[Scrap] How Long Can You Balance a Pencil?
http://www.wired.com/2014/09/how-long-does-it-take-for-a-pencil-to-tip-over/ How Long Does It Take for a Pencil to Tip Over? BY RHETT ALLAIN 09.03.14 | 8:32 AM | PERMALINK Share on Facebook 202 in Share 8 Henry from Minute Physics has another great video. In this one, he talks about balancing a pencil on it’s point. He makes the claim that if a 10 cm long pencil was pushed at the top a distance of 0.0001 atoms from equilibrium, it would only take 3.1 seconds to fall over. Someone once said: Trust, but verify. I trust Henry, but I should also verify Henry. I will calculate the time it takes for a pencil to fall over. Falling Pencil Physics Suppose that there is a pencil with the tip pointing down on a piece of paper and starting just barely leaning to one side. I’ll assume that the pencil can rotate, but the tip can’t slide to the side (but I don’t think this would change the falling time by much). Here is my st