Hot Coal Walking, Hooping, and Other Mystifying Circus Science
WELCOME TO THE CIRCUS Step right up and prepare to enter the big top The acts at this circus will mystify you You'll see acts of all kinds Jugglers throwing pins into the air Clowns walking on giant stilts Unicyclers riding in circles From hot coal walking to hula hooping the circus is full of many mystical acts Sometimes these stunts look impossible even magical But did you know you can see tons of cool science concepts at work in each circus act Learn some of the secrets and science behind the big top's most mystifying stunts
DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME Circus acts are a blast to watch but DO NOT try them yourself Performers spend years training They practice every day Performing a circus act without the proper training and correct safety precautions could result in serious injury Instead simple activities that you CAN TRY are included in these pages They will help you understand the science behind the circus They are safe easy and fun CIRCUS FACT John Bill Ricketts opened America's first circus in Philadelphia in 1793 It had just one ring or performance area President George Washington was one of the attendees
BED OF NAILS You eagerly await the first circus act of the night Soon a man approaches a bed of long metal nails The gleaming points of the nails stick straight up Wearing only shorts the man carefully lies down on the bed He has nothing to protect his skin from the 1 000 sharp points The crowd gasps but the performer's face shows no sign of pain Moments later he slowly stands up Not a single puncture wound marks back his
DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME TRY THIS INSTEAD How can someone lie down on a bed of nails without becoming a human pincushion You might think that the more nails the more painful this act is In fact the opposite is true When the performer lies on the bed his weight is more or less evenly distributed across each nail's surface This means the pressure exerted by each nail in a group is much less than if it were a single nail by itself If the bed has 1 000 nails the pressure on the performer is spread out onto each nail So he only feels 1 1 000 of the pressure of a single nail in each spot a nail touches him That's not enough pressure to puncture his skin or cause much pain Experience how pressure can be divided evenly for yourself For this experiment you'll need two one dozen cartons of eggs and a plastic garbage bag Spread the garbage bag on the floor Make sure the eggs don't have any cracks or fractures Then make sure all of the eggs are set up in the same direction such as pointy side down Have an adult or friend help you step onto the first carton of eggs with one foot Try to make your foot as flat as possible That lets you spread your weight evenly over the eggs Slowly shift all your weight onto that leg Then position your second foot on top of the other carton of eggs Slowly step off one foot at a time Did the eggs crack pressure a force exerted on an object over a particular amount of its surface
