While people may be amazed with magic tricks and, let alone magic, one must understand that there is science behind it.
We cited an example sometime back on our “Matanglawin” TV show. This was the case of the “Mahiwagang Bola” (magic ball) experiment. A ball is supposed to roll of a slanted object rapidly because of the law of gravity, but suddenly, the ball slowed down because of “magic.”
The science behind it was that there was honey and another metal ball inside the ball. Emmanuel Rodolfo, a physicist, explained that the ball supposedly slowed down because of the sticky viscous fluid inside it, which is the honey. The center of mass of the object will be left behind and will wait for the fluid to flow before it moves forward, slowing down the entire ball from rolling.
The ball would have to wait for the center of mass to return to the middle to gain its gravitational torque back, which makes objects roll and move.
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The second example was the color-changing metal ball. A metal ball was placed inside a jar full of corn. When the jar was shook, the metal ball emerged as a white ball.
The science behind that was that there was already a white Ping-Pong ball placed at the bottom of the jar prior to the metal one.
As we explained on the show, the white Ping-Pong ball emerged on top because of the law of equilibrium. The position of the two balls (metal on top and white ball at the bottom) was an unstable equilibrium and needed to be stabilized.
So when the jar was shook, the objects found a stable equilibrium wherein the lighter object (white ball) emerged on top and the heavier mass (metal ball) emerged at the bottom of the jar.
Ayun ’yun!
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TRIVIA PA MORE (Various Sources): Mt. Pulag in Luzon is the second highest mountain in the Philippines at 2,928 meters (9604 feet).
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Send your questions on anything and everything to Kuya Kim through my Twitter account @kuyakim_atienza using #AlaminKayKuyaKim.
Ating tuklasin ang mga bagay-bagay na di n’yo pa alam. Walang ’di susuungin, lahat aalamin. Ito po si Kuya Kim, Matanglawin, only here in Tempo. (KIM ATIENZA)
