Toilet Paper Tug

PIRA: 1F20.15

Overview:

Inertia tells us how difficult it is to give an object acceleration. When an object has more mass, it has more inertia. When we pull hard on the bigger roll of toilet paper, the inertia prevents it from spinning and the toilet paper rips. When we try the same thing on the smaller roll, there is not enough inertia to rip the paper and it unravels instead.

Materials:

Big toilet paper roll

Little toilet paper roll

3x metal rods

2x 90° angle clamps

2x table clamps

Setup:

Attach both the table clamps onto a table on the same side. Put one of the metal rods in each of them, and then put the angle clamps on top of them. Place the third rod on top in the angle clamps, and put the two toilet paper rolls through the top rod. Unroll both of the toilet paper rolls until a few squares are hanging down.

How to:

Tug hard on the large roll of toilet paper, and observe what happens. Then do the same with the small roll of toilet paper.

Safety:

Do not eat the toilet paper.