Are you feeling curious?

Yeah.

Today on Curious Crew.

Let's give this a toss.

Whichever way the wind blows.

The flags all spun simultaneously.

And so high up.

In the air.

These flags are flying high.

Yeah, it definitely catches wind.

Join the crew to discover why.

Guys, I'm in the zone.

As we explore.

Color guard science.

It's a breeze.

Support for Curious Crew is provided by MSU Federal Credit Union, offering a variety of accounts for children and teens of all ages while teaching lifelong saving habits.

More information is available at MSUFCU.org.

Also by the consumers Energy Foundation, dedicated to ensuring Michigan residents have access to world class educational resources by investing in nonprofits committed to education and career readiness.

More information is available at consumersenergy.com/foundation and by viewers like you.

Thank you.

Hi, I'm Rob Stephenson and this is Curious Crew.

Welcome to the show, everybody.

We always like to start every episode with a couple of discrepant events because discrepant events stimulate Curiousity.

That's exactly right.

And I've got some fun ones for you today.

I even have some helpers for this episode.

I've invited the leadership team from the Spartan Marching Band Color Guard to help us out for the episode.

And in fact, I have a clip I want to show you of a maneuver they did in their indoor practice arena.

But I want you guys to watch closely and share some observations and wonderings.

Let's take a look Whoa!

Isn't that cool.

Okay.

So you notice some things there.

Tell me an observation you had Jackson.

All the athletes threw the flag in unison and they were spinning at an angle.

Okay, so they went up on an angle.

Great.

Annlyn did you have any wonderings?

I wondered how they could throw and catch such large, unbalanced objects at the same time.

That is a really important wondering.

Now, I've got a flag here.

You're going to notice this thing is six feet long.

Now, Jacqueline, can you help me out?

I'm going to ask you to hold this, but I want you to close your eyes and describe for me some things that you notice.

Well, Jackson's right.

It isn't balanced.

okay?

So it's not very balanced.

Okay.

What else are you noticing there?

I can feel some bumps along the pole, even under the fabric.

Okay, so there's bumps on the pole.

Nice job.

Thank you very much.

So we've got some spinning silks and a bumpy pole.

That's kind of strange.

I'm going to invite three of you to try to figure out these phenomena and explain these by the end of the show.

So three of you are going to be using your background knowledge, evidence throughout the show to revise your thinking.

So who would like to participate in a modeling moment today?

Okay, Emmanuel, Charlee and Aarti.

Excellent.

Now, does anybody have a guess?

We're going to be investigating.

What do you think?

What do you think, Jackson?

Any spinning flags?

Spinning flags.

Good thinking.

We are going to be investigating color guard science and we have special guests in the studio, the Michigan State University Spartan Marching Band, color guard.

So be sure to stick around and watch out for flying objects.

Let's see If we can figure this out.

That was really impressive.

All the flags all spun simultaneously and so high up in the air.

Yeah, that must take a lot of practice.

And a lot of energy.

those poles are six feet long.

I wonder about the bumps on the poles to must be markers of some kind.

Although color guard can be traced to historic flag bearers who walked with military bands whose artful sport began after Swiss performer Franz Hug did his flag throwing and swinging routine at the 1936 Olympics.

The force motion and beauty of the activity got quick attention.

By the late 1970s, color guard teams were common at universities, which spread to high schools and middle schools by the late 1980s and 1990.

Thanks, Franz.

So the first thing we have to understand about color guard science is all the equipment they use, they use a lot.

Annlyn you've got a couple of flags right there, what are you noticing that's different between the two?

I found that this one is heavier than the other.

So that's really interesting.

I mean, they're both six feet tall and they're both fabric flags.

But you might be noticing that the print, the seams, the number of stitches that are on there, all of that is going to change.

And in fact, even how they weight the flags are different.

We have to make sure there's enough weight so we can toss it up in the air.

But you've got a totally different flag over here.

What's going on with yours, Charlee?

It seems lighter and smaller than that one.

This one is called a swing flip.

Move it around over there.

That's really pretty.

Now, this one is also a swing flag, but it's huge.

We also have a couple of other pieces of equipment.

What are you noticing about these, Jackson?

Go ahead and handle them and you can tell me what you notice.

So the first thing I notice that this one has a bunch of holes in it.

Yeah.

And then, yeah, this one definitely feels lighter.

Okay.

And what material do you think they're made of?

I think this one might be made out of wood.

Good guess.

And then this one is probably made out of plastic.

You're exactly right.

And this one is called a spoon, which is kind of a strange name.

And this is called an air blade.

Now, amazingly, our athletes can spin all of this stuff.

And I'd like to show you a real quick example of some drop spin comparisons.

Let's take a look.

wasn't that impressive.

You guys.

Pretty amazing.

So what was something that you noticed, Charlee?

I noticed that Rebecca used two hands for the flags and that Elizabeth used one hand for the spoon and the air blade.

Good noticing.

Anything else you guys notice, Annlyn?

Did you notice anything?

I noticed that Rebecca dropped her flag to get it going while Elizabeth had to push.

Oh, very good.

Okay, so a different way to get the momentum started.

Excellent.

And we have to be thinking about that momentum and then continuously adding input force so it can continue that rotation.

Good job.

So what sort of forces might be acting that could be slowing down the equipment?

What do you think, Jackson?

Maybe like gravity and friction.

Good job as well as air resistance.

Excellent.

So remember, the science of color guard is a beautiful balance of forces.

If you've ever been to a halftime show at a football game, you likely got to watch the color guard perform and entertain you as they interpreted the music from the marching band.

Color guard teams consist of individuals who combine the artistry of dance movements with equipment.

The athletes must account for different science ideas, including balance and stability, gravity, energy, momentum and force and motion while they dance and perform tricks with flags and other equipment.

Wow.

Great toss.

So we've lookedat a lot of color guard flag equipment, haven't we?

But we haven't really explored what this part of the flag consists of.

First of all, I want you to take a look at this pole and describe it for me.

Well, it's metal and it's hollow.

Yeah, and it's six feet long.

This is about 1 pound.

Now, what's really interesting, when they slide the silk on here and then tape it all into place, they actually add even more mass on the top, which is really strange.

Why might they want even more mass on the top of this pole?

Emmanuel?

It might help counteract the drag from the air.

That is exactly what it does, which seems really strange.

We want it really unbalanced.

If we have a lot of mass up there that will actually help the momentum in the rotation.

So how could they add more mass?

What do you think, Artie?

I'm guessing they could use different length bolts and possibly add some nuts and washers.

Very good thinking.

And I have a clip I want to show you.

Let's take a look.

I'm taping.

Bolts, crutch tips and my silk onto my flag to help ensure.

That it is weighted properly and easy to spin.

The whole process takes me about 15 minutes.

Very impressive.

A lot of teams use different combinations.

I might use like a two inch up top and a one and a half inch in the bottom.

And I might even add some nuts right on that bolt, just as you describe, put it in there.

And if I wanted to, I could even put some washers right inside the crutch.

Put that on top, tape it all up.

Now I have it really unbalanced, but that's going to depend on how much mass there is in the silk.

Okay.

Now, thinking about tossing these, I've got some examples from our color guard team that I want you to look at some massive tosses.

Let's take a look.

Wasn't that amazing?

They are so talented.

Okay, so I'm curious, what did you notice Ava when you watch those tosses?

Well, I noticed that the throws are kind of vertical up and down in front of them.

And what about the other pair?

They were kind of different.

They were kind of different.

And that's what's really interesting to talk about.

So those first two, we would say that they are in a vertical plane.

They were tossing those right in front of them.

But the second two, they sort of went on an angle, didn't they?

We call that a 45.

And that's actually the name of that toss, a 45 toss, which is pretty interesting.

What else did you notice Emmanuel?

The second throws were a lot higher and required more energy.

That was a very good noticing as well, and you probably saw that energy moving all the way through the athletes from their legs to their core to their arms so they could get enough momentum to really get those high in the air and rotating around.

Very impressive.

Now I'm thinking about those bolts that we were talking about before.

What would happen if they don't have enough tape on the top here?

What might happen?

The bolts could come flying out.

That would be terrible because of inertia, right?

They could go flying out.

That would be just awful.

So we always want to make sure there's putting plenty of tape on there.

You know, one time I forgot how to catch a color guard flag.

Then it hit me.

Color guard athletes use a lot of muscles in their sport to apply forces to the equipment and get them moving in the air.

Even their hands get quite strong because they must grip, squeeze, push and catch the equipment.

For all those maneuvers, practicing definitely builds muscle, but another way to strengthen hand muscles is to squeeze putty or modeling compound.

You can even do that while watching TV.

Wow, what a grip.

It's Janellyn When I first started Curious Crew I was only nine years old.

You like to read?

Oh, yes.

My third grade teacher told me I wasn't curious enough in class.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

I was like, oh, okay, maybe I should ask more questions.

And then I had the opportunity to audition for Curious Crew, I think we make a good group.

Yeah, we make a really good group.

Since then, my curiosity has been definitely sparked all the time.

Always asking questions.

Janellyn what's going to happen here?

What do you think?

It's going to bubble?

She says it's going to bubble.

There's a lot of exciting things about science and something I'm proud of now.

We found the lightest thing of all.

The experience has been exhilarating and just so much fun.

But does it have anything to do with chemical reactions or acids and bases?

I've learned a lot from Dr.

Rob and all the experiments we've done, and I've met so many amazing people, not only from the cast and the different members each season, but also with the amazing crew behind the scenes.

It's really.

Squishy and it rellieves a lot of stress.

To everyone that's watching the show or for possible new members for incoming seasons.

I hope that they feel inspired to be curious on their own and to find different things they want to try.

But I also hope that they feel inspired to come on the show or to share their love for STEM with other people around them.

Nine seasons of Curious Crew.

That's a wrap!

STEM Challenge so have you been having fun investigating color guard science today?

Yeah, I'm so glad.

Now we have seen the color guard athletes use a lot of different equipment.

So your challenge today is to design and make a swing flag.

Are you ready to get started?

Yeah.

All right.

Go for it.

Have fun.

So let's put this in here first.

Okay.

Which color tape?

This is very important.

I have green here, pink here and blue here.

Dr.

Rob has is making swing flags.

So this experiment is fun because we get to work together.

Ok cool.

We want this colorful.

Yeah, that works.

Let's roll that.

Up and I'm going to get ready with their tape.

We had a piece of 32 inch PVC pipe.

We used Markers, fabrics a bolt and then like a top kind of thing.

What did I just do.

Whoa!

So we tape this.

How do we like how do we get this to stick on here?

Do we tape it like this?

The biggest problem was finding the place where to put the tape, where would actually hold the fabric in place?

We rolled the fabric over.

We tape that a few times and then we started to get to work on coloring.

I'm really taping this.

Are you doing the secret message?

I'm doing the secret, secret message.

Okay.

Don't tell anybody, though.

We wanted bonus points.

So we decided to write in big letters.

We love Dr.

Rob.

We decorated our flag with emblems and symbols that represented us like stars or hearts and confetti.

How much layers are you doing?

Okay that's perfect.

So now we just got a color it.

Do you think we have enough drawings, or do you think we should add more?

We should add more.

I added a whole bunch of designs to mine.

And then they were putting like Curious Crew.

And we all put our signature on it Guys I'm in the zone.

Oh my goodness, these are looking so great.

I'm going to suggest we move the tables out of the way and give them a spin.

What do you think?

Yeah, let's try it.

So these look fantastic.

First of all, everybody.

But I'm really curious what materials you decided to use.

Let's start with you Aarti.

Tell me about your team.

What did you decide to use?

We decided to use a wooden 36 inch pole and a crutch on the top.

And this fabric that we kind of decorated.

That looks great.

Let's take a look at your teams Jackson.

First of all, I love the sentiment of the messages there.

That was very, very sweet.

So what materials did you use?

So we have a 32 inch plastic pole.

We have one three inch bolt.

We don't have a crutch on there.

So we have some tape and we're hoping that that's going to hold it together.

I am hoping so too.

Nice job.

Excellent design there.

So, Ava, let's take a look at yours.

What did your team use?

So we used a 36 inch plastic pole, a two inch ball and a crutch.

Nice and another great design.

I think we should give these a try.

How about three of you?

Step forward, take the pole.

Let's see what we can do.

Oh, yeah, those look good.

You guys, you can hear the sound.

Try making your own swing flags at home.

Take it outside and give it a spin.

Maneuvers like thumb flips or wrist rolls leading into a challenging toss, combine, show flag and body movements that are both entertaining to watch and technically difficult to execute.

Drop spins are typically one of the first moves athletes learn as well as flourish moves because they aren't as technically challenging.

But impressive to witness.

Color Guard science highlights the beauty of force and motion.

So we know that color guard teams often perform during halftime shows in outdoor football stadiums.

So something we haven't talked about is weather.

And why might that be an issue?

What do you think Zaydin?

Because during a rainstorm, the flag might get very wet and very heavy.

And then when it's cold their hands might stick to the metal pole that's freezing cold.

It might hurt their hands.

Very good thinking.

We hadn't even thought about that.

And any other ideas on this?

What you think?

Oh, I noticed that you have a fan beside the table.

So I was thinking the effects of wind.

Okay, excellent.

So all of these weather issues definitely affect color guard teams.

In rain You're right.

That flag gets really heavy if it's cold outside.

Now they're trying to hold a really cool pole and they often spin with gloves on, which makes it even harder.

And they're constantly dealing with wind.

If you've ever been in a football stadium, you might know that sometimes that wind can be unpredictable, kind of like wind tunnels.

We're going to try something.

You're right.

We've got a fan here and we've got some little flags.

And I'm curious, what do you think will happen if we turn on this fan full blast and try to toss a flag?

What do you think might happen here, you guys?

You're getting worried.

It's gonna go flying.

It's going to go flying.

What do you think, Silas?

Gonna fly off the table.

Oh, my gosh.

Okay, I think we should take a precaution.

Safety first.

Safety first, my friends.

All right, let's fire up this fan and let's give this a toss.

You ready?

Let's see how we do.

Oh, man.

Oh, yeah.

That was a good prediction.

That was.

Yeah, it definitely catches wind.

Okay, let's stop for a moment.

These are lovely, by the way.

We can do our little spins right there.

We can turn off the air.

Thank you so much.

Excellent.

Now, I would like you to watch a couple of athletes under similar circumstances trying to toss some equipment in front of a very big fan.

Let's take a look.

So impressive throws.

Wasn't that amazing.

Cool tosses.

So, Jacqueline, what did you notice?

There were giant fans in the arena, but the wind must have had an effect on the equipment but the athletes were still able to catch them.

And that's the amazing thing.

They're throwing this into the wind.

Now, of course, the flag has a lot of surface area, so it's catching a lot of air.

Now, the air blade, of course, has all those holes in it.

So that's probably not catching as much air.

But athletes practice quite a lot to learn how to compensate by throwing harder and into the wind, and then the equipment can fall back towards them.

A gentle breeze.

No problem.

The flag will go right through it.

But if the wind is really strong, they've got to substitute that toss for some other maneuver.

So these athletes are so talented.

For them, it's a breeze.

Color guard athletes often participate in winter guard as well.

Rather than performing outdoors with a marching band, they perform indoors on decorative floor tarps to recorded music.

Teams compete against one another and are judged on dance movement and use of flags and other equipment because it is indoors, they don't have to worry about wind.

So some of the maneuvers get really tricky.

Wow.

Perhaps one day you might join a color or winter guard team.

Are you curious about careers in science?

Hi, I'm Genesis and today I'm here with Tula Ngasala.

Tula, can you tell me where we are and what you do?

We are at Spicer Group in East Lansing, Michigan, where I work as a civil engineer.

Civil engineering is everywhere.

There are three parts of civil engineering.

There's structures like buildings.

The second part is transportation.

Everywhere you see roadways, railways, if you see orange cones on the road, that's traffic control.

It's also part of civil engineering to prevent cars from crashing during construction.

The third part is water resources.

This is, you know, lakes, rivers, water treatment plants, wastewater treatment plants.

What types of civil engineering projects do you work on?

I work on several projects, but mainly I work on storm drain design.

This was original pipe and now we are increasing the size to make it bigger so it can hold more water.

So when it rains, if you don't have a storm drain, all that water can cause flooding and soil erosion and eventually contaminate water sources.

And another project that I usually work on is drinking water distribution systems.

So my job is to make sure it comes from the source all the way to the consumptions.

If you don't properly manage rainwater and you don't have a way of collecting it and transporting it safely, you can end up contaminating water sources.

How did you get involved in civil engineering and water resources?

So I'm from Tanzania, East Africa and growing up I didn't always have access to water readily.

I had to walk, sometimes far away, to collect water and bring it home.

So when I went to college and learn about civil and environmental engineering or water resources, I knew that's what I want to do because I wanted to one day be part of the solution.

My brain is overflowing with knowledge about civil engineering.

Thanks to Tula Ngasala.

Explore your possibilities.

And now back to Curious Crew.

We saw that the athletes use their bodies to generate more energy for the bigger tosses.

Right.

Did you notice the difference between the tosses in the front and the 45?

I think the spinning silks was the 45 toss.

I was thinking that too.

I saw the right hand go up and the left hand go behind their head.

So the bumps on the pole are tape cheaters, for hand placement.

I wonder why they're not always very noticeable.

So have you had fun investigating color guard science today.

Yeah.

Oh, I'm so glad.

I'm sure your heads are all whirling with all the information you've learned so far.

But let's return to these discrepant events.

What have we figured out about the spinning silks?

Charlee?

Well, we can tell by the hand position that it was a 45 toss and that the silk spun one and a half times.

Very good.

Can you do the release of the hand position?

What did that look like?

Yeah, that's right.

He gave it away.

Nice job.

And the athletes released the flag on the same count and they use a similar amount of input force to get the flags to move in unison.

Nice job.

Good noticing.

You probably noticed they were also counting.

Did you hear that?

Let's take a look.

And you might have even heard them say squeeze, which is kind of strange.

They would do that right before the release.

So they all would release the flags at the same time.

Something else they have to think about to get that similar height.

They all have to think about where they're going to release it in space.

So it goes up a similar height.

And of course, you mentioned input force right, if we're trying to do one and a half rotations like you talked about, that's going to be more force than one rotation.

A lot to think about.

So something else, what about this bumpy pole?

What have we figured out about that, Emmanuel?

We know that those bumps are made from layers of tape.

And what purpose would they serve.

To help the athletes get a quick hand placement.

Okay, very good.

So you guys can actually feel this right through the silk, right?

You could feel that before Jacquellyn was describing that.

Now, interestingly, some teams will use two or three cheaters.

Those are called cheaters.

Others will go all the way through every foot, even underneath the silk.

Now, when you're learning how to spin, that's really important.

So you know exactly where your hand is supposed to be for each throw.

The athletes that were with us today, my gosh, they don't need very big bumps at all because they've had a lot of practice.

Great job crew.

So as you have seen, the science of color guard is fascinating to consider, but it's even more exciting to witness.

Want to give another special thank you to the leadership team of the Spartan Marching Band Color Guard for coming out and sharing their athleticism, their knowledge and their artistry.

So remember, my friends Stay Curious.

and keep experimenting.

Get your curiosity guide and see more programs at wkar.org Support for curious Crew is provided by MSU Federal Credit Union, offering a variety of accounts for children and teens of all ages while teaching lifelong saving habits.

More information is available at MSUFCU.org also by the Consumers Energy Foundation, dedicated to ensuring Michigan residents have access to world class educational resources by investing in nonprofits committed to education and career readiness.

More information is available at consumersenergy.com/foundation foundation and by viewers like you.

Thank you.

The science of color guard is so I can't remember that line so be to sure to I got so excited.

They're so good.

One time I forgot how to catch a color guard flag.

Then it hit me.

Oh, you like that Ken?

You liked that?

Yes, yes, yes, yes.