Balanced Forces
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Balanced Forces
Helston Science
Download film (right-click)Demonstration , Explanation , Physics , Primary , Secondary
A neat trick with a hairdryer, a balloon, and a paperclip.
Director's Notes:
This is a film by a year 11 student and a Year 1 student. They are showing a fun experiment that demonstrates balanced forces and how to do a cool investigation with equipment at home.
We made this one up ourselves by playing around. The only thing you have to be careful of is to stop paper clips falling into the hair dryer — tape the paperclip to the balloon securely.
SciCast Notes:
This is a lovely simple bit of physics, and a neat demonstration. What I particularly like is that the demo is extended further than you’d think would be possible — keep watching, the brief glimpse at the end is worth it.
The explanation is also clear, with appropriate graphics to illustrate the principle involved. Most impressive to me is that the graphics are held on the screen for a sensible length of time — we all share a tendency to yank them away just as the audience has realised there’s something to read, so leaving them up for long enough is surprisingly hard to judge.
— Jonathan.