PLAYING WITH PHYSICS

If someone asked you to describe a physics lab, you would

probably think of a place where there is a lot of electric
equipment, or a darkened room where scientists experiment with lasers, or a room filled with computers that track
satellites and other spacecraft. You probably do not think of
an ordinary playground where scientists can push one
another on swings, slide down slides, and use the seesaw!
But you can learn a lot about physics at a playground.
ne thing that physicists do, is study moving objects. From the
tiniest particle even smaller than an atom, to the most
giant of galaxies, physicists try to describe how and why
things move. What better place to study moving things
than the playground? You can see things that swing back
and forth, spin around, and move up and down.

SLIDING AND ROLLING

28

With objects of the same shape and size,

but differing in mass, friction plays a role.

A playground slide is something you can use to study the

motion of sliding and rolling objects. Objects placed at the
top of the slide build up speed as they move down the slide. The
object that is going the fastest when it reaches the end should go
the furthest before hitting the ground.
Take up the EasyScience Playground Challenge and try to find
the object that goes the furthest distance after leaving the end of
the slide. Ask an adult friend to help you do this challenge.
You will need:
Playground slide
Boxes or wooden blocks of different sizes and
mass
Rolling toys such a trucks or cars
Different sized hollow or solid balls
Unopened food tins
Clean, empty food tins (Use the back of a spoon to carefully press
any sharp edges down against the inside of the tin. Cover the rim
of the tin with two layers of masking tape for safe handling.)
Measuring tape
Aluminium foil
Wax paper
Notebook paper
Cloth
Masking tape

EasyScience is produced by the South African Agency for Science

and Technology Advancement (SAASTA), an operational unit of the
National Research Foundation. SAASTAs mission is to promote the
public understanding, appreciation and engagement with science
and technology among all South Africans.
Visit the website: www.saasta.ac.za for more information.

MiniMag

Rules of the challenge:

1. All objects must be released from the same point near the top
of the slide. Mark this point with a piece of tape.
2. Objects cannot be pushed or helped down the slide in any way.
3. Distance should be measured from a point directly below the
end of the slide to the nearest point where the object hits the
ground.
Be sure to stand to the side of the slide until the object has hit the
ground and stopped moving.
Write down all the results in a notebook.
Some things to think about and try:
1. Should the object slide or roll? Try some objects that slide and
others that roll, and see if it makes a difference in how far
they go.
2. Should the object be big or small? Do bigger objects go further than small ones?
3. What should the shape of the object be? Try objects that are
rectangular, round, or irregularly shaped. Does shape seem
to make a difference? Does it seem to matter how much of
the object is in contact with the slide?
4. Should the object go straight down the slide or bounce off the
sides? Roll a ball down the centre of the slide and then at an
angle so that it bounces off one of the sides. Which method
makes the ball go furthest?
5. Do heavier of lighter objects go further? Try a small empty box
such as a shoe box. Now almost fill the box with some stones
and soil and tape the top closed. Which box goes further?
6. Does it matter what the outside of the object is made of?
Cover the bottom of your box with wax paper, aluminium foil,
or cloth to see if these different materials affect the distance
the box travels.
7. Should the object be hollow or solid? Compare how far the
hollow and solid objects of about the same shape and size
go. You might try an empty tin and an identical unopened tin.
Let them both run down the slide. Find out what happens if
you turn them on the end and let them slide down. Was sliding or rolling better? For which tin?
Look at all the results of your tests. Describe to your adult partner
the kind of object you think should go the furthest. Can you see
that you need the object with the greatest speed at the bottom of
the slide to win the challenge? An object that bumps into the side
of the slide on the way down will lose some of its speed, so it
probably wont win. If an object rolls, some of its energy is used to
make it turn around and around instead of just moving forward,
so maybe it wont win either. If the surface of the object is sticky
and rough, there may be a lot of friction and the object wont go
as fast. The shape of the object and whether it is hollow or solid
also affects how fast it will go.
Can you think of a real object with all the right qualities to win
such a challenge?

You will need:

A playground swing
Watch or clock with second hand
Metal washers
String
1. Sit in the swing and have your adult partner time how
long it takes you to swing back and forth 30 times. (Or
time how long it takes your pendulum to swing 30
times.) Divide this time by 30 to see how long it takes
to swing back and forth once. This is your Swing Time.
2. Do you think your Swing Time depends on how big
your back and forth motion is? Have your adult partner time you as you swing high back and forth 30
times. Then do 30 very small back and forth swings
and see how long it takes. Repeat your measurements at least twice. How does the swinging distance
affect the time?
3. What do you think would happen to your Swing Time if
your mass was a lot more? To find out, ask your adult
partner to sit in the swing. (If you are using the pendulum, add a few more washers.) Time your adult partners 30 swings. Did the extra mass seem to make a
difference?
4. All swings are not the same. If you can find a swing
that is longer or shorter than the one you used, repeat
steps 1 and 2 with the new swing.
5. With your adult partner, make a pendulum with your
washer and string. Make your string longer or shorter
and repeat steps 1 and 2. Does the length of the string
affect your Swing Time?

A SWINGING GOOD TIME!

Your Swing Time is not affected by either your

weight or by the distance through which you
swing. The only thing that changes the Swing
Time is the length of the swing. Air resistance
does play a role if the body on the swing is big.

A swing is like a giant pendulum that moves back and forth. Now
you can find out what makes a swing move back more quickly or
more slowly.
About how long do you think it takes for a swing to go back
and forth once when you are sitting in it? Does it always take the
same amount of time?
If you cant go to a playground to try this activity, you can still do
it at home or at school. Instead of a swing, make a pendulum by
hanging a metal washer from a string as illustrated. The washer
represents you sitting in the swing.

A NEW TWIST
CAN YOU SEESAW?
When sitting on a seesaw, you have probably noticed
that a person who doesnt weigh much can balance a
heavy person if the people are positioned at different
places along the seesaw. In the following activity, you
can use a real seesaw, or a ruler as the seesaw and
five-cent coins as the people.
You will need:
Seesaw or ruler
Tape
Pencil
Two books of the same thickness (about 4 cm)
Five-cent coins
You and your adult partner should sit on opposite ends
of the seesaw. If you both lift your feet off the ground,
which one of you tilts down to the ground? If your adult
partner is heavier, where should he or she sit on the
seesaw so that it would be balanced? Try it and find out.
If you sat halfway between your end and the centre of
the seesaw, where would you adult partner have to sit
so that the two of you will be balanced?
If you cant get to a seesaw, you can make a model of
one. Take a flat ruler and tape a pencil across the back
of the centre of the ruler as shown. Place the pencil and
ruler between two books. It may not balance right away,
but you can use coins to make it balance.
Place a coin at each end of the ruler. Adjust the coins
back and forth until the ruler is balanced. Now stack
another coin on one of the five-cent coins. How do you
have to move the coins to get the ruler to balance?
Now stack another coin so that you have three fivecent coins stacked on one side and one on the other.
See if you can make them balance. How many coins
can you stack and still be able to balance them with one
five-cent coin at the other end?
With the large stack of coins still on one side, add
another coin to the end with one. What are the two ways
you could make the ruler balanced? Try other combinations and see if you can begin to predict where the different stacks of coins will need to be to balance the ruler.

Some swings that are hung from long ropes can be twisted so that as they unwind, they spin around and around.
When used in this way, a swing can help you learn about
spinning objects. You may have seen ballerinas or figure
skaters pull their arms in very close to their bodies when
they want to spin really fast. You can see how this works in
this activity. You can also find out how changing the mass,
size or shape of an object changes the way it spins.
You will need:
A rope swing (do not use a chain swing)
Clock or watch with second hand
Paper
Pencil
On a separate piece of paper, make a chart like the one
below. Sit in the swing and ask your adult partner to turn you
around 8 10 turns. Count the number of complete turns the
swing is twisted, and record this number in your chart.
Stretch your legs straight out in front of you. Ask your
adult partner to time how many seconds it takes for the
swing to completely unwind. Record the unwinding time
next to Trial 1 in your chart.
Repeat these steps and record the unwinding time next
to Trial 2. Add the two unwinding times together and divide
this number by 2 to get the average unwinding time.
Record this number in your chart.
Do you think the swing will unwind faster or slower if
you tuck your legs under the swing? Try it and see! Use
the same number of turns as before. Record the number
of turns and the unwinding time in the chart for Legs
tucked. Repeat this step and
average your results.
What do you think will happen
if you start with your legs outstretched and then tuck
them in as the swing is
unwinding? How
about if you start
with your legs
tucked and then
stretch them out?
Try and find out.
Experiment with
different numbers
of turns and combinations of tucked and outstretched
legs. Predict each time how long
your unwinding time will be.

legs
outstretched
legs
tucked

legs
outstreched
and tucked

Turns

Unwinding
time

Average

Turns

Predicted
Time

Actual
Time

Trial 1
Trial 2
Trial 1
Trial 2

Trial 1
Trial 2

PICTURES:
Right:
NASA/JPL/
Space Science
Institute
Others:
ESA/NASA/
University of
Arizona

FIRST CLOSE-UP PHOTOS

OF TITAN SENT TO EARTH
In January, the Huygens space craft plunged
through the atmosphere of Saturns mysterious
moon, Titan. It then started sending back to Earth
the first images of this, the furthest place from
Earth a spacecraft has ever landed.
he images show what looks like a shoreline of an oily
ocean. Scientists are now piecing together the images,
measurements and sounds that were beamed back to Earth
to get a better picture of this moon.
One stunning black and white image of Titan shows what
looks like drainage channels on a land surface leading out
into a dark body of liquid. Another shows a flat surface that is
apparently strewn with boulders. Huygens captured more
than 300 images as it dived through Titans atmosphere.
The Cassini spacecraft carried Huygens for the past seven
years and arrived at Saturn the sixth planet from the Sun
in July 2004. It released Huygens towards Titan on
25 December 2004.
Saturn has a lot of moons (33 discovered as of August,
2004) of which 30 have been named. Titan is Saturns biggest
moon and it has a thick nitrogen atmosphere.
Why did the scientists want Huygens to land on Titan? They
believe that conditions on Titan are like those on Earth
4.6 billion years ago. As such, Titan may tell scientists more
about the kind of chemical reactions that set the scene for living organisms to start developing on Earth.
Scientists think that it is highly unlikely that they will find living organisms on Titan, though. Its really very cold on Titan,
with temperatures hovering around -180 C. This rules out the
chances of finding liquid water. The low temperature also hinders chemical reactions needed for organic life.
The mysteries of Saturn have always puzzled researchers.
Scientists wonder why Saturn, a gas-giant composed primarily of hydrogen and helium, releases more energy than it
absorbs from faint sunlight. Titan is also the only moon in the
solar system to have a substantial atmosphere, one even
thicker than Earths.
The Cassini-Huygens mission is a $3.3-billion (about R20
billion) effort between USAs National Aeronautical and Space
Agency, the European Space Agency and Italys space program to study Saturn and its known moons. The two vehicles
were launched together from Florida in 1997.
As the largest and most sophisticated interplanetary vehicle ever launched, Cassini-Huygens has performed well on its
3.5 billion km journey. Cassini crossed Saturns rings without
mishap in June 2004 and produced the most revealing photos yet of the rings and massive gas-giant. Cassini will remain
in orbit around Saturn until at least July 2008.

Here are the names of 30 of Saturns moons.

Try and find them in this word puzzle:
Mimas
Hyperion
Epimetheus
Ymir
Thrym
Enceladus
Iapetus
Janus
Paaliaq
Skadi

Tethys
Pan
Calypso
Siarnaq
Mundilfari
Dione
Atlas
Telesto
Tarvos
Erriapo

Rhea
Prometheus
Helene
Kiviuq
Albiorix
Titan
Pandora
Phoebe
Ijiraq
Suttung

Wordsearch by: Germani de Villiers, Johannesburg Planetarium

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