Erika Montalvo Villafañe: Physics in Baby Steps

Physics! A topic many people avoid such as mathematics or chemestry. I have met a significant amount of people in my student career who doesn't even want to star a conversation that have something to do with physics. The unawareness that lies among many students about physics concepts and principles is significant. People is unaware that in every single thing they do, from the moment they wake up to the moment they go to sleep, is thanks to physics.

Something as simple as walking includes basic concepts of physics and people doesn't even notice.  From the moment we start walking for the first time we are dealing with physics. In that exact moment when, as babies, we try to stand up we start working our way around physiscs laws. When we reach to balance our weight in proportion to the separation of our legs and have the necesary  force to hold up our weight times the gravity acting on our bodies is the moment when we can stay standing. When we take our first step there is a transfer of body weight to one of our legs, a change in position, a velocity, an acceleration and many other phenomena that are studied in the physics class that so many students try to avoid.

"What allows you to move? your legs or the floor?". Many people will answer this question without thinking that what allows our own movement is our legs. They're wrong. What allows movement is the floor. You can move your legs while sitting on a chair and stay in the same position. Once you are standing in the floor and you move your legs you start moving from one place to another. But it goes further. Friction between the floor and the bottom of your shoes or feet is what really allows you to move. Friction  is the force that acts against motion. Friction allows that every object stay still while standing on a surface. Thats why when we take a step forward while we transfer our wheight to one of our legs, friction allows that leg to stay still in that position while we transfer our body weight to the other leg so we can complete the step. Friction an important phenomena in our daily basis. Without friction objects in our world would be constantly moving as in an air hockey table.

Balance, movement, displacement, gravity, force, friction, among others are part of the physics concepts that forms part of the most essential things that we do on daily basis. A baby taking his first step was enough to mention almost half of the concepts that are discussed on physics class. Not forgetting every law that have been stipulated by famous scientifics such as Isaac Newton.  The class or topic that many students avoid just because they are driven by the stereotypes of a person who have knowledge in physics is the class that influence in every movement we do. Once you are aware that physics is everething around you it will be easier to understand every concept. It could even be exciting to know the "how" and "why" of everything you see in your daily basis.