Many skilled rock climbers suffer from chronic pain that runs along their fingers, and some climbers also display a noticeable bulge along the palm side of an injured finger when they draw the finger in toward the palm.
What is the connection between the bulge, the pain, and the physics of climbing?
The answer is in this chapter.
12-1 What Is Physics?
Human constructions are supposed to be stable in spite of the forces that act on them. A building, for example, should be stable in spite of the gravitational force and wind forces on it, and a bridge should be stable in spite of the gravitational force pulling it downward and the repeated jolting it receives from cars and trucks.
One focus of physics is on what allows an object to be stable in spite of any forces acting on it. In this chapter we examine the two main aspects of stability: the equilibrium of the forces and torques acting on rigid objects and the elasticity of nonrigid objects, a property that governs how such objects can deform. When this physics is done correctly, it is the subject of countless articles in physics and engineering journals; when it is done incorrectly, it is the subject of countless articles in newspapers and legal journals.
Fig. 12-1 A balancing rock. Although its perch seems precarious, the rock ...
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