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Spinners

source: http://chandlerresources.com/?p=704

Materials

  • Unsharpened pencil

  • CD

  • Tape

  • 6 pennies

  • Long strips of paper

  • Scissors

Procedure

  1. Wrap long strips of paper Â¾ down from the eraser part of the pencil so that the CD can stay securely in place. Use tape to fasten this piece securely around the pencil

  2. Insert the CD onto the pencil so that it is able to stay put without assistance

  3. Attach 6 pennies evenly around the perimeter of the CD with tape and try and spin your make-shift top

  4. Remove the pennies from the perimeter and now place the 6 pennies as close to the pencil (your axis) as you can. Spin your top and see what happens

source: Eve Tsou

Discussion Questions

  1. What is the significance of the pennies?

  2. What happened when the mass was distributed on the outer perimeter of the disk and then around the pencil? What was the reason for this motion?

  3. Why is the disk placed on the bottom half of the pencil as opposed to the top?

  4. What would happen if the disk was replaced with a different shape like a triangle? A rectangle?

Activity adapted from: https://www.teachengineering.org/view_activity.php?url=collection%2Fcub_%2Factivities%2Fcub_mechanics%2Fcub_mechanics_lesson08_activity1.xml

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