Mexico 68, the triumph of physics in the high jump

This post is to cellebrate the 50 anniversary or Mexico 68 Olympic Games, fist Latin American country to be an olympic host.

Athletics has had several tests in the Olympic Games editions since Athens 1896. One of these tests is the high jump in which the athlete tries to exceed a horizontal bar that rests on two supports. From the point of view of physics, the jump movement can be understood with the concept of the center of mass which is a geometric point that represents the movement of the body.

By getting that the center of mass overcomes the bar so the body can also overcome it, a good height jump is achieved. Using the technique of scissors and other techniques, the center of mass must exceed by much the height of the bar to be able to jump it, but in the technique known as "the Fosbury flop", the center of mass is outside and below the body during the jump and for this reason, the body can overcome more easily.

Famous people that studied science VI

Yes, more famous people related to science world!

Rowan Atkinson studied electric engineering in the Newcastle University in England and later he earned a Master degree at the Queen College. Yes, you know, the engineer Atkinson is the famous Mr. Bean!

Mad about time II. Time travel to the past.

We live in a vertex of past and future time cones. We have seen the past and we know that we will see a part of the future. We even know that is possible to travel to the future but the question is: can we travel to the past?

Mad about time I. Time travel to the future

The concept of the time is something that is with us during all our life. We are born, we grow and we die… all the time with the time than seems to run in one direction with the same speed.

But, can it be possible to change its direction or to increase its speed? I mean. Can we travel to the past or to the future?

The price of the color

During the night the eyes are dilated in order to try to see the objects around. All the things are in gray scale from light gray to black. There are no colors or at least, it seems to be like that.

In the next day, the rays from the sun allow us to see the colors. The balance between the light absorption and reflection of the objects let them to have a color. The color depends of the place of the world and also of the season. Nevertheless, paint a color is another story.

Resting a little bit

I went down to the living room using those pink stairs that resemble stones. There was nobody in the house. Like those years when the family used to go out… to buy something, to eat in some place or only to go because they wanted to leave.

Famous people that studied sciences and mathematics III

More people that studied something related with mathematics and sciences.

Florence Nightingale, nurse and first medical statistician.

Los Panchos and harmony

Some years ago I heard the song named 'You’ve gone' from Los Panchos.

Famous people that studied sciences and mathematics I

Some uncommon people not necessarily associated with science were actually interested in science subjects during their life. Some of them even obtained master degrees and PhDs. Moreover some of them work in science and art as parallel activities!

Let us see some examples:

Do you remember Winnie from The Wonderful Years series? She was played by the actress Danica McKellar who is also a mathematician who besides participating in TV series, also gives talks and writes books about mathematics.

Bécquer, Newton and Duncan Dhu

Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer was the last romantic poet of the XIX century. One of his poems says:

In the dark angle of the room

and perhaps forgotten by the owner,

silent and covered with powder, 

the harp was resting there.

How many notes were sleeping in the strings

as the bird sleeps in the branch! 

Notes waiting for the white hand

that knows how to extract them from the harp.

 

Oh! I thought. How many times the genius 

sleeps in this way, in the bottom of the soul?

waiting for a voice that says: Lazarus wait, 

Get up and walk!