BOOMERANGS, BOUNCING BALLS & OTHER SPINNING THINGS • Hugh Hunt | Cambridge University

Dr. Hugh Hunt is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Engineering at Cambridge University, and a Fellow of Trinity College. His principal interests are in dynamics and vibration, gyroscopes and boomerangs. His most recent research is in the fields of renewable energy and geoengineering, including the SPICE project – technology for cooling the Earth by 2 degrees C if CO2 emissions targets are not met. Other research includes the control of vibration from underground railways, bells and clocks and wind turbines. He does television work and was Lead Engineer in award-winning documentaries (“Dambusters: building the bouncing bomb”, “Digging the Great Escape”, “Escape from Colditz” and “Attack of the Zeppelins”) which have been broadcast around the world. He took his
first degree in Engineering from Melbourne University, Australia and has a PhD from Cambridge. He has accumulated an impressive collection of boomerangs, many of them home made. He uses these to inspire students in the study of Dynamics and Mechanics.

Spinning things are strange. Why does a spinning top stand up? Why doesn’t a rolling wheel fall over? Why is top-spin so effective in tennis? How does a falling cat always manage to land on its feet? How can the Hubble Space Telescope turn around in space? What do ice-skaters do to spin so fast? We’ll look closely at the common threads that link all spinning things, and that means we’ll have to talk about gyroscopes. Don’t worry, there won’t be any maths. Everything will be demonstrated live with lots of toys and videos. And we’ll even throw a few indoor boomerangs – hoping not to break any windows!
For more information : http://www2.eng.cam.ac.uk/~hemh/movies.htm

FRONTIERS OF PHYSICS TEACHERS’ CONFERENCE
Dublin City University
27 September 2014
Camera : Marek Bogacki
Produced by DOCUMENTAVI MMXIV

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