Have you ever seen a magic show and wanted to know the secret behind it? Surely, there is science behind the slight of hand and the illusion, right? So, last week we decided to put on our own ‘science-magic’ show (complete with the music from the Greatest Showman, of course).
Now, a magician never reveals their secrets but good news, I’m not a magician, I’m a scientist. So we found a few science experiments over at Steve Spangler and decided to use them as ‘tricks’ in our magic show! The secrets are revealed below!
The Magic Coin Trick
What you need: A few coins, a dollar bill, and a jar
The Trick: How can we drop a stack of coins, resting on top of a dollar bill, in the jar at the same time?
The secret: Newton’s First Law of Motion states that if an object is at rest it stays at rest and if an object is in motion it stays in motion until acted on by an outside force. For this magic trick, that means if you pull the dollar bill slowly the coins will want to stay resting on the dollar bill due to friction. But the trick is, if you do a quick ‘karate chop’ and overcome the friction the coins will drop right into the jar.
The Quick Egg Drop Trick
What you need: A metal pie pan, an empty toilet paper tube, a raw egg, a glass of water
The Trick: Is it possible to get an egg, resting on a toilet paper tube that is resting on a pie pan, in a glass of water without breaking the egg?
(I promised I wouldn’t say which of us attempted this first trick and the result was a broken egg. But never fear – I had several more eggs!)
The Secret: Again the secret lies in Newton’s First Law of Motion. If we can overcome friction and the egg’s tendency to stay at rest, then the egg will drop unscathed in the glass of water. The trick is hitting the pie pan out of the way as fast as you can!
If you love these magic tricks or learning more about the Laws of Motion, check out the the book Halley Harper: Science Girl Extraordinaire who learns about how the Laws of Motion can save her friends, her beloved summer camp, and even herself!
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