Tour de... Lessons with Bicycles!

Do you and your children like riding bicycles?
Take a moment for a lesson. We even have a song to go with it. Scroll down to the bottom to find our little physics lesson. But here's more about bikes!

Tour de...
Have you been following the Tour de France? Well, we have a fun event with a similar name here at Kennedy Space Center.
Here's a picture of Tour de KSC, an annual cycling event. (Credit: NASA image archives)

Unlike the Tour de France, the Tour de KSC is not a race. It's a sight-seeing bicycle tour for employees and their guests. I look forward to participating in the event as a family someday.

Cycling in Space
Cycling is a great way to exercise, which is why Astronauts cycle in space! Without Earth's gravity, astronauts experience muscle loss in spaceflight. To counteract this muscle loss, they exercise two hours every day. The ISS has a piece of equipment called the Cycle Ergometer with Vibration Isolation and Stabilization (CEVIS).
Here's a picture of Astronaut Terry Virts riding CEVIS on the ISS. (Credit: NASA image archives)

Here's a picture of Astronaut Stephanie Wilson riding on the Shuttle Discovery. (Credit: NASA image archives)

Bikes at Home
We love riding our bikes around our neighborhood. 
Here's a picture of our older girls riding a scooter and a bike with training wheels.

Our Physics Lesson
As we started riding our bikes we realized that the wheels kept moving even when we stopped pedaling for a bit. At first we noticed this on a little hill, but then we also found that it happened when the road was flat. Now that made us curious.

Mama explained that it's because of Newton's First Law: an object in motion tends to stay in motion, unless acted upon by some outside force that object will go! 

Then our oldest child (age 7 when we recorded this video) thought up a way to explain it to people while we were standing still. And we made this video! We found a spot where our training wheels would be stuck but the back wheel could move freely. Then we pedaled, stopped pedaling, and saw what would happen. 
Bicycle Wheel Gyroscope
Did you know you can explain a gyroscope with a bicycle wheel? Do you want to learn how a gyro works? Here's a lesson from NASA!
Navigating by Good Gyrations. Check out the full lesson in the link below.

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