After coming home from a grueling day of baseball, under the scorcheringly hot sun, I decided to refresh myself with an ice cold beverage. I really wanted a gatorade, but as I was digging through my fridge, I learned that all I had were canned juices. My heart dropped as I realized that I would have to settle for a measly can of unrefreshing liquid. I let out a sigh as I popped open the tab, and I drank about 5/8 of the can in one gulp. Instantly, I was hit with the sudden urge to urinate, so I dropped the can on the counter and ran to the bathroom. When I returned from my extremelly satisfying trip to the toilet bowl, I was surprised to see the that the can was tilted and balancing on one of its corners. Being the naturally inquistive person that I am, I began to think about why this was possible. That's when I remembered what we had just learned in physics: In order for an object to balance, its center of mass needs to be directly over its support base. I had drank the perfect amount of juice so that this would be possible. If I did not drink enough, the can would have tipped over, leaving a very big mess for me to clean up. If I drank too much, the can would have been pulled back to it's original position, perpendicular to the counter.
No comments:
Post a Comment