Surfing is a wonderful example of physics at work in my life. Beyond the obvious concept and physics of waves. Every turn I make while surfing is possible because of a centripetal force. When I start my turn, here a very basic, slow bottom turn, the rail of my surfboard angles into the water. This creates a normal force perpendicular to the point of contact between my board and the water. This normal force allows me to make wide or sharp turns even though the water has a low friction on my board because the component of the normal force pointing toward the center of my rotation. Thank God for physics and surf!
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