Recent content by randys006

Ahh, I should have been more clear there. I was leading into the next question, where you have multiple moving pulleys along with the fixed pulleys. You are absolutely correct that if you only have one attachment to the load, it doesn't matter how many fixed pulleys there are--still only one...

The same reason we use potential in classical mechanics--Lagrangian mechanics is the variational calculus of Energy. Mechanical potential (V/m) relates directly to potential energy (just multiply by the mass), while the force F has a spatial derivative built into it, so F just doesn't work in...

Cool, I either haven't heard that term before or I forgot it years ago ;). Either way, being a golfer, I did consider the effect before I posted and I don't believe it applies to OP's football because A) the spin axis is (nearly) parallel to the motion and the small vertical component of spin...

The normal "baby-steps" into this are by defining a conservative system as one that you can identify a potential for, and the conditions for defining a potential is that your forces only depend on x, y, and y'. However, the formal definition seems to involve circular reasoning: the Lagrangian...

Remember it is not the pulley that provides the lifting force, it is the tension in the rope, which you supply. If the rope is continuous, the size the of pulley does not matter. In the case of one continuous rope ran through multiple pulleys on the load side, then yes--the rope has the...

Don't worry, you are not misunderstanding or missing anything. The fact is, we have no idea what electrons (or any other fundamental particle) "are" or how they came to be--Higgs bosons aside, those types of questions belong in the realm of philosophers. Physicists can only measure the...

First, it has nothing to do with rotation or precession and everything to do with aerodynamic drag and the shape of the football. The primary effect of the spin is to provide the ball with a large amount of rotational energy to stabilize it against small wind effects. Next, a minor correction...