow (Optics)

• Question 6.24:  The Green flash (Joe Hampton)

Chapter 7: Armadillos dancing against a swollen moon (Vision)