DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Everything Else... Cool everyday “physics tricks”

I used to know a lot of cool tricks that can be done with everyday objects.

I’ll try to think of and post ones I remember (and that can easily be done)

Here’s one you can do in your garage:

Take two different types of balls. One larger than the other. A basketball and tennis ball work fine.

Hold them at chest level with the tennis ball directly on top of the basketball. Then drop them so the basketball lands first (and the tennis ball still right on top of it)

................


The result is pretty cool (unexpected). Just DO NOT do this under an overhead light.




Got any tricks?

Balancing a salt shaker on edge.



This was one of my barroom days’ staples.

Get a salt shaker (with square edged bottom like photos below)

Pour just a little salt on the table. Just a little bit - not much.



Carefully balance the salt shaker on edge on top of a few grains of salt like photo.



It takes a little patience, but not much. (The shaker is actually propped up by a tiny grain of salt)


(a grain of salt magnified a bazillion times)

"Cool Uncle Tricks" from an old magazine or newspaper:

I have won up to $100 in bars with this one when I was younger.

3 Ways to Rip a Phonebook in Half - wikiHow
https://www.wikihow.com/Rip-a-Phonebook-in-Half

Here's one of the first tricks we all learned.

No Way! you don't come across as a "worlds strongest man" contestant. I'd totally lose that bet, cause I would have taken it!

Nobody can rip a phonebook in half, except like superhuman strength person.

Cool Physics trick? Get on a "teeter totter" with someone who weighs less than you.

Teeter Totters are great ideas if everybody had hearts of gold and you could totally trust all your neighbors, but it doesn't take long to learn it turns out badly.

Either you wind up trying to stop the other person from pulling down on their end to rack you in the crotch, or you wind up trying to stop yourself from falling from the high point when the other person jumps off.

It is levers and fulcrums and stuff, and that's physics.

It was hilarious to watch people freak out when I would rip a phone book right in half.

Extreme teeter tottering:

Rubber pencil.

Prob a few people on these boards know this one.......

On a flat, level surface such as the local bar's bartop , bet someone a cocktail that if you spin a penny/nickle on the bartop you can get it to fall "tails" 10 outta 10 times and at the least, 8 outta 10.

You'll never have to pay for your drinks again.

The weight of the actual heads side of the coin weighs more and drags the coin down on the heads side. Hence, "TAILS IT IS".

Try it 10 times on kitchen counter, table, bartop at home.

Btw, you're welcome.

That's cool if you are right. Never tried it. Makes sense, though.

I have a couple. Here's one.

Get a saucer from your cupboard and place a candle in the middle of it. Then, fill the saucer w/water and light the candle. Next, cover the candle w/a glass. After the flame goes out, the water in the saucer will go into the glass.

Do any of you know why that would happen?

Okay, I looked this up and it is really cool.

My guess would be as the candle burns, the oxygen is used up, and CO2 is created. CO2 is heavier than H2O, (which I had to look up to verify) so the CO2 falls, which forces the H2O to rise inside the glass. (kind of like high pressure/lower pressure) That's my guess anyway.

I used to do several dollar bill tricks.

There’s some cool folding tricks. (turn bill upside down by 3 folds - I looked this up on YouTube. A kid does it, but it’s a simpler version that’s too obvious (no good)) Mine was much better. I'll look for illustrative pics later.

I also used to break a pencil with a dollar bill.

That I found:

Very good.

My fav at a bar was to shoot a whole bunch of neutrons at uranium-235 atoms. When one neutron hits the nucleus, the uranium becomes U-236. When it becomes 236, the uranium atom wants to split apart. After it splits, it gives off three neutrons and a lot of energy.

Got a lot of oohs and ahhs and never failed to entertain.

Blisters healed in only a few weeks.

I have a nickname for the Large Hadron Collider.

If you juxtapose two of those letters.

I love this one too. But last time I did it the bar shut me off.

It's funny that you mention that; I've toyed with the idea of making an at at-home fusion reactor (obviously, it doesn't sustain the reaction) once I finish getting my metal shop set up. Deuterium is pretty easy to come by for it.... just need some precision machining.


I can haz neutrinos.

My best use of physics was on a job site. I was sent to help a guy take down a brick wall for a house addition. I get around the corner, and here's a 250lb guy beating the hell out of a wall with a sledge hammer. He asked if I was there to help, and handed me the hammer.

At the time, I was 120lbs fully clothed and soaking wet. I'd take a golf swing with the hammer to the bottom of the wall, step back, and take another. In about 5 minutes, I worked my way across the entire wall. During this time, my coworker watched and told me I was doing nothing.

As he came to get the hammer, I told him to step back, and hit the wall in the center as high as I could. I ran like hell and watched the wall crack following the mortar lines down from where I hit it. The entire wall then dropped into the broken mortar at the bottom, and fell away from the house. I'll always remember the look on the big guy's face as I handed him back the hammer.

Very interesting as I have been thinking of developing a Molten Salt Reactor for the automobile.

Imagine the savings and lack of pollutants as we all drive around in our own reactor!


Well, good luck in your endeavor!