A science question for you (blog marathon post 27)



We went to an amazing place today--It was a Science discovery centre. It was tucked away in a very quiet shady lane, and housed in a beautiful medieval Cathedral. I never knew science could be so much fun and could be made to come alive. (Click on the link to know more)

It was all very hands on, very colourful and very vibrant. I couldn't help thinking that while in school, if science had been this much fun, I might have changed my attitude to it. My children loved it and did not want to come away. We were there till the closing time and were the last to leave! They had been enjoying it so much.

The part I loved most were the toys and the puzzles. We spent more than three hours there, engrossed completely in the various exhibits. If you want to see pictures and get a feel of what it was like, click here.

One of the things I bought my children is the toy that you see in the video above. (My son made that video specially for my post)

My questions for you--

1.What is it called?
2. What scientific phenomenon does it demonstrate? (Explain in very simple terms--a kind of 'science-for-dummies' terms)

As always, I shall update the post tomorrow with names of people who gave the best answers.

Your time starts now!
****************************************************

Here's the update with the best answers as promised (All the names in bold are links to their blogs/profiles):

The winner undoubtedly is Niall Young : Not only is his answer fully right and well explained (I was specifically looking for the term "every action had an equal and opposite reaction") but he also injected his own brand of humour into it!

The first to get it right was 'Just call me A'.

Tys on Ice
also explained it well.

And a special mention to Poonam1 for admiring the hand in the video. :-) Nice to know my son has female admirers at his age ! The hand belongs to my son, Poonam. Thanks for putting a smile on my face. I read out your comment to him and he had the grace to blush. :-)

Thank you to all who took the time out to do this question. Your brains have improved in efficiency by a whopping 10% (Okay, approximately) and that is a great contribution towards keeping Alzheimer's at bay. Well done folks!

Comments

  1. Dampening of oscillation?

    ReplyDelete
  2. i know this :)

    1-it's called Newton's cradle or kinectic balls or executive ball clicker..and funnily enough it is also sometimes refered to as Newton's balls :D
    2-in very simple terms it represents the concept of 'action-reaction' (newton's 3rd law). in more scientific term it depicts the conservation of energy and momentum.

    :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. The dude above me answered and I'm tempted to copy from his answer sheet/comment box, but the fact is I aint got a clue.. as far as I know, thats a prop in various scientists labs in movies to demonstrate that they are 'science geniuses'... and that they have shiny disco balls :)

    P.S. Yes, I took up science.. dont shoot me, shoot my physics teacher !!!

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  4. It seems like after "just call me A"'s answer, the rest of us are stuck unless we actually know what it is.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Well honestly speaking, i do not know wht it is called, but i know its something related with oscillations or something like tht, i believe, if u pull one of the balls and let go of it, it will transfer the momentum it acquired to the other balls,and the last ball will get the momentum while the balls in between act as medium of transfer.. I am not that good in physics :( never had the patience with it...

    ReplyDelete
  6. Its an experiment that demonstrates Newton's third law, and conservation of Energy & Momentum.

    Forgot the name, Wikied it actually-
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton%27s_cradle

    its called Newton's Cradle.

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  7. 'Just call me A' is a good blogger friend of mine....she is highly intelligent & always knows wht she's talking abt, I can vouch for tht;-D

    LOL at Dr. Roshans comments;-D

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  8. Just call me 'A' said it all! It can't get simpler than that! :)

    P.S: Your post still made me google and read the whole stuff about kinetic energy and momentum. It's like attending extra classes :D

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  9. Anonymous3:06 PM

    Whose hand is that in the video ? Nice long fingers ;)

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  10. I don't know wat its called. But it demonstrates the Newton's third law.. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I dont know wats it called??! the oscillator toy??!

    It depicts Newton's third law! Every action has an equal and opposite reaction!!

    ReplyDelete
  12. - newtons cradle.

    - explains the linear momentom...conservation of momentum and energy...in lay mans term - its the butterfly effect...which means that an event happening somewhere else ( however insignificant) will effect others in the course of its action

    btw, the 3rd law is explained thru this but at the same time u will see that the energy is not distributed equally....

    something to think abt...it does change...

    ReplyDelete
  13. - newtons cradle.

    - explains the linear momentom...conservation of momentum and energy...in lay mans term - its the butterfly effect...which means that an event happening somewhere else ( however insignificant) will effect others in the course of its action

    btw, the 3rd law is explained thru this but at the same time u will see that the energy is not distributed equally....

    something to think abt...it does change...

    ReplyDelete
  14. It is called a 'Newton's Cradle' and demonstrates that there is for every action, an equal and opposite reaction.In this case the transference of force through one ball to the next ball....also demonstrated by Wife saying to husband.."does this dress make me look fat?"...husband's reaction is that beacause he loves his wife,and doesn't want others to think she looks fat, tells the truth...in that the dress does make her look slightly overweight...wife therefore shouts at him,, then hits the side of his head with her shoe...causing him to act just like a Newton's Cradle!

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  15. got here late...but lol @ niall's reply :D

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  16. Hey I am commenting (though you'v already given the answer), just to keep my promise that I'd comment on all your posts on this Blogathon

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  17. Anonymous6:04 PM

    Hi,

    We have just added your latest post "Just a mother of two" to our Directory of Science . You can check the inclusion of the post here . We are delighted to invite you to submit all your future posts to the directory and get a huge base of visitors to your website.


    Warm Regards

    Scienz.info Team

    http://www.scienz.info

    ReplyDelete

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