How do flat rocks skip across water?

Moment of Um

American Public Media

Kids & Family, Education For Kids

4.4 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 20 March 2025

⏱️ 5 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Throwing a flat rock juuust right so that it skips across the surface of a pond or river is super satisfying. How many hops can you get? Two? Seven? Sixty-five? But how does the right kind of throw cause a rock to NOT sink as soon as it touches the water? We asked Jon Lambert of Splash Lab to help us find the answer.

Got questions skipping through your brain? Send your questions to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll throw you some answers.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey friends, do you have a young adult in your life who's looking to beef up their financial know-how?
0:05.9	Then check out the new season of Financially Inclined hosted by Janelli Espinal.
0:11.1	This season, the show is tackling topics like how to align your values with your money decisions,
0:16.0	the skill of negotiating, and what you can get out of internships.
0:20.6	Financially Inclined is presented in partnership with Greenlight, the debit card and money
0:24.8	app for teens. Greenlight helps teens learn to earn, save, spend wisely, and invest.
0:30.8	Tune in to financially inclined wherever you find your podcasts.
0:34.8	From the brains behind brains on, this is the moment of um. Moment of um comes to you from
0:44.9	APM studios. I'm Anna Goldfield and I'm at a meditation retreat, so let's concentrate.
1:03.4	Welcome to Lakeside meditation time a time to calm your mind like the smooth glassy waters of a beautiful lake take a slow deep breath and allow your eyes to gently drift closed. Imagine you are standing beside the
1:15.0	gently rippling waters of a clear blue lake. You can feel the warm breeze on your face. In your
1:23.1	hand is a small stone, warm from the sun, perfectly flat and smooth.
1:29.3	You feel the weight of it in your palm as you curl your fingers around it.
1:34.3	Draw your arm back and flick it effortlessly across the surface of the lake.
1:40.3	The rock spins, skipping across the surface of the water.
1:47.7	Once, twice, three times.
1:51.7	The rock bounces off the tail feathers of a really big goose.
1:54.4	That goose looks mad.
1:56.5	He's looking right at you.
1:59.0	Maybe it's time to run away from it.
2:02.7	Oh, my gosh, I hit a goose.
2:06.6	I didn't realize my rock skipping talent was so powerful.
	...

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