AIM OF THE EXPERIMENT: To find out how to balance a swing when one person is heavier than the other.
MATERIALS: a metre-long wooden strip, a table, string, scissors, sticky tape, 15 identical coins, two paper cups.
MATERIALS: a metre-long wooden strip, a table, string, scissors, sticky tape, 15 identical coins, two paper cups.
Изображение
METHOD:
Tie a metre of string round the middle of the strip. Tape the end of the string to the edge of the table.
Put five coins into one paper cup and ten into the other. Tie the cups to the ends of the strip.
Move the cup with ten coins towards the centre of the strip until it balances.
RESULTS: The first cup, with five coins, is twice as far from the middle as the second cup.
WHY? The place on the strip round which the string is tied is called the fulcrum. The weight of an object turns the strip about the fulcrum. Like the strip, a swing balances when the load on one side turns it with the same force as the load on the other. This can be achieved by placing the lighter object further from the fulcrum and the heavier one closer to it.
Put five coins into one paper cup and ten into the other. Tie the cups to the ends of the strip.
Move the cup with ten coins towards the centre of the strip until it balances.
RESULTS: The first cup, with five coins, is twice as far from the middle as the second cup.
WHY? The place on the strip round which the string is tied is called the fulcrum. The weight of an object turns the strip about the fulcrum. Like the strip, a swing balances when the load on one side turns it with the same force as the load on the other. This can be achieved by placing the lighter object further from the fulcrum and the heavier one closer to it.