The Breaking Point

breakpoint1If 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

5 Responses to “The Breaking Point”
  1. Aurora says:

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

  2. 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

  3. Aurora says:

    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.

  4. 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.

  5. amanda young says:

    Cool!

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