On the Topic of Unstable Equilibrium

Most of what follows falls (as it were) under the heading of “what happens when you fail to keep the center of mass above the supports.” The “ooh, that’s gonna leave a mark” cringe-o-meter registers noticeably in some scenes.

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(The male gymnast’s vault at about 2:30 looks faked. Is that just me?)

Driving Me Up a Wall

Air Hog Zero G micro car. Think “reverse hovercraft” — a fan inside makes it hug the wall or ceiling.

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The car is 6″ long and perhaps 3″ wide, and the shipping weight of the whole thing is 2 lbs, so let’s say that 1 lb is for the car. (sorry, no SI units for this. Imperial units given, and this is just a quick ‘n dirty analysis) So you need somewhere around 0.1 psi of pressure differential generated by the fan to have it “stick” to the ceiling.