While keeping your legs straight, bend over and pick up the quarter without falling over.Have a partner place a quarter between your feet, in front of your toes.(Your legs must be straight and feet together.) Stand with your back and feet against the wall.Therefore, for most girls, the center of mass while bent over the chair is above their feet, while the center of mass for most boys is above the chair.Ĭenter of Mass Challenge 3: The Quarter Grab The center of mass for most girls is lower to the hips, while the center of mass in boys is much higher. Why? Again, it’s all about the center of mass. Interestingly enough, many girls can successfully complete this challenge, while most boys cannot. WHAT HAPPENED? Results of this challenge may vary by gender. Now try to lift the chair while keeping your head pressed against the wall.Bend over the chair, creating a 90-degree angle with your body.Make sure your feet are beside the chair, not under the chair. WHAT HAPPENED? The reason it’s so hard to stand up is because your center of mass is located over the seat of the chair rather than over your feet, which are in front of you.Ĭenter of Mass Challenge 2: The Chair Lift Now try to stand up without forcing your partner’s hand back.Have a partner gently place a thumb in the middle of your forehead.(Your feet may not be angled or slanted to the side.) Sit in the chair with your feet flat on the floor in front of you.Place a chair against the wall so that it cannot slide backward.
Center of Mass Challenge 1: The Thumb Press That’s where these challenges come into play. Finding the center of mass in an irregular object (such as the human body) takes a little more work to figure out… and a lot more fun. In a round/spherical object, the equally distributed mass is the center of mass for the sphere.
This point could be a physical object or it could be a point outside of the object. The more mass an object has, the more gravitational force is exerted.Ĭenter of Mass is a term used by scientists to describe that point in an object where the object’s mass or weight seems to be concentrated. All mass-from the smallest sub-atomic particle to the largest star in the universe-exerts some amount of gravitational force. Gravity is a term used by scientists to describe the force of gravitation given on an object or near the surface of a celestial body such as the Earth, the moon, or another terrestrial planet. Just imagine: science bringing families together, one discovery at a time! I love it! Let’s start with a quick vocabulary lesson. The results are hilarious and unforgettable! As an added bonus, these challenges often bring my students’ families together as the students go home and challenge their siblings and parents to do them as well.
In the end, these physical experiments allow my students to grasp the basic concepts of gravity and center of mass in a far more compelling way than they’d ever learn from any textbook. Lift a chair? Raise your leg? Pick up a quarter? No problem! (Or so they think…)
#CENTER OF GRAVITY LAB REPORT SERIES#
I challenge my students to perform a series of seemingly simple physical tests, described below. When I teach about gravity and center of mass, for example, I like to shake things up by turning our classroom into an impromptu biokinetics lab. One of my favorite tricks is to get my kids up on their feet, doing science instead of reading about it. In my 13 years of classroom teaching experience, I’ve learned a few tricks to keep my students from becoming overwhelmed-or bored-by their science textbooks.
0 kommentar(er)
