Thursday, February 21, 2013

Thor vs. Physics!

To help demonstrate Newton's 3rd Law of Motion, I have a student stand on a rotating platform and swing my homemade Mjolnir (http://rjcosplay.blogspot.com/2012/05/my-mjolnir.html).  I had "Loki" stand in front of him and I assured her that she could not be hit with the mighty hammer.  Sure enough, every swing of the hammer moved "Thor" in a circle in the opposite direction of the hammer and he never landed a blow.



We also demonstrated the 3rd Law by using balloons.  A couple students aimed them at their foreheads and let go.  The air rushing out of the balloons forced the ballons into their faces. 



As a bonus, we did a demonstration on the conservation of momentum.  A ping pong ball dropped on a golf ball is launched super high due to the larger mass of the golf ball.

1 comment:

  1. These experiments look like a lot of fun. Actions speak louder than words, right?

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