Inertia - Philip Estrada
Original Demonstration
Describe the original demonstration and the concept it is meant to convey.
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In the original demonstration, a stack of coins is stacked on a card which sits above a cup. When the card is quickly pulled from under the coins they fall into the cup.
The topic of this demonstration is inertia, which is the resistance an object has to a change in it's state of motion. An easy way to remember inertia is to remember that "Things will tend to keep doing what they are already doing". In the demonstration, the stack of coins has enough inertia to resist sliding with the card when the card is pulled quickly. |
The original experiment.
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My Improved version
Identify, explain, and support the changes that you made to the demonstration.
My improved version of the experiment
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For my version, a jar full of dice sits on a $20 which sits on a table. When the $20 is pulled quickly, the jar stays in place on the table, When the $20 is pulled slowly the jar slides with it.
The original demo looks like it is more about pulling the card than the forces on the coins. In my version I made the jar full of dice the main focus. I think this makes it more clear that the jar is resisting motion when it is larger. In my version it is also more clear that while the $20 is able to pull the jar in some cases, there are situations where the jar will resist it's pull. There is also nothing falling into something else in this version because I found that distracting from the concept. Here, the jar stays in place, clearly showing it's resistance to changing it's state of motion. In the original demo, the coins always would move, either into the cup or with the card, so it wasn't as clear what was going on. |
I remember skidding my bike on the street when young. As long as I was moving fast enough I could hit the brakes so that my back tire stopped spinning but my inertia kept me and the bike moving forward.
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I made pancakes a few days ago and thought of inertia because the pancake keeps moving upwards for a short second after it leaves the pan due to it's inertia in the upwards direction.
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