Highland Science Festival’s demo on hula hoop physics might shatter Inverness Floral Hall

Not content with two two-minute lectures on Einstein’s theory of relativity and on quantum physics, as we’ve reported, the Highland Science Festival is throwing in a demonstration lecture on the physics of hula hoop spinning.

Trina Dinnis, the engineer presenting the session, says that she may have to limit the scope of the demonstration because its venue, the Floral Hall in Inverness, is glass sheathed. A flying hula hoop could do damage.

After using the internet to learn how to make her own hula hoops, she used physics to improve her technique. She says: ‘A lot of it is classical mechanics. The bigger and heavier the hoop the easier it is to use. I have also found out how to manipulate the hoops using the practicalities of gyroscopes’.

As well as her hula hoop demo, Ms Dinnis will do a separate talk in the Festival programme on The Mathematics of Why I Don’t Have a Boyfriend.

Of her second talk, which she first gave two years ago at the Orkney Festival, Ms Dinnis says: ‘I got the idea after hearing a guy talk about how his girlfriend decided she didn’t want to go out with him because of the books he read and I started thinking about whether there was a selection criteria people used in finding a boyfriend, or girlfriend’.

The lively festival, running from 1st – 15th November, is, even in its advance publicity, making science fun. Its programme will also run events on astronomy (with a visit to Edinburgh) and the potential for space tourism in the Highlands and Moray. Have a look at its programme. It’s the freshest thing in the Highlands for ages.