I prefer my physics on the rocks.
I realized that while I am bored to death by the countless examples of frictionless carts being pulled by massless strings, I could happily apply so many concepts to climbing. When I fall off the wall, what force do I exert on my rope and harness? How far will I pop off the ground if I'm belaying a 170lbs boyfriend who is falling a distance of 15 feet? How much chalk should I use to maximize friction on slopers? What is the coefficient of friction of Five Ten rubber vs La Sportiva?
I might try and do some calculations after I get past this first midterm, and maybe I'll be able to provide the answers to some of these questions. But my desire to learn physics just shot up by about a billion.
(Side note: I have decided that I will post about generic things, and then just include my current climbing progress at the bottom. This is just a little note for me to know where I'm at.)
Personal progress: Last week, I pointed to an 5.11a and joked that there was no way I'd be able to do it. I've only been climbing 2 months, and it seems like an impossible feat. But this guy standing nearby said ,"You could do it." I asked him if he really thought I could, and he said that I should at least make it a red point project. So, with curious confidence, I gave the route a shot and got to the final hold. My hand was inching up, fingers grasping to get over the lip of the hold, and I flew off the wall. I almost flashed an 11a!! Holy crap! So that was my new lesson of the week: confidence. I can climb just about any 10b, so it's time to start pushing 10c's and 10d's. I have no excuse not to.
Also, before I started climbing, I could not do a single pull up. I did not possess any upper body strength. Yesterday, I did 3 pull-ups. It is really awesome to see all these quantitative measures of my increasing strength thanks to climbing. I hope that in a few months, I'll be able to do at least 10 pull-ups. Here's to training!
