The author describes an imaging method he uses in the physics lab in connection with experiments involving bodies in motion. The bodies are photographed with a good digital camera that allows long exposures. The resulting files are immediately loaded in a PC, […]
The motion of common rolling bodies is a source of helpful hints towards understanding the properties of rigid bodies in general. In introductory courses dissipative phenomena are usually ignored, both at the highschool and at the university level. In this paper we analyse the role of friction on rolling and we show that the interplay between mechanics and thermodynamics facilitates understanding the behaviour of such systems. […]