Grandpa Fenn's Workshop
The Balance Scale
Grandpa has two pans and a plank. He says a scale never lies. Toby wants to know how it can weigh something nobody has ever weighed.
Grandpa Fenn's Workshop
Grandpa has two pans and a plank. He says a scale never lies. Toby wants to know how it can weigh something nobody has ever weighed.
Pick a side. Tap things into the pans. Make the scale level. Then find out what the mystery box weighs.
Grandpa taps the beam and it stays level. Fair is fair. You weighed a secret with nothing but a plank.
A balance scale does not read a number. It compares. The heavier side goes down. The lighter side goes up.
When both sides weigh the same, the beam sits level. That works even when the things are different. One brick can balance a pebble, an apple and a feather.
That is how you weigh a mystery. Put it on one pan. Add things you know on the other until the beam levels out. The known things add up to the mystery.
Toby loads the pansA balance compares two weights.
The heavier side goes down.
Level beam means equal weight.
Big word for the day. Balance. When two sides pull equally.
More machines are waiting on the bench.
Back to the Chain Reaction Bench