ERIC Number: EJ1321687
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2021-Oct
Pages: 2
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0031-921X
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Balancers Redux
Greenslade, Thomas B., Jr.
Physics Teacher, v59 n7 p540-541 Oct 2021
In 1981 I published a note on "Balancers" as part of a series of illustrations drawn from 19th-century physics texts. Some months later a wonderful present arrived from a physics teacher in Japan, showing the range of our journal. This was the Horse and Rider Balancer in Fig. 1 that was just like the woodcut in my note. The little device, only 23 cm high, sits on a shelf in my museum of early physics teaching apparatus, and many visitors are drawn to it. This is a standard piece of early physics demonstration apparatus. The addition to the lead ball attached to the horse brings the center of mass below the point of suspension. Any movement from this equilibrium point raises the gravitational potential energy of the system and it oscillates until it gets into equilibrium once more.
American Association of Physics Teachers. One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740. Tel: 301-209-3300; Fax: 301-209-0845; e-mail: pubs@aapt.org; Web site: http://aapt.scitation.org/journal/pte
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
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