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The physics behind the water bottle flip

The water bottle flipping challenge consists of spinning a bottle, partially filled with water, and making it land upright. It is quite a striking phenomenon, since at first sight, it appears rather improbable that a tall rotating bottle could make such a stable landing. First year students and teachers from the Physics of Interfaces and Nanomaterials and Physics of Fluids groups analyzed the physics behind the water bottle flip, based on experiments and an analytical model that can be used in the classroom. There results are published in the American Journal of Physics. Don't miss this YouTube video and this YouTube video, RTV Oost news item and the articles in the newspapers AD and Tubantia.