Balancing toy

[trichards]

There is an "American folk balancing toy" that appears to defy gravity. How does this simple "s" shaped wood piece hold a belt and balance on a finger tip?

[fo3nix]

What does it do, I'm not familiar with it. (got a link to an example on a website or something?)

Does it spin?

[SteveD]

Is it the shape of a bird with outspread wings (you balance its beak on your finger)?

[mibn2cweus]

Stability requires that the mass is distributed evenly around a point somewhere directly below the point of support. This can be deceptively achieved through the strategic placement of counter weights or by suspending a relatively small weight well below the point of support.

[trichards]

The toy can be found at homesteadtoys.com it is called a jimmy stick on the site. I am helping a nine year old I babysit with her science porject. She wants to know how this toy balances. It seems to defy gravity. It is an S shaped wooden toy that holds a belt.

[mibn2cweus]

The success of this toy appears to rely on the stiffness of the belt and the angle of the slot which holds the belt in a fixed position. If the �Jimmy Stick� were to tip further downward this would force the belt to truly �defy� gravity by departing from its center of gravity which lies directly below the supporting finger tip.

Bending the last few inches of a length of stiff wire into the shape of a �7� might help to illustrate what is happening with the toy.