After recently seeing a video of a man doing a loop on a swing, it occurred to me that swinging in that manner is pretty counterintuitive to the things I learned in physics class.
Basically, how do we make it go higher without an external force to push us, and without pushing ourselves off of anything? I’m stuck thinking that you can’t lift a chair that you’re sitting on, so a swing should work the same.
My first thought was it must be something to do with how you generally swing your legs, but in the video I saw, the guy on the swing didnt use his legs in that way at all as he was standing on the seat of the swing.
So, in simple terms what actually is happening there, and where does that momentum come from?
In: 9
When you change your position and more importantly, the length of your body by extending your legs and torso, then pulling them in, you’re changing your center of mass.
While you’re correct in that you’re not going to go higher without an external force to push you, that external force can be generated by you pushing against the shifting center of mass by changing your body position.
Basically, you’re adding energy to the cycle by shifting your own mass. If you didn’t move, you’d just stay still.
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