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Isaac Newton's Scientific Investigations

1. Newton's First Law of Motion (1) | 2. Newton's First Law of Motion (2) | 3. Newton's Third Law of Motion | 4. Newton's Colour Wheel

5. Balancing Butterfly | 6. The Floating Balloon

Balancing Butterfly

Experiment: To change the centre of gravity of a butterfly, thereby changing its ability to balance.

Materials:

You will need:

Stiff Card
Bluetack
Several 1c coins
Scissors
Pencil
Butterfly Template
Colours (markers or pencils)
 

Method:

What you have to do: 

1) Locate some butterfly templates on the internet. (Google butterflies and find some butterfly colouring pages)

2) Copy the butterfly template on to the stiff card.

3) Colour the butterfly and carefully cut it out.

4) Attach the bluetack and the coins (make sure you put the same amount on each) to the tips of the butterfly's wings.

Result: The butterfly's centre of gravity was lowered enabling it to balance on the edges of rulers, tables and the points of pencils.

Conclusion: The card butterfly has the ability to balance on the pencil because we move the centre of gravity lower - into the wings - making the butterfly more stable.

Check out these photos.

Sixth Class Experiments

1. Newton's First Law of Motion (1) | 2. Newton's First Law of Motion (2) | 3. Newton's Third Law of Motion | 4. Newton's Colour Wheel

5. Balancing Butterfly | 6. The Floating Balloon