physics of marbles

[tamthemom]

This video on youtube got me to thinking about using marbles for teaching the basics about physics and gravity. Has anybody done something similar?
Tom
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiXlIB-Xpus

[Unregistered]

Marbles have significant moments-of-inertia about their center-of-mass, so using them to teach basic physics can be very difficult if they are rolling.

I watched some of the videos, but I don't see where any physics is being taught. Maybe you can clarify.

[Unregistered]

hi, you sound like you might know some physics about marbles to help me with my priject. im 17, and have to conduct a physics practical for coursework. equipment is limited so i th9ught of something simple like experimenting with bouncing balls. but is there some stuff i could do with marbles, im largely marked on the actual investigation, but obviously, a good theoretical writeup will help. mesage me back if you can help, im really stuck on this project, i dont have any practical skill! and i cant ask the teacher for help. from the uk.

[Unregistered]

Take objects having different radii, different masses, different shape (sphere, cylinder) and roll them down a ramp. See which ones have the highest speed at the bottom of the ramp.

For each trial, hold all variables constant except one. (For example, both objects are spheres with the same mass, but different radii).

Now, using conservation of energy (including rotational kinetic enery), verify the results.

[Nancy Wells]

Thanks for the post, it just stinks that my school blocks Youtube.