The stability tag has no wiki summary.
3
votes
2answers
428 views
Why do they store gold bars with the narrow side down? [closed]
I watched on TV as they where showing gold bars stored in bank vaults and I noticed that they always stack them with the narrow side down and the wide side up. Like this:
So there has to be a ...
7
votes
7answers
2k views
Does leaning (banking) help cause turning on a bicycle?
I think it's clear enough that if you turn your bicycle's steering wheel left, while moving, and you don't lean left, the bike will fall over (to the right) as you turn. I figure this is because the ...
17
votes
8answers
989 views
Why are L4 and L5 lagrangian points stable?
This diagram from wikipedia shows the gravitational potential energy of the sun-earth two body system, and demonstrates clearly the semi-stability of the L1, L2, and L3 lagrangian points. The blue ...
8
votes
4answers
176 views
Why are alpha particles such a prominent form of radiation and not other types of nucleon arrangement?
It is said in many textbooks that alpha decay involves emitting alpha particles, which are very stable. Indeed, the binding energy (~28.3 MeV) is higher than for $Z$-neighboring stable isotopes. But ...
7
votes
3answers
354 views
Question on the stability of the solar system
One of the pertinent questions about many body systems that causes me much wonder is why the solar system is so stable for billions of years. I came across the idea of "resonance" and albeit an useful ...
2
votes
1answer
354 views
Countersteering a motorcycle
Everyone knows the story about countersteering. For those who don't I will explain it below and after the explanation i will ask my question.
You can watch this short video as a beginning: ...
16
votes
4answers
589 views
Staying in orbit - but doesn't any perturbation start a positive feedback?
I am not a physicist; I am a software engineer. While trying to fall asleep recently, I started thinking about the following.
There are many explanations online of how any object stays in orbit. The ...
3
votes
1answer
160 views
Is Dyson Sphere a stable construction?
Suppose that a star is encompassed by a Dyson Sphere. Do we need a position control system for the Dyson Sphere to keep its origin always aligned with the center of the star? Will it stay aligned ...
