The New Britain Rock Cats and Talcott Mountain Science Center present Baseball In Education:  Baseball Science with TMSC!
	BIE Games at New Britain Stadium, Spring 2010:  April 14, April 28, May 12, May 27, Jun 2
Activities At the park At home & school More Baseball Science Science Standards Videos Pictures Official Sites Rock Cats TMSC	Newton's Cradle One of the demos in the concourse is called "Newton's Cradle".   It's a rack, with five baseballs (or other balls, the more rigid, the better...) suspended from two strings and barely touching each other.  When you pull back one of the balls and let it go, the impulse from that ball transfers through the rest of the balls until it reaches the last one on the other side, and that one swings out.  We see this sort of impulse and momentum in the melon / door / sheet demo, and how some energy of a bounce is lost in the "teamwork" demo.  So one ball hitting one side launches one ball on the other side.  Try it with two balls - how many will launch on the other side?  Two?  Yes!  Now comes the kicker - pull three balls away and look at what's left to hit.  How many balls will launch on the other side?  The usual answer is "two" because there are only two left.  But there is enough impulse from three balls for the first ball that hits to continue on as the last ball that launches.  So three launches three!  And yes, four launches four! As for pulling back all five?   Sure enough, all five simply swing out the other side!