Chapter 1:

Slipping Between Falling Drops

To access the pdf file for all the video links and journal citations for the items in the book, click on the pdf icon for "Chapter References & Comments” at the top of the page, next to Armando Armadillo. (Go to www.Adobe.com for a free pdf reader.) To access the updates and new items (not in the book), click on any "update" or "new" in the following list.

• 1.1 Run or walk in the rain?    update July 2007
• 1.2 Traffic platoons and gridlock
• 1.3 Shock waves on the freeway
• 1.4 Minimum trailing distance for a car
• 1.5 Running a yellow light
• 1.6 Spin out during hard braking   update Mar 2009
• 1.7 To slide or not to slide
• 1.8 Skidding to a stop
• 1.9 SHORT STORY: Some records for skid marks
• 1.10 Woodpeckers and big-horn sheep and concussion
• 1.11 SHORT STORY: The game of g's
• 1.12 Head-on car collision    update Jul 2008
• 1.13 SHORT STORY: Playing with locomotives
• 1.14 Rear-end collision and whiplash injury
• 1.15 Race-car turns
• 1.16 Sprint tracks
• 1.17 Sprint tracks
• 1.18 SHORT STORY: Air Canada Flight 143
• 1.19 Fear and trembling at the amusement park update Sep 2006
• 1.20 SHORT STORY: Circus loop-the-loop acts
• 1.21 Catching a fly ball
• 1.22 SHORT STORY: High ball
• 1.23 Hitting a baseball    update July 2008
• 1.24 Legal passes in rugby
• 1.25 Juggling
• 1.26 Pole vaulting
• 1.27 Launch of an atlatl and a toad tongue
• 1.28 Slings
• 1.29 Tomahawks
• 1.30 Bolas
• 1.31 Siege machine
• 1.32 Human cannonball
• 1.33 Basketball shots     update Jan 2008
• 1.34 Short story: Records in free throws
• 1.35 Hang in basketball and ballet
• 1.36 Golfing
• 1.37 SHORT STORY: Curtain of death of a meteor strike
• 1.38 The high jump and the long jump
• 1.39 Jumping beans    update July 2007
• 1.40 Somersault of a click beetle, attack of a mantis shrimp
• 1.41 SHORT STORY: Some record lifts
• 1.42 Chain collisions
• 1.43 Dropping a stack of balls
• 1.44 SHORT STORY: A crashing demonstration
• 1.45 Karate       update May 2010
• 1.46 Boxing                        update Sep 2006  Oct 2008
• 1.47 Skywalk collapse
• 1.48 World Trade Center collapses
• 1.49 Falls from record heights
• 1.50 A daring parachuting rescue
• 1.51 Cats in long falls          update May 2007
• 1.52 Land diving and bungee jumping
• 1.53 Trapped in a falling elevator cab
• 1.54 SHORT STORY: Bomber crashes into Empire State Building
• 1.55 Falls in fighting, landing during parachuting
• 1.56 Beds of nails     update Dec 2008
• 1.57 Hanging spoons  update Jul 2008  July 2010
• 1.58 Trails of migrating rocks
• 1.59 Hitches
• 1.60 Rock climbing
• 1.61 Rock climbing by bighorn sheep
• 1.62 Pulling statues across Easter Island
• 1.63 Erecting Stonehenge
• 1.64 Lifting the blocks for the Egyptian pyramids
• 1.65 A Slinky
• 1.66 Leaning tower of blocks     update Mar 07
• 1.67 Leaning tower of Pisa   update June 08
• 1.68 Falling dominoes    update Mar 09
• 1.69 Falling chimneys, pencils, and trees
• 1.70 Breaking pencil points
• 1.71 Failure of a bridge section
• 1.72 Jack-knifing of a train
• 1.73 Bowling strikes
• 1.74 Shots in pool and billiards
• 1.75 Miniature golf
• 1.76 Superball tricks
• 1.77 Racquetball shots    update Nov 07
• 1.78 SHORT STORY: A controversial goal   update Nov 07
• 1.79 Tennis
• 1.80 Bicycles and motorcycles
• 1.81 Motorcycle long jumps   update Apr 09
• 1.82 Skateboards
• 1.83 Pitching horseshoes
• 1.84 Spinning Hula-Hoops and lassos
• 1.85 Yo-yo
• 1.86 Unwinding a yo-yo
• 1.87 Driving through the sound barrier
• 1.88 SHORT STORY: Spin test explosion
• 1.89 Kayak roll
• 1.90 Curling
• 1.91 Tightrope walk       update Feb 2008
• 1.92 Bull riding
• 1.93 Tearing toilet paper
• 1.94 Skipping stones and bombs     update May 2006  Jun 2008
• 1.95 Spinning ice skater
• 1.96 Spinning a book
• 1.97 Falling cat, astronaut antics, and fancy diving   update Sep 2008
• 1.98 Quadruple summersault
• 1.99 Tumbling toast
• 1.100 Ballet
• 1.101 Skiing
• 1.102 Abandoned on the ice
• 1.103 SHORT STORY: Rotation sequence matters
• 1.104 Personalities of tops
• 1.105 SHORT STORY: A headstrong suitcase
• 1.106 Tippy tops
• 1.107 Spinning eggs
• 1.108 Diabolos
• 1.109 Rattlebacks    update Nov 2006
• 1.110 Wobbling coins and bottles   update Apr 2009
• 1.111 Judo, aikido and Olympic wrestling
• 1.112 Bullet spin, and long passes   update Mar 2008
• 1.113 Pumping playground swings
• 1.114 Incense swing
• 1.115 The pendulum in the pit
• 1.116 Inverted pendulums, unicycle riders
• 1.117 Carrying loads on the head
• 1.118 Carrying loads with oscillating poles
• 1.119 Coupled pendulums
• 1.120 Spring pendulum
• 1.121 The bell that would not ring
• 1.122 Spaghetti effect     update Nov 2008
• 1.123 The spider and the fly
• 1.124 Footbridge and dance floor oscillation    update Feb 2007
• 1.125 Precariously balanced structures and rocks
• 1.126 Sinking of the nuclear submarine Kursk
• 1.127 Detection by sand scorpion
• 1.128 Snow waves
• 1.129 Football-stadium wave
• 1.130 Body armor
• 1.131 Archer's paradox
• 1.132 Oscillating plants
• 1.133 Oscillating tall buildings   update July 2006
• 1.134 Diving from a springboard
• 1.135 Flycasting
• 1.136 Falkland Islands battle, Big Bertha
• 1.137 Jack and the beanstalk to space
• 1.138 Spring fever and the standing of eggs   update Apr 08
• 1.139 Moon madness
• 1.140 Gravity hill
• 1.141 Falling through the center of Earth    update Sep 2007
• 1.142 Stretching of plastic shopping bags
• 1.143 Giant’s Causeway and starch columns  update May 2007
• 1.144 Broken fingernails
• 1.145 Crumpling paper into a ball    update Oct 2007
• 1.146 Playful to tragic examples of explosive expansion
• 1.147 Why a hanging picture becomes crooked
• 1.148 A two-spring surprise
• 1.149 Stability of a pop can
• 1.150 Wilberforce pendulum
• 1.151 Drag racing starts    update Aug 2008
• 1.152 Turn or stop
• 1.153 Slipping past a bus
• 1.154 Compression line in pulled tape
• 1.155 Bobsled in a curve
• 1.156 Too quick to slide
• 1.157 The home of the Little Prince
• 1.158 Parachuting with a pumpkin
• 1.159 Pulling in a feisty fish
• 1.160 Fiddlesticks
• 1.161 Rotor on a notched stick
• 1.162 Shot put and hammer throw   update July 2006
• 1.163 Jumps during downhill ski race
• 1.164 Pulling a table cloth beneath dishes   update Jun 2008
• 1.165 SHORT STORY: Pulling with teeth    update Jun 2008
• 1.166 Jerking chair
• 1.167 Lifting a person with fingers
• 1.168 Rockets, and a problem with an iceboat
• 1.169 SHORT STORY: Earth to Venus
• 1.170 A choice of hammers
• 1.171 Pressure regulator
• 1.172 Sliding a stick across fingers
• 1.173 SHORT STORY: Giant tug-of-war
• 1.174 Shooting along a slope
• 1.175 Starting a car on a slippery road
• 1.176 Balancing a tire
• 1.177 Carnival bottle swing
• 1.178 Hanging goblet, ready to crash
• 1.179 Breaking a drill bit
• 1.180 Swinging watches
• 1.181 SHORT STORY: Flattening the Golden Gate Bridge
• 1.182 Hunting by railway vehicles
• 1.183 Oscillating car antenna
• 1.184 A ship's antiroll tank
• 1.185 Road corrugation    update Apr 08
• 1.186 Seeing only one side of the moon
• 1.187 Intelligence satellites
• 1.188 Air drag speeds up satellite
• 1.189 Moon trip figure eigh
• 1.190 Earth and sun pull on moon
• 1.191 Gravitational slingshot effect
• 1.192 Making a map of India
• 1.193 Shaving with twin blades
• 1.194 The handedness of river erosion The following are not in the book.
• 1.195 Falls over Niagara Falls    new item Aug 06
• 1.196 Backpacks on bungee cords are easier to carry  new item Feb 07
• 1.197 Projectile penguin from an ice hole    new item Mar 07
• 1.198 Swordplay    new item April 07
• 1.199 Car and train surfing    new item May 07
• 1.200 Flea circus     new item July 07
• 1.201 Stacking stones and bowling balls     new item July 07
• 1.202 Cars on ice    new item July 07
• 1.203 Penn and Teller magic     new item Oct 07
• 1.204 Implosion demolition     new item Nov 07 
• 1.205 Wheel of Death    new item Dec 07
• 1.206 Falling cranes --- from silly to deadly    new item Apr 08
• 1.207 Twining plants on a garden rod    new item May 08
• 1.208 Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull   new item May 08
• 1.209 Alligator death roll    new item Jul 08
• 1.210 Criss Angel magic --- floating between two buildings    new item Oct 08
• 1.211 Motorcycle Ball of Death    new item Nov 08
• 1.212 Bursting balloon   new item Nov 08
• 1.213 Pub trick --- removing the cork from a wine bottle   new item Jan 09
• 1.214 Puzzle --- bridge collapse under weight of a house   new item Jan 09
• 1.215 Pedestrian throw, moose throw, camel throw   new item Jan 09
• 1.216 "Hang on a minute, lads. I've got a great idea."   new item Feb 09    
• 1.217 Pub trick --- balancing a hammer and a lorry   new item Feb 09
• 1.218 Landing an airplane on water  new item Feb 09
• 1.219 Charles Taylor's one-wheel vehicle   new item Apr 09
• 1.220 Spaghetti breaking   new item Jun 09
• 1.221 Pub trick --- hanging a bottle on a wall   new item Jun 09
• 1.222 Pizza tossing  new item Jul 09
• 1.223 Pub trick --- tying a ring hitch  new item Jul 09
• 1.224 Worm grunting, and the sandworms of Dune  new item Nov 09
• 1.225 Pub trick --- champagne cork as a mortar round   new item Jan 10
• 1.226 Knight Rider stunt  new item Jan 10
• 1.227 Truck in strong wind  new item Feb 10
• 1.228 Lucky shots  new item Feb 10
• 1.229 A truck falls over onto a car  new item Mar 10
• 1.230 Pub trick --- removing a coin from under a mug  new item Mar 10  
• 1.231 Roller derby whip move  new item Apr 10
• 1.232 Pub trick --- transferring a steel ball between beer mats   new item Apr 10
• 1.233 Snake slithering  new item Aug 10