A photo from open sources
There is nothing nicer and more useful than relaxing near the water – at lakes, rivers or seas. Moreover, you can not only swim and sunbathe, swim in a boat, catch fish, but even just throw into the water pebbles – “pancakes”, “frogs”, “ducks” (among Hungarians) or “rabbits” (so this entertainment is called the Mongols).
And here is a recognized master to launch “pancakes” on water, the author of the book “Secrets of stone skipping” (stone skipping – jumping pebbles) Jerdon Coleman-McGee believes this is the best outdoor activity in which organically combines sports excitement and unique technology meditation, allowing a person to “soar above our ordinary life. ”
As for sports, letting stones on the water has long been moved into the category of popular competitions. So, in the US there is even stone skipping association – NASSA (not to be confused with the name American Space Agency), which organizes annual Worldwide competitions. By the way, we note that the first world champion girl became a stone skipper, and Coleman-McGee himself (creator NASSA) in 1992 launched his “pancake” with 38 bounces and due to this, I got into the Guinness Book of Records. True, in 2003 Kurt Steiner beat this achievement (40 bounces), in 2007, he surpassed Russell Biars (51 pancakes, launched at 75 meters). However, in 2015, Steiner regained superiority, having achieved 88 bouncing pebble.
Pebbles jumping on water, and not only …
If we turn to the history of the emergence and development of this interesting hobby, it turns out that letting pebbles already practiced in ancient times, about which, for example, in detail writes Mark Minucius Felix (lived in Rome at the turn of the II-III centuries of our era) in its apology “Octavius.”
In the Middle Ages in England, this match game was called Ducks and drakes “(Ducks and drakes), because it’s odd in number bouncing was considered a duck, and even – a drake. In his play “Henry V” Shakespeare even mentions this game.
In the XVI century, “pancakes” interested the military. For example, in 1578 William Bourne, officer of the British Navy, described the principle of rebound shells from water, which formed the basis of special artillery firing techniques to increase the range of the projectile in three to four times. During World War II, based on this principle was invented by the “jumping bomb.”
How to run a pebble on water the farthest
It is not surprising that the technique of putting out “pancakes” for a long time scientists are interested in trying not only to explain this phenomenon, but also give practical advice on how to achieve the best result. Back in the 18th century, the Italian Lazzaro Spallanzani attempted scientifically describe this process, but due to the theory that was not developed at that time liquids brought a lot of confusion to this issue. But in this succeeded modern French physicist Lideric Boke, who in his article “Physics of Stone Skipping” (2002) in detail and quite sensibly described the launch of “pancakes” from a scientific point of view.
Theorists and practitioners of stone skipping still argue over how ideally should be a “pancake”. For example, the same bokeh claims that it is desirable to select a large stone, flat – best round – and light enough. But Coleman-McGee considers the best form in the form of a regular triangle or pentagon in size about the palm of your hand.
Well, the terms of success, in addition to the shape and weight of the stone, almost all those involved in this sport call the speed at which it is launched “pancake”, its rotation speed, as well as the angle between the surface water and a pebble plane. And if a form can be selected for you specialists, then everything else is achieved by training and, of course depends on your perseverance and inborn abilities: on strength muscles, eye and even the ability to feel the stone as living, the being in contact with you. For example, many times have been undertaken attempts to make a record throw using a catapult – with calculating all startup parameters on the computer. Nothing good it hasn’t come out of this yet …
In the meantime, millions of lovers just launch pancakes and get great pleasure without even knowing what passions flare up around this sport, not yet recognized Olympic …
Water Time Stones
