Physics Rocks!

Last week, I discovered the physical and mental strength a climber needs to be successful. This week, I looked into how physics is both advantageous and disadvantageous in rock climbing. Physics may rock (pun intended) and make climbing easier in some ways, but it can also make things harder for a climber.  It was a little more difficult researching for this topic; some of the articles and websites I've looked at were research papers or school projects by high school students. There is actually an MIT course focused on just the physics of rock climbing, but I could only see the course description. However, I've watched some videos of students' physics projects, and I did get some useful information out of them. This video was done by a group of students, and it was exactly what I was looking for; they included just general information instead of long, hard to understand explanations with dozens of complicated formulas.

Friction, work, and energy in equipment help in rock climbing by making it a easier and safer. It would be difficult to climb with slippery hands and shoes. Many more injuries would occur if the ropes weren't designed to absorb some of the shock from a fall. Belay devices rely on the great amount of friction it creates with the rope to function; A belayer wouldn't be able to slowly bring down a climber from the top or stop a climber's fall. Gravity, however, may not rock as much as friction, work, or energy, though. Climbers have to go against gravity to make it to the top, and not all rock walls go straight up; the more difficult walls are angled, and some even make a climber hang upside down during their climb. The more angled the wall is, the more arm strength is needed to keep the climber from falling which could exhaust the arm muscles more easily. More experienced and stronger climbers can argue that gravity rocks since it makes the sport more exciting and builds up even more strength. 

There is an interesting article, The Physics of Climbing-and Falling, that talks about how physicists turn out to be some of the best rock climbers. Physics is really important in rock climbing, and hopefully, this researching will make my first time rock climbing easier. This weekend, I am going rock climbing at Stone Summit for the first time. My cousin is an experienced climber and will be belaying me and will be helping get started with climbing. Next week's post will be about my first visit to Stone Summit. I'm definitely feeling like I understand rock climbing more, and I can't wait try it out.

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