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Today’s STEAM Activity is learning about the law of inertia using a coin trick. My kids got quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies in their plastic eggs from the Easter bunny. My son has been learning about change at school and was so excited to get more for his piggy bank. I thought this activity would be a great opportunity to learn and play with their coin collections.
My kids have loved this experiment so much I included it in my book The Amazing Book of STEM! It’s one of 10 experiments in the book, along with STEM themed jokes, word search, crossword, games, and so much more! You can buy it on Amazon. Be sure to scroll down to see our videos of this experiment in action along with tips for success on Instagram (you can also find the same videos in the Shorts on my YouTube channel).
MATERIALS:
- Tall clear cup
- Water
- Small piece of cardboard
- At least 5 coins (quarters worked best for us)
PROCEDURE:
- We started by learning about pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters. I asked the kids to count out ten of each coin. Then we talked about how much each coin is worth and counted how much ten of each coin is worth.
- Ask the kids to make a pile of 5 coins and set aside
- Fill a cup about 3/4 full with water
4. Place a piece of cardboard over the cup with a small hang over in the front
5. Place a stack of 5 coins on the cardboard, centered over the cup of water
6. Flick the cardboard as hard as you can sending it flying back off the cup (see the 4th Instagram videos below for detailed instructions on how to flick). The coins should all drop down directly into the cup of water below!
* We found it helpful to practice “flicking” technique by practicing flicking the cardboard off the cup without the coins first. Once my kids figured out how to flick it hard and quick, then we added the coins. It’s not as hard as it might look, both my 5 year old and 3 year old were able to do this activity!
Step 4
STEAM CONCEPTS LEARNED:
- Science: A fundamental physics concept is the principle of inertia used to describe the motion of objects and how they are affected by applied forces. The law of inertia is the resistance of any physical object to any change in its state of motion. It is further defined in Newton’s first law of motion: objects in motion will stay in motion and objects at rest will stay at rest unless acted on by an outside force. In our case the cardboard and coins are at rest. The flick is the force that sends the cardboard into motion, but this force was not acted on the coins. Instead, gravity drops them straight down into the cup below.
- Math: Ask your kids to stack and count coins by 5 and/or 10. For kids in kindergarten and above, ask them to count the monetary value of their stack of coins (for example: 5 quarters is $1.25).
We had so much fun with this activity. It’s a great opportunity to take fun slow motion videos. We laughed so hard at the videos when we watched them. The flick and subsequent fall of the coins happens so quickly you need the video for proof it actually happened!
Watch my Instagram reels to see this experiment in action:
I hope you give this a try and have as much fun as we did!
Did you know this is one of 10 amazing experiments in my book The Amazing Book of STEM? It’s a perfect book for kids ages 9-14 to learn about STEM through experiments, puzzles, games, lessons, and more! Your kids will be amazed and impressed by how much is included in this fun interactive workbook. It’s available on Amazon, by clicking here!
You don’t happen to have any more cool little things I can use, like this, with my 10, soon to be 11 yr old niece? I taught her about inertia a few years back. She enjoys learning stuff like this. Just curious if you have any other ideas for kids a bit older. Thanks! This was great!
My son is 10, and here are some of the activities we’ve done in the past year or two that he’s loved (find them on the STEM Experiments Page on my website: “Birthday Celebration: Learn about Air Pressure with Balloons and Fire”, “Eggsperiment: Make a Bouncy Egg”, “Cleaning Pennies”, “The Fire and the Flood”, “Color Changing Tea” and “Inflate a Balloon with a Chemical Reaction”. I’m glad to know people are looking for activities for older kids – I’ll plan to do more STEAM Activities with my two older kids and add them to the blog this year!