Pause for a moment and imagine a world without wheels. Everything would come to a standstill, thrusting us into a stagnant existence. This thought experiment compels us to consider the ingenuity of those who, centuries ago, devised the wheel.
Pause for a while and think of living on the
earth without wheels. In a moment, everything would come to a halt and you
could put yourself to experience constraints of being in a stagnant world. The
mere thought of putting myself into a stagnant situation compelled me to
imagine how people centuries back could have contemplated to devise something
that we recognize today as a wheel.
In ancient times, the concept of a wheel likely stemmed from observing stones rolling down hills. These early innovators recognized that rolling objects naturally balance themselves, even if they didn't fully grasp the underlying principles. This observation became a universal truth, which might explain why detailed scientific explanations of this phenomenon are often absent from modern curricula.
Well, in those days the idea of creating a
wheel would have been conceptualized from the stones rolling down the hills.
The people in those ancient times would have cleverly grabbed the fact that the
rolling bodies have inherent tendency to balance themselves without giving a much
thought to the theory working behind it. It seems as if the fact has been
accepted as a universal truth and perhaps that could be the reason why no topic
explaining this otherwise a scientific phenomenon has been included in the
course material even at graduate level science studies.
Curious about whether this topic is covered today, I asked students across various grades to consult their science teachers. Most responses echoed a similar sentiment: the wheel balances itself due to centripetal force.
To confirm whether the topic is covered in the
courses today, I asked many students studying in different schools at different
grades to ask their science teachers to see if they know answer to the question.
To my surprise, everyone came with more or less a same reply that a rolling
wheel balances itself because of the centripetal force.
However, centripetal force, which makes an object travel in a circular path, doesn't fully explain the wheel's self-balancing nature. Intrigued, I delved deeper into this fascinating phenomenon and uncovered some remarkable concepts.
Since centripetal force is the force required
to make a body travel in a circular path, I did not find the answer provided by
most of the teachers satisfactory. Ultimately, I set myself down to understand this
wonderful scientific phenomenon and surprisingly I became aware of a few magnificent
concepts that can be attributed to it in order to understand the science behind
it.
When any object rises against gravity, it acquires potential energy. This energy creates instability, prompting the object to return to equilibrium by releasing the stored energy. Picture a waterfall where descending water converts potential energy into kinetic energy.
We know that anything that rises against the
gravity acquires potential energy and under the influence of the potential energy,
the body tends to become unstable and tries to bring itself to the equilibrium
by releasing the acquired energy. Imagine a waterfall where the water comes down
from the top to discharge the acquired potential energy. In the process, the
potential energy gets converted into a kinetic energy.
Similarly, when a wheel is upright, each particle within it gains potential energy. Upon releasing the wheel, it seeks equilibrium, typically by falling. However, when the wheel is set in motion, an exchange between kinetic and potential energy occurs. This exchange maintains the equilibrium necessary for the wheel to balance itself.
Similarly, when we set the wheel in an upright
position, the sum total of the potential energy acquired by each of the
constituent particle of the wheel becomes greater than zero. You will notice
that as soon as you un-hold the wheel, it would tend to fall down in order to acquire
the equilibrium. But, when the wheel is subject to a kinetic energy that is when we set the wheel rolling, the exchange between kinetic energy and
potential energy takes place, which maintains the equilibrium required for the
wheel to balance itself.
I hope you found this exploration enlightening.
I hope you enjoyed the article.
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