Courtney+D.+Smith

These are pictures from the last few years of me practicing my rifle (clearly at different times of the year..). Each picture shows a different part in the process of spinning and tossing a rifle. To the Right and Below show tossing while at the bottom shows hand spinning.

Gravity can be defined by Webster's Dictionary as the force of attraction in which terrestrial bodies tend to fall toward the center of the earth. This is what makes tossing any piece of Color Guard equipment difficult because Gravity is pulling down to the earth and you are forcing it to defy that force. In order to get the rifle to go up in the air you have to get it to spin- thus bringing into play the idea of Circular Motion.

Circular Motion defines an object's movement in a rotating manner. Just as the earth moves around the sun, the rifles moves around me: this is called Centripetal Force. The picture on the left shows the path of inertia as a ball is swung around a person. When tossing a rifle the same type of force is exerted which keeps the rifle in the same area as myself and allows it to come right back into my hand. There are two types of motion uniform and nonuniform. When throwing a rifle a nonuniform circular motion is used because the object is shifting speeds. The farther away from the center an object is the slower its velocity. For instance: to throw a single (1 full rotation) the rifle does not travel very high and therefore will spin at a faster rate. In order to throw a quint (5 full spins) the initial velocity of the rifle needs to be greater because the farther the rifle gets away from me the slower it rotates. Don't try this at home, but if you tried to throw a quint at a low level A) there would not be enough height and B) it would be extremely dangerous because the rifle is spinning in front of your face- that is why you need to give it more force initially so that it can get higher and continue to spin. The idea of uniform and nonuniform circular motion can be found more commonly in theme park attractions. Ferris Wheels & Carousels use a uniform circular motion because they are rotating and spinning in the same direction at the same speed constantly. On the other hand Rollercoasters use nonuniform circular motion because they have varying speeds and methods of rotation. Next comes into play the idea of the center of mass, for a rifle does not rotate in the center of its mass. As you can see through the pictures above the center of mass for a rifle is veryfar from the center and is right in the Neck of a rifle near the Butt. The diagram on the left gives a closer look at the parts of a rifle, and clearly shows how the Butt is nowhere near the center of the Rifle. With this information in mind the circular motion of the rifle is off to one side making it rotate in a different way than if the circular motion were in the center. Using the information above we learn that a rifle uses nonuniform circular motion- meaning it does not have a constant rotation. This is because the center of mass for the rifle is off to the side. this is hard to explain but when spinning the rifle (I call them hand-spins) the picture in the center above shows the & count of a spin (so pretend the rifle is straight up and down with the Butt towards the top). When spinning, because the center of mass is in the Neck which is in my hand the bottom of the rifle, the Nose and Belly need to be forced to rotate around my hand. This is a difficult concept to grasp without actually experiencing the feeling of spinning the rifle. Backtracking a little bit, center of mass is described as the average location of all the mass. The diagram on the right shows the difference in center of gravity (or mass) that happens at different positions a person experiences. When standing tall the center of mass is in the middle of your body; however when you bend over, it shifts so that the center of mass is still in the center even though you are bent over. For a rifle because of the way it is built the center of mass is designed to be off to the side which causes it to spin differently. This idea can lead into tons of other physics concepts dealing with solar system and movement that for further reading can probably be found somewhere on this website. I hope this was informational in some way whether it helps you with your spinning ability or not! I know that I cannot wait to go out and try out some new tosses with this new information in the hopes that it will increase my ability to toss (so I can get into Towson's weapon line...!!!) __**Physics Topic Categories:**__ Gravity, Circular Motion, Center of Mass media type="custom" key="11894586" align="center"

Works Cited: "Wise Geek." //What is Circular Motion//. 2011. Web. 19 Dec 2011. . "Physics Classroom." comPADRE, 2011. Web. 19 Dec 2011. . Dictionary.com Photo Credit: Kaitlyn Groarke Leaha Blair http://www.realmagick.com/center-of-mass-definition/ http://www.colorguardcentral.com/equipment/rifles.html http://images.yourdictionary.com/centripetal-force