Penny Inertia Activities

Learning Objectives

I can demonstrate inertia.

Materials

Provide the following materials for each student or pair of students.

Penny
Plastic cup
Index card

Directions

Stack the index card on the cup.
Place the penny on the center of the card.
Flick the edge of the card. It should quickly move off the cup.

1. What happens to the penny when you remove the card?

2. Explain why the penny acts in that way.

Creative Commons License Penny Inertia Activity by MN Partnership for Collaborative Curriculum is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

[1] “Penny Inertia,” Photograph by Mary Kurvers, 2014.