2025-01-02 ニューヨーク大学 (NYU)
＜関連情報＞
- https://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/news/2025/january/how-does-a-hula-hoop-master-gravity–mathematicians-prove-that-s.html
- https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2411588121
幾何学的に調整された接触力がフラフープの浮揚を可能にする Geometrically modulated contact forces enable hula hoop levitation
Xintong Zhu, Olivia Pomerenk, and Leif Ristroph
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Published:December 30, 2024
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2411588121
Significance
This study explains the physics and mathematics of how and why a hula hoop can be suspended against gravity. We identify this activity as an example of a more general form of mechanical levitation maintained by rolling points of contact and which depends strongly on body shape. Specifically, we use robotic experiments to show that keeping a hoop at a level requires a sloped surface with “hips” and a curvy “waist,” and we present dynamical models that explain our observations and generalize to different shapes and motions. In addition to explaining a familiar but poorly understood activity, our findings may inspire and inform robotic applications for transforming motions, extracting energy from vibrations, and controlling and manipulating objects without gripping.
Abstract
Mechanical systems with moving points of contact—including rolling, sliding, and impacts—are common in engineering applications and everyday experiences. The challenges in analyzing such systems are compounded when an object dynamically explores the complex surface shape of a moving structure, as arises in familiar but poorly understood contexts such as hula hooping. We study this activity as a unique form of mechanical levitation against gravity and identify the conditions required for the stable suspension of an object rolling around a gyrating body. We combine robotic experiments involving hoops twirling on surfaces of various geometries and a model that links the motions and shape to the contact forces generated. The in-plane motions of the hoop involve synchronization to the body gyration that is shown to require damping and sufficiently high launching speed. Further, vertical equilibrium is achieved only for bodies with “hips” or a critical slope of the surface, while stability requires an hourglass shape with a “waist” and whose curvature exceeds a critical value. Analysis of the model reveals dimensionless factors that successfully organize and unify observations across a wide range of geometries and kinematics. By revealing and explaining the mechanics of hula hoop levitation, these results motivate strategies for motion control via geometry-dependent contact forces and for accurately predicting the resulting equilibria and their stability.
