Flight of the Pole Dancer

Welcome to PopSci's newest blog feature, "The Breakdown." Each week, we'll pick a Web video that involves a minor crash, explosion or other nonfatal mishap and invite one of our experts to explain, in scientific terms, what went wrong. In this week's edition, physics whiz Michael Moyer analyzes the case of the tumbling pole dancer...

Newton’s First Law of Motion states that bodies in motion tend to stay in motion. The same holds true for rotating bodies and, as we see in this video, doubly true for rotating, gyrating bodies.

Consider the body of the body in question. After a quick shake of the head right and left, she leans backward to begin her rotation around the pole. Her pivot points include her right hand, held fast to the pole, and her left foot (disastrously clad, we will soon learn, in three-inch heels). She now has a sizeable amount of angular momentum moving counterclockwise around the pole, and this can be halted only by an external force.

Unfortunately for our young dancer, the outcropping of wall her rear end soon encounters does not provide that force. Instead it simply serves as a new fulcrum, shifting the center of rotation from her hand to her hip. This does two things: Like a figure skater pulling her arms in, shifting the center of rotation closer to her center of mass acts to speed the rotation up. More important, it also means that her right hand must begin to rotate around the wall as well.

The outcome is predictable. A hand rotating away from the pole cannot continue to hold onto the pole, and without that grip, our dancer loses her balance in a most sudden and undignified fashion. Lesson learned: Newton can still represent. Can you think of a YouTube video you'd like explained? Send us a link in the comments section. —Michael Moyer

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*The embedded video that used to live here was removed from YouTube because of copyright silliness. But you can still see it at Break.com*

Comments

[Nick]

Hum, hot? No. Attitude? Yes, aplenty. She not only tries to defy well accepted laws, such as gravity, rotation, etc but she excels in the mouth puckering motion and frowning attitude considered to be "hot" and "sexy".

Could be signs of time but girls like that really turn me off. They learn the moves but rarely feel it. Ok, this is a little off subject... I don't see the alcohol part in it. I think it's sheer vanity ;)

[anon]

perverts.

[Joe Flynn]

You dont need to be a rocket scientist to figure this out. Its just that she has a fat ass

[J.T.]

I have to say this because someone else might:

I read the article and saw the video and I really don't give a fulcrum.

[Alecto The Night Owl]

I once x-rayed a stripper who fell off of her pole. She broke her nose.

[jack]

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[Miss Moyer]

Michael Moyer, you should be ashamed of yourself, young man.

[Goliano]

Where does the second truck come from 59 seconds into the video?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhPPTPiT-MI

[Mara]

I agree with the 'unnoticed step' advocates. It really just looked like she tripped. She lost her balance, and would have likely fallen with or without the wall. The wall did become something of a fulcrum later, but only because her center of gravity shifted due to her trip. As a side note, she couldn't have made the spin anyway, people - her grip on the pole was wrong for the spin. It wouldn't have made a very good spin without the wall. The easiest spins go FORWARD, not backwards.

That said, I'm an art major, not a science buff. I don't have any experience stripping either.

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[JOE Tompson]

I think that its wrong to talk about other people like this, even if its on the internet, the person in the video might have a friend or something who saw the blog and told her about it. It is totally unethical to pick on a person just because they made a mistake or tripped over something. And further yet, some person decided to make a science and technology website become a commercial broadcast for an erectile drug, as if that kind of drugs are not seen frequent enough

[cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeuh]

horrible..just horriblle

[GAO Tek Inc.]

omg, what is this

[Daphne]

You wouldnt believe how often strippers actually fall, happens alot more than you would think

[macosbrain]

very nice video. hope she don't get hurt :-)

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[Jamie]

If you want to learn how to dance on the pole or just learn some exotic moves you can go to
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[David]

Wow

http://www.axishow.com/view_video.php?viewkey=27327d8461063f4ac58a&page=11&viewtype=&category=mr

[cobraman156]

its amazing how she can defy gravity

[Rene v/d Gijp]

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Thank you for that

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