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A playground swing operates primarily under Newton's first law of motion:

When you push a swing, it attempts to move off in a straight line (parallele to the ground) however, it is "pulled" by the supporting bar, causing the swing to describe an arc around the bar, rather than the straight line. Then, at the top of its arc, gravity overcomes the inertial force and pulls the swing back down.

Naturally, the arcs will continue to get smaller and smaller as friction and gravity overcome the momentum of the swinger until it is once again stationary.

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15y ago

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