If you've ever teetered on the edge of a diving board, you know that the board flexes under your weight.  The heavier you are, the more it bends.  The top of the board gets slightly stretched further than the normal length (tension) while the underside gets slightly shorter (compressed). We're going to duplicate this without needing to visit the pool.

We're going to expand on the topic covered in the Tension and Compression section of this article. All you need for this experiment is:
  • a pencil or a craft stick that you don’t mind breaking
  • a pair of hands
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Comments

12 Responses to “The Breaking Point”

  1. really? because I couldn’t see it with my ruler

  2. I can! It will vary a bit depending on the material of the ruler 🙂

  3. why can’t you see the stretch of the ruler with your own eyes

    PS. what if you eat carrot sticks HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hey they’re good for the eyes 😀

  4. No one knows what happens there, since the laws of physics break at the singularity. Your guess is as good as mine!

  5. Shirley Caron says:

    Do you think it is possible that the center of a black hole is at absolute o degrees Kelvin, where all energy (movement has stopped in the atoms) and so the atoms are seeking energy so much that they begin to suck everything to themselves creating the black hole?

  6. Shirley Caron says:

    wow i never thought of it like that!

  7. why did it snap??

  8. I am not able to duplicate the problem – the videos are playing well over here… what happens if you try a different computer?

  9. Charis Chan says:

    Hi Aurora,

    I did try what you suggested but the video just won’t load beyond 44s no matter how long I waited. Strange thing is that this only happens to some of the videos. What do I do now?

    Charis

  10. Sounds like an internet issue. Try this:

    1. Click PLAY on the video.
    2. Now hit PAUSE and wait for it to load completely.
    3. Click PLAY. Now the video should play all the way through with no jumps, skips, or stops.

    You can do this for several videos at a time, since the experiments are all on one page.

    Note: We’re in the middle of updating all the players on the site (there’s over 900 now) so they will play faster and smoother for you.

  11. Charis Chan says:

    Hi, the video seems to cut off after 44s. I’ve tried to view it many times with the same result. Please help.

  12. amanda young says:

    Cool!