The are many ways to demonstrate Newton’s 1st Law, as really any moving object will follow the law. My students always love this “trick”, and all of them can usually do it themselves after a few tries.
Newton’s first law states that an object at rest remains at rest, or if in motion, remains in motion at a constant velocity unless acted on by a net external force.
In this activity, we will show that an object at rest stays at rest until acted upon by an outside force.
Materials:
- Nickel (or other coin)
- Index card
- Cup or glass
Procedure:
- Set up cup with index card on top.
- Place coin in the center, directly above cup.
- Flick away index card, being sure that the force from your finger is causing the index card to only go straight forward (not up, or the coin will be pushed upwards).
- Watch as the coin stays put, and falls into the cup (because of the force of gravity).
Go further:
- Does this work with other objects? Stacks of coins? How could you change this, but still show the same concept?
- This is the same law that allows a magician to pull out a tablecloth from under a set table. Try it! If you don’t want to use plates, use books! When you pull out the tablecloth, pull downward against the table.
