Intro
Intro
Here's a bar bet that you can always win. You challenge your friends to the following notion: can they make a piece of metal, more specifically, a paper clip, float on water? When they say that you can’t, you allow them to try. After they fail, and using the same paper clip and the same bowl or cup of water, you show them that it is possible.
Materials:
Two metal paperclips
A glass or bowl of water
The Challenge
Fill the glass or bowl with water and invite a spectator to try and float a paper clip in the water. Despite the spectator’s best efforts, the paper clip won’t float and will drop to the bottom.
Prepare the Clip
Now it’s your turn. Take a paper clip and bend it at the middle at 90 degrees. Make it look like the one in the picture. You’re creating a “handle” that will allow you gently lay the paper clip onto the surface of the water.
As shown in the picture, lay the second paper clip onto the first paper clip.
Gently and slowly lay the second paper clip on top of the water.
If you do this slowly and carefully, you’ll find that the second paper clip will float.
Slowly remove the bent paper clip and allow the other paper clip to float.
The reason why this works is due to the water’s surface tension, the tendency for water molecules on the surface to be attracted to each other. The bar bet involves a technique of not breaking the water’s surface tension when resting an object, in this case, a metal paper clip, on the surface. The reason why your friends will fail is that the action of dropping the paper clip, or trying to gently release it with the fingers breaks the surface tension of the water.
Surface tension is the reason why when a glass of water is filled to the brim and small objects are added, you can see the water bowing up over the glass. And it’s also the reason why small insects and such can rest on the surface of still water.
Here's a bar bet that you can always win. You challenge your friends to the following notion: can they make a piece of metal, more specifically, a paper clip, float on water? When they say that you can’t, you allow them to try. After they fail, and using the same paper clip and the same bowl or cup of water, you show them that it is possible.
Materials:
Two metal paperclips
A glass or bowl of water
The Challenge
Fill the glass or bowl with water and invite a spectator to try and float a paper clip in the water. Despite the spectator’s best efforts, the paper clip won’t float and will drop to the bottom.
Prepare the Clip
Now it’s your turn. Take a paper clip and bend it at the middle at 90 degrees. Make it look like the one in the picture. You’re creating a “handle” that will allow you gently lay the paper clip onto the surface of the water.
As shown in the picture, lay the second paper clip onto the first paper clip.
Gently and slowly lay the second paper clip on top of the water.
If you do this slowly and carefully, you’ll find that the second paper clip will float.
Slowly remove the bent paper clip and allow the other paper clip to float.
The reason why this works is due to the water’s surface tension, the tendency for water molecules on the surface to be attracted to each other. The bar bet involves a technique of not breaking the water’s surface tension when resting an object, in this case, a metal paper clip, on the surface. The reason why your friends will fail is that the action of dropping the paper clip, or trying to gently release it with the fingers breaks the surface tension of the water.
Surface tension is the reason why when a glass of water is filled to the brim and small objects are added, you can see the water bowing up over the glass. And it’s also the reason why small insects and such can rest on the surface of still water.
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