More STEAM Fun!
This page is for some of the other fun demonstrations that we have gotten to see and do this semester! All of these activities can be done easily and inexpensively with children, and are engaging for kids age one to one hundred! Enjoy!
Classic tablecloth trick displaying inertia: though all materials have inertia, lighter materials like forks are less "stubborn" and move when the tablecloth is snatched away.
Balloon Rockets
Beanbag Inertia
Inertia + Unbalanced Force Egg Demo
Medicine Ball + Scooter Demo
The Tablecloth Trick
Magic Pepper Trick
Solar Energy Transfer Demo
Jeff Drinking Water Upside Down
Theremin Demo
This video shows Jeff demonstrating the concepts of unbalanced force and inertia. When Jeff slaps the pie pan and paper roll (unbalanced force) the egg continues to move down, which is the egg's tendency to keep doing what its doing (inertia).
In this video, Jeff demonstrates the tendency of objects to keep doing what they're doing, in a straight line. This tendency is called inertia, and we see this property of physics in action when the bean bags keep moving in the same direction even when Jeff drops them.
When Jeff throws the heavy medicine ball, and the scooter slipped in the opposite direction, his body tried to stay in the same place, because he has inertia.
This video shows how when air escapes from one end of a balloon, the balloon is forced in the opposite direction.
When a little bit of detergent is added to the bowl of water, the surface tension of the water is lowered, so the water wants to spread out. When the water spreads out, the pepper is sent to the edges of the bowl!
In this video, Jeff demonstrates the process of solar energy transfer. Energy that comes from the sun is then converted to plants, and then to the animals that eat those plants, which becomes food that we eat, and eventually becomes potential and kinetic energy (which can be seen in our Regina Vermina projects).
This video shows Jeff demonstrating how to use a theremin. A theremin is a music instrument that is played without being touched. One antenna controls the volume of the theremin, and the other controls the pitch that is played.
In this video, Jeff drinks water standing on his head! Even though his body is upside down, Jeff is still able to swallow water because of peristalsis, which is the involuntary contraction of muscles that push the contents (water) in his throat forward in a wave-like motion.