Zero Gravity Chamber

Have you ever thought how you'd move around when you are floating in space? There's nothing to grip on to, nothing to push against. You might think it is like swimming, but it isn't because there is no water, no air, NOTHING!

But even when there is no gravity and no friction, Newton's Third Law still holds. That's the law about every action having an equal and opposite reaction. This means if you throw something away from you, you will move away yourself in the opposite direction. You just don't notice it when gravity and friction forces are too strong. Try it some time on ice, where friction is lower.

This is what propulsion is all about. It's about throwing things to move yourself in the opposite direction.

Projectiles

Do you know about projectiles on Whyville? If you don't, now is a good time to find out about them. In fact, for those of you who think you know all about them already, did you know that you can throw a projectile when there is nobody else in the room?

Read this article by Bigfoot carefully to find out about this little-known feature. To use it well, you will need to know about angles...

Tips on Angles

What's an angle? Simply put, it's a way to talk about how big a piece of pie is. The bigger the angle, the bigger the pie.

Instead of talking about 1/4th of the pie, or 1/6th of the pie, mathematicians decided to divide the pie (actually, they talked about circles) into 360 degrees. 1/4th of the pie is 90 degrees (360/4), otherwise known as a right angle, and 1/6th is 60 degrees.

Out of habit, we start counting from the right side of the horizontal cut, going counterclockwise, and that's the way we'll do it for the projectiles in Whyville.

Print and cut out the protractor below to help you figure out at what angle you want to throw a projectile. If you don't have a printer, just take a piece of paper and trace it right off the screen. Cut out the small circle at the center of the protractor, and position your head right in the middle.