Drinking-Straw Microbalance and Seesaw: Stability and Instability
The mechanics of a beam balance are little appreciated and seldom understood. We here consider the conditions that result in a stable balance, with center of gravity below the fulcrum (pivot point), while an unstable balance results when the center of gravity is above the fulcrum. The highly sensiti...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Published: |
AMER ASSN PHYSICS TEACHERS
2015
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/14314 |
| _version_ | 1848748590802927616 |
|---|---|
| author | Chapman, P. Glasser, Leslie |
| author_facet | Chapman, P. Glasser, Leslie |
| author_sort | Chapman, P. |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | The mechanics of a beam balance are little appreciated and seldom understood. We here consider the conditions that result in a stable balance, with center of gravity below the fulcrum (pivot point), while an unstable balance results when the center of gravity is above the fulcrum. The highly sensitive drinking-straw microbalance, which uses a plastic drinking straw as a rigid beam, is briefly described with some slight convenient modifications. Different placements of the center of gravity are considered analytically to explain the equilibrium neutrality, stability, and instability of such beam balances as the microbalance, the playground “seesaw” or “teeter-totter,” the “dipping bird,” and other toys and magic tricks. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T07:07:28Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-14314 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T07:07:28Z |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publisher | AMER ASSN PHYSICS TEACHERS |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-143142017-09-13T14:06:28Z Drinking-Straw Microbalance and Seesaw: Stability and Instability Chapman, P. Glasser, Leslie The mechanics of a beam balance are little appreciated and seldom understood. We here consider the conditions that result in a stable balance, with center of gravity below the fulcrum (pivot point), while an unstable balance results when the center of gravity is above the fulcrum. The highly sensitive drinking-straw microbalance, which uses a plastic drinking straw as a rigid beam, is briefly described with some slight convenient modifications. Different placements of the center of gravity are considered analytically to explain the equilibrium neutrality, stability, and instability of such beam balances as the microbalance, the playground “seesaw” or “teeter-totter,” the “dipping bird,” and other toys and magic tricks. 2015 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/14314 10.1119/1.4908087 AMER ASSN PHYSICS TEACHERS fulltext |
| spellingShingle | Chapman, P. Glasser, Leslie Drinking-Straw Microbalance and Seesaw: Stability and Instability |
| title | Drinking-Straw Microbalance and Seesaw: Stability and Instability |
| title_full | Drinking-Straw Microbalance and Seesaw: Stability and Instability |
| title_fullStr | Drinking-Straw Microbalance and Seesaw: Stability and Instability |
| title_full_unstemmed | Drinking-Straw Microbalance and Seesaw: Stability and Instability |
| title_short | Drinking-Straw Microbalance and Seesaw: Stability and Instability |
| title_sort | drinking-straw microbalance and seesaw: stability and instability |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/14314 |