Jessica and Anson are back in action to explain to you how the center of gravity works with this simple balancing toy that you can make at home!
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To conduct this experiment yourself, you’ll need the following items:
- 2 wooden skewers
- 1 toothpick
- putty
- 1 small foam ball
- googly eyes (optional)
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Directions:
- Take the small foam ball and add your toothpick to the center of it. It should resemble a lollipop.
- Take your first skewer and insert it diagonally into the foam ball.
- Insert the second skewer diagonally on the opposite side of the first.
- Take your putty and roll it into two separate balls of equal weight.
- Add the putty to the end of each skewer.
- Add the googly eyes to the foam ball for a little extra fun!
- Place your finger on the tip of the toothpick and watch the device balance!
Anson explains what is happening:
“With this experiment, it’s easy to find the center of gravity. You see how the toy we’ve created balances perfectly on Jessica’s finger? It balances because we found the center of gravity. The center of gravity of an object is the point at where the weight is evenly dispersed and all sides are in balance. The putty is even on each side, making it balanced!”
Anson’s Answers features a 5-year-old genius. He has a college-level grasp on various areas of science, dreams of becoming the president and can speak multiple languages. Did you catch that he’s just 5 years old? Anson has a passion for teaching others and loves to share videos explaining the human body, the laws of physics and his ideas for the future. Grab a seat, because Professor Anson’s class is in session!