Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

Once again, we observe that physics—notably gravity—wins.

Sometimes I venture outside the suburbs of Federal Virginia go into “downtown” Washington D.C. I see them, those funny-colored little skateboards with handles. These are the eScooters or whatever we choose to call them this week. They have little electric motors and speed pedestrians (I guess we can’t call them pedestrians if they are riding a motor-moved vehicle) about the sidewalks faster than they could otherwise walk.

Evil wears a disguise.

These “scooters” can’t fool me. They are skateboards.

Two of my sons used to ride skateboards. I tried those things a little, but gave up. My balance isn’t what it once was as a kid, or maybe I don’t bounce off the pavement as I did as a kid.

Trouble with the scooters in the city is that kids don’t ride them. Adults ride them; at least the birth certificates of these riders indicate they are “adults.” Their activities causes me to wonder.

Now to physics. The wheels on the scooters are small. There is something, I can’t recall if it is angular momentum or something, in physics that screams CAUTION if the wheels are small. Then there is center of gravity. When an adult stands, the center of gravity is a couple of feet above the pavement. This is a large number compared to the diameter of the wheel when it is only a couple of inches.

Physics tells us that this is a bad combination.

Then there is gravity. It is still 32 feet per second per second. An adult requires about one second to fall to the pavement. So, five miles per hour forward velocity combined with 32 feet per second downward velocity and the adult hits the pavement really really hard.

Adults don’t bounce. Adults go to the hospital.

News reports confirm the predictions from physics.

Why is it we doubt physics?