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Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Carful with the dishes

From here
At first sight looks easy, but a closer look take us wondering "how did he do that?".
Please do not try this without adult supervision

NOTE:

  • The cloth must be small,
  • The plates must be placed 1 or 2 in away from the table edge,
  • Don't use plastic dishes, they are too light,
  • A smooth table will make your task easier.
What we need:
  • a table,
  • a table cloth,
  • plates, cups ad tableware, try just one plate at first.... then add more stuff to the table
How to:
  1. Follow the NOTES advices;
  2. Grab the table cloth with both hands;
  3. Pull it in just in a single fast movement in the floor direction, this step may require training.
What happens?
You pull the table cloth and all the plates remain on the table.

Why?

All the objects on the table are in rest.
All objects in rest need to overcome inertia in order to move.
We already talked about inertia. The Principle of Inertia is the first law of Newton and says:
"All bodies remain in their state of rest or uniform rectilinear motion, unless they are forced to change its state by influence of external forces"
In simple words, the Newton's First Law says: "If something is moving or stopped, will remain in motion or stopped unless something disturbs the system."

Basically what happens is that the objects are at rest on the table, if the table cloth is soft enough, if the board is regular and the pull is fast and clean the dishes will stir but will not fall.  The energy we give to the system table+objects+table cloth it's not enough to make the objects to fall.

Et voilá!
Don't do this at home!

Enjoy!

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