Pencil Drop

Add to list Go to activity
In this demonstration, learners observe as a bottle is placed on a table with wooden hoop balanced on top and a pencil balanced on top of the hoop. The demonstrator will quickly grab the wooden hoop in an angle downwards so that the pencil lands in the bottle. After demonstrating the trick, learners can try it themselves. Use this activity to demonstrate gravity and inertia. [Activity is publicly available through a web crawler capture on Archive.org.]

Quick Guide

Preparation Time:
Under 5 minutes
Learning Time:
Under 5 minutes
Estimated Materials Cost:
$1 - $5 per group of students
Age Range:
Ages 8 - 18
Resource Types:
Activity, Demonstration
Language:
English

Materials List (per group of students)

  • Ordinary 8 oz. glass Coke bottle
  • Wooden crochet hoop, 10 inches in diameter
  • Small pencil (2.5 grams)

Keywords

Subjects

  • Physical Sciences
    • Motion and Forces
      • Gravity
      • Newton's Laws
    • Structure and Properties of Matter
      • Mass and Weight
  • The Nature of Science
    • The Scientific Process
      • Conducting Investigations

Audience

To use this activity, learners need to:

  • see

Learning styles supported:

  • Involves hands-on or lab activities

Other

Access Rights:

  • Free access

By:

Rights:

  • All rights reserved, University of Virginia,