Hammer flipping experiment?

It's not a hammer it's a Coventry spanner!

If your hammer stays face down, have you tried the sideways bit?

Try it with a tennis racket.

Neil

New hypothesis:

The 180° turn is due to the increased couple provided by the horizontal head with a twist imparted the oval shaped the handle. When the hammer is flipped, the head isn't perfectly horizontal so one side of the head accelerates up while the other is pulled down by gravity. There isn't enough time or energy for the head to spin more than once so when the hammer is caught by a hand, it's oval handle stops the turn at a near exact 180°.

Partly physics, partly human inaccuracy and the shape of the handle.

To test this I need a hammer with a perfectly round handle, and a flipping machine to keep the head horizontal during launch.

Dave

I can debunk that now Dave.

I just found an old wooden mallet. Typical symmetric head and rectangular-ish haft. I took a marker pen and wrote 1 and 2 on the opposite faces. A and B on the opposite cheeks.

Every time I flip it with the 1 face upwards, I catch it with the 1 face upwards. If I flip it repeatedly starting with the A cheek upwards, it flips to B, A, B, A, B without fail.

I intend to claim that the same effect operates, but to a lesser extent, when a hammer is swung. It neatly provides a blame-free explanation as to why I can never get a nail to go in straight

Brian G