Standing on your tiptoes is hard enough, but imagine trying to do it while staying balanced on top of someone else's head. To keep balanced, the Nanjing acrobats must be aware of their centers of mass, and the various forces -- called...

Platform trapeze requires athleticism, good timing, and a strong understanding of the principle of conservation of linear momentum. The momentum of a system is the sum of the momenta of all the objects in it. Like energy, the momentum of...

Jugglers know that if you throw an object into the air, it will follow a curved path -- as the ball moves horizontally, gravity pulls it down vertically. Physicists call this projectile motion. In this video, you will learn why...

Ever notice how flying acrobats, gymnasts, ice-skaters and half-pipe snowboarders, tuck in their arms and scrunch up their bodies while spinning in the air? By keeping their arms and legs tucked close to their centers of mass, they are...

Swinging back and forth, the solo trapeze is a giant pendulum, just like the one in a grandfather clock. The time it takes to swing forward, then back to where it started is called the period. Surprisingly, this time has very little to...

The dog show looks like chaos in the ring, but the commotion can be explained by just three simple laws of motion. Objects in motion tend to stay in motion. Force equals mass times acceleration. And for every action, there is an equal...

The aerial acrobatics of the Russian Barre routine require exquisite balance, timing, and years of training. That's not enough though; conservation of energy plays a big role as well. This video explores the basics of the three common...