A few weeks ago I shared some educational resources related to the Tour de France. Tomorrow, the Tour de France concludes in Paris. To mark the tour’s conclusion I have two more educational resources about bicycles to share.
Minute Physics offers two videos about the physics of bicycles. In How Do Bikes Stay Up? we learn how bikes stay upright, how design and weight influences balance, and why bicycles are difficult to balance in reverse.
The Counterintuitive Physics of Turning a Bike explains how we turn bicycles.
Applications for Education
Both videos provide physics lessons based around an activity with which most students are familiar. Before letting students watch the videos ask them to try to explain how bikes stay up and turn. The first of the two videos could also provide inspiration for an outdoor physics lesson.
