What is Digg?65 Comments
- aphexcoil, on 05/27/2009, -5/+43Explanation:
The fork and spoon, when combined with any type of thin wood, create magnetic flux interference patterns within the earth's magnetic field (this is why the trick doesn't work at all at the poles). The magnetic flux interference lowers the atomic density of the glass thereby allowing the attraction of atoms via the van der Waals forces (London forces). These forces then project gravitational waves (ripples) that counteract the local gravity well of the earth.
This is how the toothpick manages to stay horizontal (due to the lessened weight of the spoon and fork.) - celtsurf86, on 05/27/2009, -0/+29obviously
- egemenbor, on 05/27/2009, -4/+31WHERE IS YOUR GOD NOW
- seaDragon, on 05/27/2009, -1/+27It's pretty obious that he's using witchcraft.
- bobdance, on 05/27/2009, -1/+26And yet another way to piss off my family at the dinner table. Dugg.
- shagg187, on 05/27/2009, -1/+16you just made that up didn't you?
- ntopaz, on 05/27/2009, -2/+17my ***** detector is beeping furiously
- phenger, on 05/27/2009, -1/+12Nifty. Now every time I see a bent fork in a restaurant, I'm going to think of this video...
- inactive, on 05/27/2009, -0/+11HE'S A WITCH!
- RottenJalapeno, on 05/27/2009, -0/+8I learned about that in physics, but I never understood how the magnet flux transients counteract with the gravitational ripples produced by the fork/spoon despite being coplanar to the intrinsic flux of the glass?
- foomojive, on 05/27/2009, -0/+7There's a much more impressive version of this. It takes 2 toothpicks, two forks, and a salt shaker.
You stick one toothpick in one of the center holes in the salt shaker pointing straight up. Then you interlace the two forks and put the other toothpick through the middle - very similar to the fork and spoon thing here but it doesn't bend the fork. Then you balance the tip of the contraption on the tip of the toothpick coming from the salt shaker so it's perpendicular. It wobbles around and rotates a bit but you're balancing two forks by the tips of two toothpicks. - baseballbear, on 05/27/2009, -3/+10SCIENCE
- Hello1024, on 05/27/2009, -1/+8When you combine the toothpick, fork, and spoon, they effectively make one solid thing as far as the physics is concerned. Any solid item can be considered as a single point known as the "centre of mass". Provided the centre of mass is fully supported, the item will not fall or move. In this case, the centre of mass is the left hand end of the toothpick. The centre of mass of any solid can be calculated (approximately) by taking the average of the positions of every part of the item. In this case, the handles are to the left, and the fork/spoon head are to the right, so average is the left end of the toothpick between the two.
- dorkyknight, on 05/27/2009, -0/+5People forget that it's not new. It's from balancing eagles
http://www.funhousetrading.com/b_eagle.htm
If you look at the shape and weight distribution of the fork and spoon, that shape and weight is fairly similar to the balancing eagle. - juankovo, on 05/27/2009, -0/+5I'd say you are probably the most popular kid in class!
- inactive, on 05/27/2009, -0/+5Bill Nye taught me a similar, but way cooler, version of this. You do the same thing but use a saltshaker and an extra toothpick instead of a glass of water. You stick one of the toothpicks in the saltshaker hole and balance the other toothpick on the head of the first.
I've gotten a few second dates with this trick. - SniperZero, on 05/27/2009, -0/+4because its awesome.
- phre3k187, on 05/27/2009, -0/+4MacGyver explains how to do this trick to Teal'c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cS-YeaAuQOk - inactive, on 05/27/2009, -0/+4It was on Bill Nye about 15 years before that.
- jonshipman, on 05/27/2009, -0/+4BURN HIM!
- Evolve, on 05/27/2009, -0/+4http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/2889/bugreport.jp ...
Since you listed no payment methods, I must assume you meant your first born child. - mediaphile, on 05/27/2009, -0/+3Came here to say this, so I'll digg you up instead.
Two toothpicks balanced at right angles to each other is way more impressive looking than balancing on the side of a glass. Plus it's easier to interleave the two forks than trying to jam a spoon together with a fork. - geegel, on 05/28/2009, -0/+3Gluing those ***** works just as well
- DifferentAngle, on 05/27/2009, -0/+3What is an "Engineering Mechanic"? It's like a hybrid of a mechanic and a mechanical engineer?
- inactive, on 05/27/2009, -4/+6I've taken Engineering Mechanic but I just don't get how this works. Oh wait, now I do. Let me draw some diagrams.
- thinboyslim, on 05/27/2009, -0/+2and Newton beats everyone
- danwallace, on 05/27/2009, -0/+2I am.
- xGeneric, on 05/27/2009, -0/+2Ah, someone else who knows the trick ;p I remember being a kid and having a book with a bunch of fun tricks like this, and a brief scientific explanation behind them. If you need to entertain some drunk people, this works for sure.
- Dustin00, on 05/27/2009, -1/+3"can learn it in about 30 seconds"... by watching this 90 second video.
*sigh* - JackDud, on 05/27/2009, -2/+3Hmmm...I risk getting burried but I'll try..
There is as much weight (force) pulling on the outside edge of the toothpick from the tips of the spoon and fork as there is force pushing on the inside edge of the toothpick from the handles of the fork and spoon...the forces are the same but acting in opposite directions, causing rotational equilibrium... ahhh screw it, here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torque - ntopaz, on 05/27/2009, -3/+4MY MIND HAS JUST BEEN BLOWN
- pipedreambomb, on 05/27/2009, -0/+1And the West Wing... I think. Been trying to work out where I've seen this :)
- iFrix, on 05/27/2009, -2/+3Wow, that looks awesome. But I still can't see how it actually works... Any physicist care to explain?
- WallyAnti, on 05/27/2009, -0/+1I'm not sure why I am not as amazed by this as everyone else. It's just counterbalancing.
Ferris is an excellent speaker. He has a good motivational talk hosted on either TED.com or Fora.tv. - Hellahulla, on 05/27/2009, -1/+2Has anyone got a link to that "Hammer, ruler, table" physics fail de-motivational?
- inactive, on 05/27/2009, -2/+3Cool, but I doubt people would actually "start pulling out cameras".
- dinstar, on 06/02/2009, -0/+1It looks so magical because toothpick does not seam to be part of fork-spoon construction. If it would be solid shape instead of 3 different objects effect would be less spectacular. Very nice trick.
- inactive, on 05/28/2009, -0/+1Engineering mechanics. Its stuff like moment = force x distance. Its all physics.
- chaseacej, on 05/27/2009, -1/+2Witch!! Burn the Witch!!!!
- iguanapunk, on 05/28/2009, -0/+1***** trick
- JinxCrow, on 05/27/2009, -1/+2Now that everyone can learn to do it, it won't be so special and someone will have to create something new to "impress" people with.
- zagatbuzz, on 05/28/2009, -0/+1The newest form of dining entertainment hahah
- thinboyslim, on 05/27/2009, -3/+3seeing as it's just showing centre of gravity, I'd say he's full of *****.
- hushpuppy20, on 05/27/2009, -2/+2Yea but I bet he gets all kinds of action.
Damn magic! - STARTSOMETHING, on 05/27/2009, -1/+1Witch....Witch!!!!!
- Testies, on 05/27/2009, -2/+1Is it third grade still? Cool, no work today.
- luthan, on 05/27/2009, -2/+1old trick, learned it while ***** at Dennys when I was in high school....NEXT!
- charlietuna, on 05/27/2009, -3/+2I can't get past that hat.
- Poe350, on 05/27/2009, -2/+0This works simply because the weight of the handles (or whatever you call them, the things you hold onto) counteracts the weight of the heads, with the toothpick acting as the center of mass. It basically acts a see-saw that has equal weight on each end.
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