How do I balance any object?
Asked by
Zone36 (
416
)
July 27th, 2010
Let’s assume a few things here. The object(s) is strong enough to hold itself up. There are no other external forces other than gravity acting on the object or they are minimal enough to not effect the object. Lastly it has enough friction to hold and not slip.
I’ve seen pictures of people who have made towers out of random objects. How do they do it? I think the basic concept is find a point for the object to balance on, then try to center the weight all on that point.
Somehow I feel there is more to it than that or at least a trick for them to find that sweet spot more easily. I really want to learn the process. So any tips or links would be appreciated.
Although if there is some deep explanation that would help me better understand how to do it, that would be appreciated as well.
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7 Answers
I’ll be more specific. I don’t mean in your hand. That is an external force helping keep the object up. I’m looking for a way to find the center of gravity for objects from precarious positions and how to get them standing.
I mean those pictures of people who have tables and garbage cans and whatnot balanced on their side or corner.
Something like this http://www.japanstyle.info/wordpress/wp-content/images//paper_cup05.jpg
http://www.magicity.com/images/Balanced.jpg
Technically most things should have a point on which they could be balanced. Again discounting factors other than gravity, friction and strength of the object.
Isn’t this something you have to do by feel? I mean, you can exclude all those other factors, but in reality they are influencing the object, and they do so in unpredictable ways. Otherwise, the center of gravity of an object can probably be measured using gravitational force detectors, but I think would be too complicated to calculate for objects of complex topography.
All I’m just saying is that I’ve seen pictures of people doing it and they must have some process.
Especially once you stack objects. Like maybe there is a best point to balance on.
If it is just for the picture… Glue will do wonders.
(Saying… some people will actually do that, just to make a nice picture.)
This trick is usually done with a salt shaker, but can easily be used for any object with a flat edge. I have used it to balance all sorts of things on angles, even really big objects. it takes a little finesse, and of course any breeze of any type will knock it over, but it is way easier than just trying to find the absolute balance point (which is super small and almost impossible to find.)
Step 1: make a small pile of salt.
Step 2: balance object as closely as possible in the pile of salt. Ensure that it is touching the surface it is balancing on and ensure that it will stay standing in this pile of salt without you touching it.
Step 3: blow away the salt using targeted gentle breaths. Try to get really up close to the salt pile and blow away from the object, as to not disrupt it.
Step 4: if everything worked correctly there should still be a few grains of salt that don’t budge, this is because these grains of salt are holding your object up.
Step 5: congratulations, you have just balanced a thing on a surface…go eat a cookie
I think there’s probably a lot of complicated physics involved but it is actually done intuitively, sort of like gauging a safe street crossing with two or more lanes of traffic in both directions.
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