Air hockey is a fun, mindless activity for everyone to play but do you really know the complex science behind it? Air hockey involves concepts from Newton’s three laws of motion. The science behind air hockey is all based off of Newton’s laws. The air hockey table allows the puck to glide easily and certain forces are required to move the puck, stop the puck, and accelerate the puck. Also, for every force applied on the puck, there is always an equal and opposite reaction. The next few paragraphs will explain the science of air hockey and how it relates to Newton’s laws of motion. The air hockey tables are the start of it all. The air hockey tables make it capable for the puck to glide effortlessly across the surface of the table. There
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The more mass an object has, the more force it will need to move. The lighter an object is, the less force you will need to move. The puck has very little inertia so that it could be easily moved, have less air resistance, and have less friction against the surface of the air hockey table. The more mass an object has, the more weight being pulled down by gravity resulting in more friction. Also, an object in motion will stay in motion and an object at rest will stay still unless acted upon by another force. If you hit a motionless puck, then you are the outside force that caused it to move. If a puck is moving on an air hockey table, even though there is little friction, the puck will eventually come to a stop without you touching it because of the minimal friction and air resistance. Newton’s second law is that the more mass that an object has, the more force will be required to accelerate it. Again, the puck has very little mass so not much force is required to accelerate it. Finally, Newton’s third law is that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. For example, If you apply 5N of force on a puck, then an equal reaction will occur with a force of 5N in a situation with no friction or air resistance. If you hit a puck, the reaction to that is the puck accelerating forward and possibly hitting one of the sides of the air hockey
The more mass an object has, the more force it will need to move. The lighter an object is, the less force you will need to move. The puck has very little inertia so that it could be easily moved, have less air resistance, and have less friction against the surface of the air hockey table. The more mass an object has, the more weight being pulled down by gravity resulting in more friction. Also, an object in motion will stay in motion and an object at rest will stay still unless acted upon by another force. If you hit a motionless puck, then you are the outside force that caused it to move. If a puck is moving on an air hockey table, even though there is little friction, the puck will eventually come to a stop without you touching it because of the minimal friction and air resistance. Newton’s second law is that the more mass that an object has, the more force will be required to accelerate it. Again, the puck has very little mass so not much force is required to accelerate it. Finally, Newton’s third law is that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. For example, If you apply 5N of force on a puck, then an equal reaction will occur with a force of 5N in a situation with no friction or air resistance. If you hit a puck, the reaction to that is the puck accelerating forward and possibly hitting one of the sides of the air hockey