Hello fellow Physics students! I bet most of you are wondering, "What in the world is with this title?" But I hope my fellow AP Latin students are wondering, "Why is she reffering to the 'savage winds' that we recently read about in The Aeneid?" Well, I actually have a very interesting reason.
On Saturday, September 22, I attended the Iolani Cross Country Meet at Ford Island, and anyone who was there can testify to the fact that the wind was CRAZY!!!!! Dirt was flying everywhere, and the pop-up tents that housed the girls team were beginning to fly away! As I quickly ran to give my friend a hand in holding one of the tents from collapsing and/or blowing away, I realized, "Hey, there are forces at work here!" Before we began holding the tents against the wind, the wind was providing an x force that was greater than any opposing x forces, causing a strong net force that was threatening to send our tents flying through the air. But the moment one of us (or me in my bad diagram, I was in no position to take a picture even if I had a camera with me at the time) began to pull or push on the tent in the opposite direction to the wind, we evened out the x forces, resulting in a net x force of zero. I have included the Free Body Diagram for the simple forces working on the tent, even though I'm sure there are many more that I'm not aware of, perhaps ones like the wind making its way inside and pushing up on the tent, or othe people pulling on it. For that moment, I was glad the wind was not stronger than it was, but later, as I tried to lean into the wind to see if it would hold me up on its own, I woefully discovered that my weight, applied in the x direction (leaning into the wind) was greater than the force of the wind on my body, causing me to fall flat on my face had I not given up before that point. :-( Oh well. Oh yeah, and about "Eurus, Notus, and Africanus." Those were three of the "savage winds" that, when released, would rip up the earth and sea and send them flying through the sky. I think this was the kind of wind that Vergil was talking about. :-)
On Saturday, September 22, I attended the Iolani Cross Country Meet at Ford Island, and anyone who was there can testify to the fact that the wind was CRAZY!!!!! Dirt was flying everywhere, and the pop-up tents that housed the girls team were beginning to fly away! As I quickly ran to give my friend a hand in holding one of the tents from collapsing and/or blowing away, I realized, "Hey, there are forces at work here!" Before we began holding the tents against the wind, the wind was providing an x force that was greater than any opposing x forces, causing a strong net force that was threatening to send our tents flying through the air. But the moment one of us (or me in my bad diagram, I was in no position to take a picture even if I had a camera with me at the time) began to pull or push on the tent in the opposite direction to the wind, we evened out the x forces, resulting in a net x force of zero. I have included the Free Body Diagram for the simple forces working on the tent, even though I'm sure there are many more that I'm not aware of, perhaps ones like the wind making its way inside and pushing up on the tent, or othe people pulling on it. For that moment, I was glad the wind was not stronger than it was, but later, as I tried to lean into the wind to see if it would hold me up on its own, I woefully discovered that my weight, applied in the x direction (leaning into the wind) was greater than the force of the wind on my body, causing me to fall flat on my face had I not given up before that point. :-( Oh well. Oh yeah, and about "Eurus, Notus, and Africanus." Those were three of the "savage winds" that, when released, would rip up the earth and sea and send them flying through the sky. I think this was the kind of wind that Vergil was talking about. :-)
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