Hey cuz, in the olympics, how are the pole vaulters able to make it all the way over the line with just a pole? It just doesn’t make any sense to me!
Well little guy, part of it has to do with Newton’s first law of motion. Have you ever heard of it?
Uh.....no.
Well it’s that an object in motion will stay in motion unless acted upon by a force. So the pole vaulter runs really fast to get enough momentum, and then because things tend to resist changes in motion, the athlete can use the pole to lift himself up and over the line!
Hmmm. Interesting.
Oh look track cycling's on now! But hey, why are those bikes so weird looking? They are so skinny!
THERE'S ANOTHER ONE!
It’s funny you say that little dude because that reminds me of Newton’s second law of motion!
Mhmm, and it basically says that the more mass an object has, the more force is needed to move it. If something’s mass is smaller, it can accelerate faster.
I think the bikes being so skinny helps with that. It also helps with there being less air resistance too.”