Journal 8

This is a picture of my dance team doing turns in one of our performances last year. You can keep these types of turns going for as long as you can maintain stamina and balance. Just like my previous journal, the center of mass must be under my standing leg in order to stay balanced. The other important factor is that the rotation is kept going my the torque applied by the force of my leg swinging around, which is aided by inertia. My extended leg can also be considered the lever arm of the torque. Once I understood these calculations, i realized how i could improve my turning by making sure that i have enough force and the perfect center of mass placement.

Journal 6

These are my friends Laurel and Courtney. We are all in different dance positions with different center of masses. For us to maintain these positions without falling over and losing our balance, the center of mass must be under us. If the center is moved too far forward or backwards, we cant hold these shapes. I didn't realize how much i use center of mass in dancing everyday. Most of our tricks and turns cannot be done without incorporating the law of physics.