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Backward Giant Circle Essay

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I chose to study the physics of one move in gymnastics, the backward giant circle around a bar because I have seen quite a few performed and helped to coach people to enable them to do this move. A Backward giant circle occurs when a gymnast rotates 360° counter clockwise around a single bar from a handstand on the bar. It appears to be a complete circle, but in fact it is not because of the forces of gravity, air resistance and friction acting upon the gymnast. However, if you perceive the skill as a gymnast rotating 360° around the bar in a flat shape, it appears to deny the laws of physics as we know them. To be able to achieve this move a gymnast is required to alter their center of gravity around the bar in order to counteract the force of gravity on the upswing, overcome both the frictional resistance of their hands on the bar and air resistance. We can look at the gravitational pull of the gymnast’s mass to earth and apply some of Newton’s laws of motion to …show more content…

Furthermore, the exact shape of these parabolas will be determined by the velocity of the gymnast’s center of gravity before commencing the giant, which consequently is affected by both the gymnast’s height and mass. While in the air the gymnast can change their shape and therefore the distribution of the mass about the center of gravity, but the flight path of the center of gravity will be unaffected unless acted upon by some external force.
Newton’s first law of motion states that a body will remain at rest , and a body in motion will remain in motion in a straight line and at a constant speed unless acted upon by external forces. So a body will only accelerate if an unbalanced force is applied. Therefore, to initiate a backward giant circle the gymnast must first exert a force to set the body in motion, and this is usually done by a

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