Balance is key to all things in life. How far can you lean before you fall over? Does it help to really concentrate? How about extending your arms and legs, does this help? Let’s explore your balance a little bit.
You need:
Lipstick tube or chapstick tube
A helper
What to do:
1. Kneel on the floor with your behind touching your feet and place your arms in front of you with your elbows bent. Slide your elbows back until they just touch your knees and extend your fingers out in front of you.
2. Have a helper place a tube of lipstick (chapstick) on the ground so that it is standing upright just at the end of your index fingers.
3. Straighten up so that you are kneeling but upright. Place both your hands behind your back. Carefully lean forward and try to knock the lipstick over using your nose.
What happened?
Some people can knock over the tube and other people can’t. It has to do with how high the center of gravity is in your body. Your center of gravity is the point in your body where half your weight is above and half is below. Some athletes such as cyclists who build up more muscle mass in their legs have a lower center of gravity. Athletes who develop their upper bodies may have a hard time with this and topple over. Wrestlers crouch to keep their center of gravity as low as possible so that they aren’t as easy to knock over.
Volunteers are central to our science fair. We’d love to have you join us. Have some spare time at lunch? Come hang out in the Fernwood library to encourage the students in their explorations. No science experience necessary. Contact Amy Oliver to join the fun (amyroliver@gmail.com).
You need:
Lipstick tube or chapstick tube
A helper
What to do:
1. Kneel on the floor with your behind touching your feet and place your arms in front of you with your elbows bent. Slide your elbows back until they just touch your knees and extend your fingers out in front of you.
2. Have a helper place a tube of lipstick (chapstick) on the ground so that it is standing upright just at the end of your index fingers.
3. Straighten up so that you are kneeling but upright. Place both your hands behind your back. Carefully lean forward and try to knock the lipstick over using your nose.
What happened?
Some people can knock over the tube and other people can’t. It has to do with how high the center of gravity is in your body. Your center of gravity is the point in your body where half your weight is above and half is below. Some athletes such as cyclists who build up more muscle mass in their legs have a lower center of gravity. Athletes who develop their upper bodies may have a hard time with this and topple over. Wrestlers crouch to keep their center of gravity as low as possible so that they aren’t as easy to knock over.
Volunteers are central to our science fair. We’d love to have you join us. Have some spare time at lunch? Come hang out in the Fernwood library to encourage the students in their explorations. No science experience necessary. Contact Amy Oliver to join the fun (amyroliver@gmail.com).
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