Materials:
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- Two quarters
- One penny, or one dine, or one nickel
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| Directions: |
- Place the dime between the two quarters and hold the assembly horizontally between your
thumb and first finger. Explain to the observers that you are going to release the bottom
quarter and allow both quarters and the smaller sandwiched dime to fall into your empty
hand.
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- Now carefully release only the bottom quarter and allow it and the dime to fall into
your other hand. (The hand catching the coins should be at least six inches away from the
point of release.) Note that every time the dime is covered by the quarter, yet the
quarter should have hit first?
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| Safety Concerns: |
- None.
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| Questions: |
- Ask the observers to predict what order the fallen coins will have as they rest in your
bottom hand. (You may want to refresh their memory concerning Galileo's early work.)
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| Concepts: |
- Try as you might, you can not release both sides of the quarter at the same time.
Therefore, the side first released allows the dine to spill out and fall before the
quarter, thus allowing the dime to hit your hand first.
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