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- Past Events
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- SMP 12/21/02 | Peering into the Earth: From Earthquakes to Diamonds | Speaker: Wendy Panero
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- SMP 11/21/09 | Sparks and Wiggles | Speaker: Thomas B. Greenslade Jr.
- SMP 11/14/09 | The Science of Music | Speaker: Jim Allen
- SMP 11/7/09 | Dynamics of Spinning, Rolling, and Skating | Speaker: Tony Bloch
- SMP 10/31/09 | Light of The Living Dead: The Remarkable Radiation from Neutron Stars | Speaker: Keith Riles
- SMP 10/24/09 | Protein, Fat, or Politics? Big-Game Hunting in Human Evolution | Speaker: John D. Speth
- SMP 10/17/09 | The Museum of Zoology: A Priceless Collection of Life | Speaker: William Fink
- SMP 10/10/09 | How Fast is Evolution? | Speaker: Phillip Gingerich
- SMP 10/3/09 | Mirrors, Anti-Matter, & the Left-Handed World | Speaker: Dan Amidei
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- Seminars & Colloquia
Speaker: Professor Tony Bloch (U-M Mathematics)
Professor Bloch will discuss some of the physics and mathematics of the classical motion of rigid bodies and general mechanical systems. The basic principle underlying most dynamics is the principle of least action. He will discuss some of the history of this principle and how it gives rise to motion of particles and rigid bodies. He will describe important related concepts such as the role of symmetry and the conservation of angular momentum and energy. For bodies, which roll or skate a more general principle, the Lagrange-D'Alembert principle, must be used to obtain the dynamics. In such cases, angular momentum is not necessarily conserved and one obtains rich and sometimes surprising dynamics. Professor Bloch will give examples of rotating bodies that spontaneously change their direction of motion and that can proceed uphill without the application of outside force.