Take inertia wand and move the weights to the center. Leave enough room between the two weights for someone to put their hand. Have a student twist the rod back and forth. Then move the weights to the outside of the rod. The student will see the rod is much harder to twist.
Location: Inertia Wand – ME06-21
Prep time: none
The inertia stick is a rod with a weight at one end. Balance the rod vertically on your finger with the weight at the very top far from your finger. Now flip the rod over so the weight is near your finger and you will see it is much harder.
Location: Inertia balance stick- ME0G-31-1
Prep Time: none
Roll several objects down a slope. See which ones have the greater moment of inertia.
Location: Objects –
ME2D-30-8
Incline plane – ME0G-30-8
Prep time: none
Place the hoop with balls in the circular motion machine and turn it on. You will see that all four balls rise to the same height. Analyze the forces to demonstrate that the height of the different spheres is mass independent.
Location: Hoop w/ balls –
UL1C-01-2
Rotating machine – UL1A-03-2
Prep time: none
Take a broken ring and roll a ball around the arc. Have the students observe the path. The arc exerts a force towards the center of the ring. When the ball finishes the arc, the ring no longer applies the force and the ball travels in a straight line.
Location: Rings - ME2C-23-3
Ball - ME2C-23-3
Prep Time: none
The object is to get each metal ball into opposite ends of the device. See if students can figure out the trick before talking about angular motion. After the lesson, see if people can figure it out. (Hint: Spin it!)
Location: Anti-gravity box - ME2B-37-1
Prep Time: none
A baseball bat is placed on the lecture table and struck sharply in the horizontal direction with a meter stick. Vary the region in which you hit the bat and observe the movement of the handle. At the sweet spot the bat will move at only one of its ends. If a baseball hit the sweet spot, there would be minimum movement of the handle and the player would drive the ball farther. Otherwise the bat will jar the player’s hands.
Location: Bat –
ME0G-50-2
Meter stick – ME0G- 33-2
Prep Time: practice
Line up pennies on a meter stick. Hold the meter stick with two hands at both ends. Drop one end while holding the other. The pennies will all fall at 9.8 m/s2. However the meter stick will act in a different manor. The center of mass will fall at 9.8 m/s2. Half the meter stick will fall faster than 9.8 m/s2 and the other half will fall slower than 9.8 m/s2. Therefore, half the pennies will lift off into the air.
Location: Pennies –
ME2F-33-2
Meter Stick – ME0G-33-2
Prep time: 2 minutes
Use the faster than g apparatus to demonstrate torque, angular acceleration, and moment of inertia. Line up the yellow stick with the yellow dots on the board. Put the metal ball on the tee. Knock out the stick and the ball will fall into the cup. This is because the cup is falling faster than the ball. See next page for in-depth explanation.
Location: Faster than g – C3-09-3
Prep Time: none
Place the giant spool with string wrapped around it on the floor. If you hold the string vertically to the ground and pull the sting, the spool will unravel away from you. If you hold the string at ~45 degrees, the string won’t unravel while the spool slides towards you. If you pull on the sting horizontal to the ground, the spool will move towards you while the string ravels around the spool. Have the students try to predict all of this. Make sure the string is wound in the middle of the spool.
Location: Spool – ME4E-72-1
Prep Time: none
