Quick & Easy
Demo: Center of Mass with a
Meterstick
Rest a meter stick on two
fingers and slide them towards each other, they
meet at the center of mass. Challenge students to
have their fingers NOT meet at the
center. For added effect, you
can put an extra mass on the meter stick so that
the center of mass is not at the center of the
meter stick. Students can easily see that an
object can be balanced when supported (from above or
below) at its center of mass. You can
also discuss friction and torques with this
demo. Video here.
To Think About:
RoadTrip
Math
Tom and Ray went on a road
trip. Tom drove the first 40 miles. Ray
drove the rest of the way. They looked at
the foliage for three or four minutes, then
decided to head home. They took the same
route home.
On the way back, Tom drove the
first leg of the trip and Ray drove the last 50
miles.
Ray got home and his wife asked,
"Who did the driving?"
Ray explained “Tom
drove the first 40 miles, then I drove the rest of
the way. On the way back, Tom drove the first leg
of the trip, and I drove the last 50
miles.”
She said, "But who did most of the
driving?"
Ray told her, "You can figure it
out. In fact, you can even figure out how much
more of the driving was done by that
person."
And that's the question--
Who drove the most -- and how many
more miles did that person
drive?
For
Fun:
