Thread: can I interview one of u guys for my science project

First of all, you have to be a professional in the field of physics.

Just answer these "interview" questions:

1. How many years of college did it take you to get your degree?

2. In simple terms, what is inertia?

3. What exactly causes a basketball to bounce?

4. How do airplanes stay in the air?

5. Why is it good to have a spiral on a football when you throw it?

6. Why do ballons float?

And just state what your Job is and your last name (if you want).

1. Still a student
2. A measure of how difficult it is to get something to spin.
3. When the ball hits the ground it is deformed slightly, because it is elastic it will want to get back to its original shape, this involves pushing outward into the ground, this force is returned by the ground (newton III) causing the ball to lift.
4. Their wings are shaped such that it takes air longer to go over the top than it does to go underneath. Therefore more air passes under the wing which provides an upward force that keeps the plane in the air.
5. (Without actually knowing what a spiral on a football is - being English and all) I presume that it makes the air that it cuts through become turbulent, things travel further through turbulent air than they do through laminar air.
6. I presume you're talking about helium filled balloons in air. They float because they are on the whole less dense than the surrounding air, giving rise to a buoyant force.