This activity demonstrates inertia in a fun, easy and incredibly dramatic way!
The only planning ahead you'll need to do is saving 3 empty toilet paper tubes.
To perform this trick you will need:

• 3 empty toilet paper tubes
• 3 drinking glasses of equal height
• 3 raw eggs
• metal pie pan
• broom
  

Setup is as follow:

1. Fill glasses with water, leaving at least 1" at the top.
2. Place them in a triangle right at the edge of a table.
3. Place a metal pie pan on top of the three glasses. Make it close enough to the edge that the pan hangs over the edge of the table.
4. Stand toilet paper tubes in the pie pan, each one centered directly over a glass.
5. Balance an egg on the top of each toilet paper tube.

Do you see where you're heading with this yet?

You're almost ready, but you'd better take a few practice swings first:
Stand your broom against the table. Now smash the bristles down flat onto the floor and step on the bristles to hold them in place. The pressure should hold the broom against the table.
Bend the broomstick away from the table and let it fly. If you are doing this right, it should smack the edge of the table.
Notice where it hits the table. Adjust your aim so that it will hit just where the pie pan is hanging over the edge. Make sure your broom has some snap to it when it hits the table.
Gulp.

This might be a good time to do a quick study on interia:

• What is inertia?
• How does it work?
• What will happen if we WHAP the edge of that pie pan with a flying broomstick?
• Was it really a good idea to set this up indoors?

You didn't chicken out and set this up outside, did you? If you're really brave, set it up with an audience on your first go 'round.

Now do your thing: Load your broomstick, and let it fly!
What happened?
If you try this, comment and let us know! We did this several times, and ours worked every time until we got overly confident and sloppy in our setup.

Labels: free stuff, homeschooling, misc.