Re: Cool Demo for Newton's First Law?

[Herbert H Gottlieb <herbgottlieb@JUNO.COM>]

On Wed, 23 Jun 2004 16:23:54 -0700 Dan Folmar <djfolmar@YAHOO.COM>
writes:
> Hello,
>
> I'm a new (prospective) teacher, and I have my second interview with
> a local high school tomorrow.  I need to deliver a 15 minute lesson
> on Newton's 1st law.  I'm looking for some good ideas for a "wow"
> demo that will deliver the message effectively and be easy to pull
> off.  Right now, I'm thinking about wearing roller blades and ask
> one of the students to push me -- and then go into a discussion
> about constant velocity.

Practice this tonight while your adoring parents and girl friend
are all silently watching:

1) Place a raw egg on a table.

2) Wait for about 30 seconds, looking at the egg with interest,
   but not speaking a word.

3) Then write on the chalkboard, "According to Sir Isaac Newton,
   a body at rest, tends to remain at rest..... "

4) Wait for about 10 seconds, looking at the egg with interest,
   but not speaking a word.

5) With one hand, start the egg spinning on the demonstration table.

6) While the egg is still spinning, momentarily stop it with your other
hand,
   and then quickly release it allowing its spin to continue.

7) Write on the chalkboard, "... and a body in motion ...... "

8) Ask the students to copy the sentence from the chalkboard and
complete it in their physics notebooks.

9) When they have finished, call upon some students to read their
conclusions.

10)For the remainder of your 15 minutes, elicit students to cite other
examples of Newton's first law that they have observed.

Caution: If you have practiced and decide to do this demonstration be
sure to being an extra raw egg or two to the school tomorrow. It will
come in handy in the event that the first egg has a mishap.

Herb Gottlieb from New York City
(Where we have an even better egg demo for the next day when we
teach Newton's Second Law)








A body in motion, tends to remain in the same motion