One of the most widely used moves among Breakdancers, Windmills require a person to
completely utilize their speed to complete this move.
Windmills involve friction, Newton's Law of Inertia, centripetal motion, and uniform
circular motion.
During a Windmill, the dancer usually dances on a smooth surface such as linoleum
to reduce the friction
between the shirt they are wearing and the floor. Wearing the right cloths on smooth surfaces minimizes
friction allowing the dancer to execute the fastest windmill possible.
As a dancer does a Windmill, their feet swing outward. We all know that the
feet are attached to legs which are in turn, attached to the body. As a result of this, when the dancer swings his/her feet outward, the feet are forced to swing in rotation to the body because as with
Newton's first
law of motion: The feet will remain in motion (a straight path) until acted upon by an outside force (the body).
During a Windmill, a breaker uses their legs to drive their bodies in a circular motion. During this movement the breaker is constantly accelerating as they spin.
As the breaker spins in a uniform circular motion, their legs act as their radius and their feet are the points where velocity is tangent to the circle they are creating.
When you are done reading the Flares and Windmills pages you can take a test to see just how much you know about your Mills and Flares.