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Objectives - You Need To Balance Two Forks With A Toothpick in A Glass Without Water

This document provides the procedure and objectives for balancing two forks on a toothpick over the edge of a glass without any water. The procedure involves binding the forks tightly together with a toothpick, balancing the combined structure on the rim of an empty glass, and burning the end of the toothpick to adhere it to the glass. It is able to balance due to the center of gravity being directly below the point where the toothpick contacts the glass rim. Gravity pulls down equally on all parts of the object, so it does not rotate as long as the upward force from the glass rim equals the downward force of gravity at the center of mass.

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Mark Joseph Soriano
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402 views

Objectives - You Need To Balance Two Forks With A Toothpick in A Glass Without Water

This document provides the procedure and objectives for balancing two forks on a toothpick over the edge of a glass without any water. The procedure involves binding the forks tightly together with a toothpick, balancing the combined structure on the rim of an empty glass, and burning the end of the toothpick to adhere it to the glass. It is able to balance due to the center of gravity being directly below the point where the toothpick contacts the glass rim. Gravity pulls down equally on all parts of the object, so it does not rotate as long as the upward force from the glass rim equals the downward force of gravity at the center of mass.

Uploaded by

Mark Joseph Soriano
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Write-Up for General Physics Experiment

Objectives – You need to balance two forks with a toothpick in a glass without water.

Materials Used:
• Two Forks.
• Any kind of Glass
• One toothpick
• Lighter

Procedure:
First, you need to bind these two forks together tightly and make sure it will not separate
after you bind them.
Second, punch the toothpick in the middle of the binded fork and make sure it is steady
already.
Third, balance the binded fork and toothpick in a glass until you successfully manage to
balance it.
Fourth, burn the tip of the tooth pick until it reaches the point of the glass.
And Voila!
You just made a balanced fork with toothpick in a glass.
2 guided questions:

1.How does the fork balance on a toothpick?


The center of gravity in the balancing fork is directly below the spot where the toothpick
rests on the rim of the glass. … So, the center of gravity is directly below the point
where the toothpick is balanced (called the pivot point).
2. What do you think is the reason why the toothpick fork and spoon are able to
balance?
Even though the toothpick is just on the edge of the glass, the entire thing remains
balanced. This is because of the centre of gravity, which is the middle point where
something can be balanced.

Conclusion:

What are the physics behind the two forks and a toothpick balanced on a glass-edge
trick?
There is a lot of physics going on here, as with anything. The most complicated physics
is what’s going on microscopically while the skewer burns. Slightly less complicated are
the equations governing the stress across the skewer, flexing it under the weight of the
forks. Equally complicated would be the mechanisms of friction and pressure which act
to lock the fork tines and the end of the skewer together without slipping, locking the
three objects into one solid aggregate object, and which keeps said object from slipping
along the rim of the glass and falling into it.

The simplest mechanism here is gravity. Although we don’t know why gravity works, we
do know it how it works, and that it accelerates everything (which is at the same
distance from the attracting body) equally. As a result, for considerations of average
acceleration under gravity, all objects can be replaced by a point mass located at the
object’s center of mass (which, in this case, happens to be the part of the skewer
directly above the rim of the glass). Because gravity pulls all parts of the object down
equally, it does not rotate. Because the glass pushes up on the center of mass (which is
the point around which rotating objects rotate), it imparts no rotational moment and,
again, the object does not rotate. Since the glass pushes the object up with the exact
force gravity pulls it down, it neither falls nor rises. All forces are in balance.
Generalization: Real life application
This fork-skewer system no more defies gravity than I do by sitting in this chair.

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