Einstein and BMX bikes to rebrand physics

Colin Blackburn

From today's Grauniad:

"""
Einstein and BMX bikes to rebrand physics

Rebecca Holman
Wednesday January 5, 2005

Einstein year is being launched today at the Science Museum in London
with the first performance of a BMX stunt dubbed the "Einstein flip".

The stunt was created by Cambridge physicist Helen Czerski in
collaboration with professional BMX rider Ben Wallace. Ms Czerski claims
the stunt is "pushing the boundaries of what it is humanly possible to
do on a bike".

Mr Wallace, 18, a competitor in extreme sports events around the world,
will launch off a 1.8m (6ft) high ramp and spin backwards through 360
degrees while simultaneously folding his bike underneath him in a move
known to BMX devotees as a 'tabletop'.

At one point, onlookers should see him upside down, travelling at 15mph,
with his head almost 4m off the floor.

Ms Czerski looked at the physics behind different stunts and used
computer simulations to determine the limits of what would be physically
possible in the manoeuvre. She drew on several theories for inspiration,
including the conservation of angular momentum and Newton's laws of motion.

It is rumoured that Einstein was a keen cyclist who claimed his theory
of relativity came to him while he was out riding his bike.
[...]
"""

Full story (no further cycling content) at:

http://education.guardian.co.uk/sch...1383125,00.html


It all sounds very Newtonian to me.

Colin

Ewoud Dronkert

On Wed, 05 Jan 2005 15:18:52 +0000, Colin Blackburn wrote:
> It is rumoured that Einstein was a keen cyclist who claimed his theory
> of relativity came to him while he was out riding his bike.

http://www.th.physik.uni-frankfurt....hys/einst_b.jpg

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Tony Raven

Colin Blackburn wrote:
>
> It is rumoured that Einstein was a keen cyclist who claimed his theory
> of relativity came to him while he was out riding his bike.
> [...]
>

On a tram as I remember it as the thought experiment he proposed was a
tram moving away from a clock tower close to the speed of light. Since
the clock tower was close (200m) to his home and on a tram route its
reasonable to assume his ideas for the thought experiment were developed
while riding the tram to work and home again.

Tony

"Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep
moving" Albert Einstein

(I have one over Einstein, I've learnt to trackstand in life ;-))

Sniper8052(L96A1)

Tony Raven wrote:
> Colin Blackburn wrote:
>
>>
>> It is rumoured that Einstein was a keen cyclist who claimed his theory
>> of relativity came to him while he was out riding his bike.
>> [...]
>>
>
> On a tram as I remember it as the thought experiment he proposed was a
> tram moving away from a clock tower close to the speed of light. Since
> the clock tower was close (200m) to his home and on a tram route its
> reasonable to assume his ideas for the thought experiment were developed
> while riding the tram to work and home again.
>
> Tony
>
> "Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep
> moving" Albert Einstein
>
> (I have one over Einstein, I've learnt to trackstand in life ;-))

Is this the same guy who did the endo whilst doing a somersault at last
years extream sports world championships? Took my breath away,
gobsmacked is the word.
Sniper8052