Physics of Stone Skipping(On Motion and Form in Our Daily Life)

Abstract

The problem of impacts between a solid object and fluid surface has long been studied. A familiar example is "stone skipping", which is the bounce of a flat stone against water's surface. A recent experiment revealed that there exists a "magic angle" of 20° between a disk's face and water surface in which the condition of the lowest impact speed necessary for a bounce is minimized. In this study, we show necessary conditions for a bounce using numerical simulation. We also show that a simple numerical model successfully explains the magic angle.