Forces and Motion Podcast Transcript

Mr. Algarin: Welcome back everyone to another episode of Up and Atom! I’m your host, Mr. Algarin.
Today, I want to get started by introducing our very special guest, Mrs. Rebecca
Henderson, who works down at the Children's Museum of Atlanta.

Rebecca: Thank you so much for having me on your show.

Mr. Algarin: Thank you for being here.

Mr. Algarin: So today I wanted to talk about a very interesting set of topics: Forces and Motion.

Rebecca: Oh how fun!

Mr. Algarin: It sure is.

Mr. Algarin You know, the other day, I was with my nephew while he was riding his bike and suddenly
he flew forward off his bike. I went to check on him and his knee was skinned and he was
bleeding everywhere and screaming…you get the picture.

Rebecca: Oh no! Is he ok?

Mr. Algarin Oh sure. He’s fine now, but at the time, once he had stopped crying, he was so confused
on why he had fallen off his bike. We went got his bike and retraced his path and sure
enough, there was a rock, about the size of an apple, right in the middle of the sidewalk!

Rebecca: That should not have been there.

Mr. Algarin: Oh I agree, and that’s what I told him. But we were still confused on how he crashed, and
I’m sure my audience also wants to know how it happened that he was on his bike one
second, and flying through the air the next second.

Rebecca: Well, there’s actually a pretty straight-forward answer to your mystery.

Mr. Algarin: Could you explain to us what happened? My audience is primarily upper elementary, if
that helps you.

Rebecca: It certainly does.

Rebecca: Once your nephew–what was his name again?

Mr. Algarin: His name is Michael and hello Michael if you’re listening!

Rebebba: Yes, hello!

Rebecca: So Michael starts peddling his bike and he’s going really fast. And suddenly he hits the
rock and goes flying. Am I correct so far?

Mr. Algarin: You are correct.

Rebecca: So in Physics we have a very important rule that says that any object that is moving will
continue moving until it stops or is slowed down by another force or object. We have all
types of different forces that are working on the bike, like friction and gravity, but we’re
 going to focus on the rock.

Mr. Algarin: Ok, I’m with you.

Rebecca: Micheal hits the rock and his bike stops completely, sending him flying forward.

Mr. Algarin: Why didn’t he just stop when the bike stopped?

Rebecca: Excellent question. In this scenario, both the bike AND Micheal are moving forward, but
the rock only stops the bike, because it gets caught under the tire or, whatever. Micheal
continues to move because he is still traveling in the original direction, and there is nothing
there to prevent him from flying out of his seat.

Mr. Algarin: So I know that most bicycles don’t have seatbelts, but if it did, how would the situation be
different?

Rebecca: That’s another great question. Bringing a seatbelt into the equation changes things a little.
Micheal is now attached to the bike, so when the bike stops and falls over, he goes with it.

Mr. Algarin: Ah, the same thing for cars. I guess that’s why wearing a seatbelt is so important, so you
stay in the car so it can protect you.

Rebecca: Exactly.

Mr. Algarin: That’s so interesting! Thank you so much for breaking it down for us. Is there anything
else that you want to say before we wrap up for the day?

Rebecca: I just wanted to say ‘thank you’ for having me on the show and I hope that we can do this
again another time.

Mr. Algarin: Oh absolutely.

Rebecca: Oh! One more thing: Micheal, please ask whoever takes care of you to please buy you
some knee and elbow pads. It will literally save your skin.

Mr. Algarin: That advice goes for everyone listening today. I’ll make sure to pass that along to his dad
when I see him.

Rebecca: Great.

Mr. Algarin: Thank you everyone for tuning in today. I want to encourage everyone to go down and
visit the Children’s Museum when you can. There are some pretty cool things that go on in
there that you would be sorry to miss. If you do, make sure to say “hello” to Rebecca and
thank her for her awesome thoughts and advice.

We will see you all on the next episode of Up and Atom!

Mr. Algarin- out.