WATCH: Physicist puts life on the line in the name of science

How much do you trust science?

For one physicist, he trusted it so much that he put his life on the line for it.

Norwegian Andreas Wahl decided to demonstrate Isaac Newton’s Second Law of Motion. Not familiar with it?

It reads: “Force is equal to the change in momentum (mV) per change in time. For a constant mass, force equals mass times acceleration.” F=ma

So that probably didn’t make it any clearer. That’s why Wahl decided to let you watch that law in motion. Literally.

The Second Law has to do with centripetal force. Just think of a pair of skaters. As the male skater spins, the female skater’s speed accelerates in a circle. To make her move faster, the male skater applies more force. The harder he pulls, the faster she will spin.

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Wahl applied this bit of science to a rope on a pole about 14 metres above the ground. Without safety equipment, he hung on the rope that had a kettlebell affixed to the end. The rope was released and the kettlebell spun around the pole — the central point — faster and faster until it caught, stopped spinning, and prevented Wahl from breaking his legs.

The amazing video, one of an eight-part series called “Life on the Line” was created, developed and directed by Logan & Sons’ Christian Holm-Glad.

Science. It works.

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