Aims
Make a balancing toy.
ExpeRiment with the design of your toy to find out what affects whether or not it balances.
Learn about the centre of mass of an object and how it relates to whether or not something balances.
About this activity
Gail Cardew and her daughters, Xanthe, Roxana and Evanthia do science at home. In this experiment, they build increasingly complicated balancing structures to investigate the science of stability and balance. They discover how lowering an object’s centre of mass can affect its balance. Using kebab sticks, sweets, and fruits they get a taste for how important balance is when building everything from sports cars to skyscrapers. By tweaking and developing their designs they perfect their beautiful creations and create increasingly ambitious structures.