Low-Cost Experiment to Determine the Moment of Inertia of the Fidget Spinner by Video Analysis

Abstract

In this article, we present a low-cost lab experience, enhanced by new technologies and easy to execute. The objective of the experiment is to explore the moment of inertia of a fidget spinner quantitatively. Our choice was to integrate the teaching of physics with the use of a popular toy, the fidget spinner, very popular among young people and children all over the world. There are several papers with teaching suggestions regarding the fidget spinner that have been developed recently. Various physical concepts can be demonstrated with the fidget spinner, for example, angular speed, torque, and moment of inertia. The experience developed here can be used by teachers from high schools, colleges, and universities.

O ensino do movimento retrógrado de Marte utilizando o software Stellarium e videoanálise

“…O spinner é um brinquedo que pode ser aproveitado para ensinar diversos tópicos de física, como movimento circular uniforme, momento de inércia, momento angular, etc. [11][12][13][14][15]. Com o intuito de fazer uma analogia entre os movimentos dos spinners acoplados e o movimento orbital relativo de Marte, foi acrescentada uma extensão em um deles, para que a razão entre o centro dos spinners e o ponto escolhido para a análise fossem proporcionais à razão entre as distâncias médias Terra-Sol e Marte-Sol [16].…”