C1-21: AIR TABLE - TOPPLING STICK

ID Code: C1-21
Purpose: Illustrate how a rigid rod topples on a frictionless surface.
Description: A wooden dowel with its center of mass marked is held vertically with the bottom end supported by a very light air table puck. When it is released and allowed to topple, which point of the stick will be directly above the original support point: the top end, the bottom end, or the center of mass? Note that the stick has a small counterweight on its top end to compensate for the mass of the puck. Click your mouse on the photograph for an mpeg video.
Availability: Available

See the Physics Question of the Week for 3/31/2014 for an example of how this demonstration can be used in class interaction and discussion: lecdem.physics.umd.edu/question-of-the-week-archive.html