Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Well I really want to do a project involving cheer using newton's laws but im having a hard time finding a question to apply to this I asked my instructer but he said what are you going to test, but yeah I need help.

I think we need a bit more information:
1. Is Cheer the detergent or something else ?
2. Which of Newton's laws are you referring to ?
Regards,
Gerry

I ment it as the sport cheerleadingg andd any of the three ..

I'm still uncertain just what aspect of cheerleading you wish to analyze with Newton's Laws. Speaking generally, determining how a person or an object moves involves the use of calculus, and with the exception of particularly simple problems such as determining the trajectory of a simplified model object, e.g. a rigid ball in a vacuum, can be quite difficult. If you can give us an specific example of what kinds of motions you wish to consider, we will be better able to help you.

If you are just interested in sports related science fair projects, just go to our home page (Science Fair Project Home above) and type in "sports" in the search field, then follow the link Sports science fair project ideas, you will get a list of several dozen sports related projects. If you instead are interested just in mechanics, you can follow the same procedure using "mechanics" and/or "Newton's laws" in the search field.

Because you haven't yet specified which aspect of cheerleading you would like to study and relate to Newton's Laws, I suggest that you do a quick Google search on "the physics of cheerleading." You'll get a few good links that'll give you an idea of how the two topics are related. For instance, one of the laws (the Law of Inertia, a.k.a. Newton's First Law) states that an object, whether it's at rest or moving, tends to keep doing what it's doing unless an external force acts on it, in which case, it may accelerate in the direction of the said force. What happens when a cheerleader is thrown up in the air? External forces act on her, so she does not keep moving through the air. At a certain point, she stops, due to a variety of factors: the force applied by her friends catching her, gravity, etc. This is not the best example, but hopefully you understand what I'm getting at here.

As for action and reaction, think about what happens when the cheerleader lands in her teammates' arms. Does she exert a force that is reciprocated?

Keep thinking about different cheerleading setups and scenarios. Observe the movements carefully, if you have a chance after school. I'm positive that you can find many connections to Newton's Laws. Have fun with your project!