Video submitted by Dr. Ken Wilson

“The assignment was to demonstrate inertia, like in the tablecloth trick where you pull the cloth out from under the heavy dishes. If you pull the tablecloth correctly, only a small force is exerted on the plates. The plates have mass, and hence inertia which is resistance to changes in motion. 

For this activity the ring plays the role of the table cloth and some nuts play the role of the dishes. If you quickly pull away the ring, the nuts won't move horizontally and fall into the bottle. (If you put your hand inside to pull the ring, the ring becomes a little bit of a flattened oval, so once you start pulling the ring, the ring no longer touches the nuts and does not have a chance to exert a horizontal force on the nuts.)

The students usually do this with a penny on an index card over the mouth of a glass. I thought the small opening of the bottle and the challenge of trying to balance as many nuts as possible on the ring would make for a more memorable lesson on inertia.”

PICTURED IN VIDEO: (in order) Aaron Sanderson '23, Oliver White '23, and Jude Smith'22.