The physics of breakdancing, a new Olympic sport
Breakdancing will be showcased across the world at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, and this physicist is excited to break down the science.
Lee of the Netherlands competes in the men’s breaking b-boy final of the Olympic qualifying series of breaking, BMX freestyle, skateboarding and sport climbing events ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Shanghai on May 19, 2024.
Wang Zhao/AFP (Getty Images)
The following essay is reprinted with permission from: 
conversationAn online publication covering the latest research.
The two players are engaged in a fierce dance battle. The DJ starts spinning a tune, and the athletes begin to twist and turn as if defying gravity, taking turns showing off their skills while watching each other politely.
Athletes communicate through their movements through dance that celebrates both athleticism and creativity. Athletes may not consciously think about the physics behind their movements, but this complex and fascinating dance demonstrates a variety of scientific principles.
About science journalism support
If you like this article, please consider supporting our award-winning journalism. You are subscribing. By purchasing a subscription, you help ensure the future of influential stories about the discoveries and ideas that shape our world today.
Breaking, also called breakdancing Originated in the late 1970sIn the borough of the Bronx, New York City. Debut as an Olympic sport At the 2024 Summer Olympics, Breaking plans to show off its dynamic moves on the global stage. This urban dance style combines hip hop culture, acrobatic movements, and expressive footwork.
Breaking has evolved into a competitive art form since its inception. The MC explains the moves, and the DJ mixes the songs to create a dynamic atmosphere. There are two sports at the Olympics: B-boys, a men’s sport, and B-girls, a women’s sport. In this event, athletes compete in a dance battle.
Athletes earn points. Creativity, individuality, technique, diversity, performance, musicality. Success in this sport requires combination Three basic categories of dance moves: Top lock, down lock, freeze.
standing movement
top rock The movements are performed while standing, with an emphasis on fancy footwork and hand movements. These movements are reminiscent of hip-hop dance.
The top lock move relies on a lot of friction between the sneaker and the floor. friction is force It’s the resistance you get when you slide something across a surface.
This friction allows athletes to take very fast steps or come to an abrupt halt. dancers Inertia must be intuitively understood.Or the fact that a body will continue to move in the direction in which it moves unless influenced by an external force. To come to a sudden stop, the athlete must use their muscles to keep their shoes on the ground and prevent them from continuing forward motion.
floor movement
The downlock movement is performed while on the floor. Athletes may rotate in a circle with their head, back, elbows, or shoulders on the ground and their feet in the air. b-boy and B-girl Completing these movements requires heavy reliance on your knowledge of internal physics.
Consider the physics of backspin. When an athlete performs a backspin Lie on your back with your feet lifted Rotate in the air around a specific part of your back.
Sitting on the floor, the athlete’s left foot is in contact with the floor and the right leg is spread wide. Linear momentum collection Sweep your right leg toward your left foot in a wide arc. Then, release your left leg without touching the ground and roll onto your back.
Now that only your back is touching the ground, the linear momentum of your legs changes as follows: angular momentum, which rotates the athlete around an axis that extends upward from the point where the back contacts the ground. This movement becomes magical when you bring your legs and arms inward, towards the axis of rotation. This principal conservation of angular momentum.
As an athlete brings his or her mass closer to the axis of rotation, the athlete’s rotation speed increases. Straighten your legs and arms once again and move the mass away from your body. axis of rotation This will slow down your competitor’s rotation speed. When it slows down, you can switch to a different movement.
Stop posing
Freezing occurs when: Athletes often stop in funky, upside-down positions to the music. To freeze effectively, an athlete must have full control of their center of mass, positioning it directly above the point of their body that makes contact with the floor. The center of mass is the average location of all parts of an athlete weighted by mass. The “balance point” where the athlete’s entire mass appears to be concentrated is the center of mass.
Athletes are most stable when their body’s center of gravity is as close to the ground as possible. You will see many of your competitors freeze. arms bent This is part of an effort to lower the center of mass. This lowered center of mass reduces the distance from the floor and minimizes the tendency for torque to cause the body to sway to one side or the other.
Torque is a twisting force, the same force used to turn a wrench. Torque depends on how much force you apply and how far away you are from the pivot point where you apply the force. As an athlete’s center of mass moves closer to the ground, the athlete decreases the distance between the pivot point (the ground) and the point of gravity (the athlete’s center of mass).
Because athletes must apply force to resist changes in inertia, stopping a movement midway requires a lot of force.
Find the right clothes
Many sports require specific uniforms. Braking is not like that. Athletes can wear whatever they want. But the right attire will maximize your chances of success.
Athletes want a shirt that minimizes friction between their body and the ground while turning. Letters or images on the back of a shirt add friction and interfere with a player’s ability to perform a downlock movement. Athletes may also wear long sleeves if they plan to slip on their elbows. This is because bare skin touching the floor creates more friction.
Something athletes should also think about the headgear they wear. There are many different styles of hats made specifically for breaking, but athletes will choose the one that best suits their dance style. They need to ensure that the hat provides some padding to the head while minimizing friction between the head and the floor.
The back, elbows, and head are the axis of rotation during the downlock, so athletes want equipment that minimizes friction in all of these areas. But they also need to make sure their shoes have traction to maximize friction while doing top rock footwork. Athletes also want to make sure their hands are not sweaty or slippery so they can use the friction of their hands to control the speed of the spin during down rock spins.
In the world of breaking, where dancers appear to defy gravity, strength and artistry work together with physics to create moves that will captivate audiences throughout the 2024 Olympics.
This article was originally published on: conversation. read original article.
