Author: Bernard Rand

When a helicopter is hovering it is very common for people to think that the weight of the helicopter has an equal and opposite force that is the down-force from the rotors. This is wrong because…

Many people would assume that when a mosquito is hit by a car the mosquito experiences a much greater force but actually…

Many students identify the normal contact force as the Newton’s 3rd law pair force to the weight for a book on a table but actually…

It could be argued that when a horse pulls forward on a cart there is always an equal and opposite force backwards so the horse must not be able to accelerate…

After GCSE many students assume you find the resultant by adding their magnitude of two vectors together but…

Students often state that after opening their parachute the drag on a skydiver is always greater than before. Actually…

Work = Force x distance so since the Sun is exerting a force on the Earth and the Earth is moving it could be argued that the Sun must be doing work on the Earth. This is incorrect because…

Some people might argue that if we throw something against a wall and it comes to a stop momentum hasn’t been conserved. This is incorrect as…

Students typically assume friction always acts in the opposite direction to motion. However…

You might assume that kicking a concrete football would hurt less on the moon because it’s lighter, however…