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Sari on SCIENCE ANTI-GRAVITY GYROS GUIDING QUESTIONS faster than the horizontal motion ravity got you down? Explore (inertia) of the water/objects. As a 1. What direction does gravity result, the water/objects stay in the point? ways to overcome it by cup. building and testing an anti2. What is inertia? gravity device. Earth’s gravity is SUPPLIES 3. What things resist the force what keeps us on the ground and • A 9 oz. paper or plastic cup of gravity by moving in the what causes objects to fall. Inertia, opposite direction? • One (1) sharpened pencil or Newton’s First Law of Motion,
By Sari Custer
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states that objects at rest tend to stay at rest and objects in motion tend to stay in motion (unless acted on by an outside force). Centripetal forces are any forces (gravitational, electrical/atomic, or tension) that move inward, toward the fixed center of the circular motion. In this activity, the string attached to the cup creates a centripetal force and when the circular motion of the cup moves
20 | OCTOBER 2023 | EPIC KIDS
4. How can you prevent gravity from making the water spill out of the cup when it is turned upside down without placing your hand over the top of the cup? HOW TO 5. When you tested your antigravity device, what was it that 1. Using the pencil, punch one prevented the penny, marble, or hole in the cup ½ inch below water from spilling out? the rim. You can learn a bunch more about 2. Punch a second hole on the opposite side of the cup ½ inch gravity and more when you visit the Arizona Science Center. Be sure to below the rim. stop by the Dorrance Planetarium 3. Thread one piece of string through each hole and tie them and Forces of Nature! Visit azscience. org for more information! off. Sari Custer is a 4. Place pennies, marbles, or lifelong science junkie, water in the cup. Chief Curiosity Officer 5. Investigate how you can at Arizona Science prevent the materials from Center, and mom to falling out of the cup when daughter Carson, 7. upside down. Follow her on Twitter Repeat steps four through five with and Instagram @ pennies, marbles, and water. SariOnScience. • One to five (1-5) pennies or marbles • Water • Two 2-ft. long pieces of string
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