Canoeing Trip

The other weekend my wife and I took our two kids on a canoeing trip down a local river.  We'd both been canoeing before, but decades ago.  I had been canoeing once, back in 5th grade!

We hopped in the canoe and headed off.  It was a fantastic 3 hour trip.  Peaceful with a great deal of scenery to take in, including many turtles and a large snake!  It was also a learning experience for my kids on how to make a canoe change direction.  It was a hands-on physics lesson!  It basically boils down to Netwon's 3rd Law.

For every force there is an equal and opposite force.

If we want to turn the canoe to the left, we have to paddle on the right side.  If we want to turn the canoe to the right, we have to paddle on the left side.  If we want to move the canoe forward faster, we have to paddle moving the paddle front to back.  If we want to slow the canoe down, we have to move the paddle back to front.  

It was a good learning experience as we let both kids paddle at times.  A fun day!  Of course now it's the next day as I write this and my arms are sore!  LOL!