What can you do with a little knowledge of physics, a bathtub, and a lot of time on your hands? Well, experimenting with Newton in your bathroom is one of the ways to spend your Sunday nights! This video, taken by me, shows the wonders of physics in the bathtub as a small bar soap is pushed across the tub's floor with the force of the water from the shower head. A couple things affects the soap's to movement: (1) the bouncy collision of each water droplet on the soap, (2) the law of inertia where if an object is in motion, it tends to stay in motion, and (3) the friction of the bathtub's floor.
Breaking this collision down, a single water droplet shot from the shower head would move the soap so slightly that it's not even noticeable. Newton's 1st law however makes it possible for the bar of soap to move as a LOT of water droplets collide with the bar of soap. Since each water droplet moves the soap ever so slightly, the soap wants to continue moving if it was on a frictionless surface. The bathtub flooring does provide a decent amount of friction, but with enough collisions, the soap eventually wanted to keep on moving.
Wow, you wasted so much water.
ReplyDeleteAnyway nice blog. It's very unique and I like how you keep continuing your series of "physics in the bathroom".
Wow. I can't believe you spent your Sunday night in the bathroom! Good job Brain Chen :P I find your bathroom theme... interesting.
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