English

How does a drinking straw balance work?

Popular Physics 2011-07-04 v2

Abstract

We examine working mechanism of a drinking straw balance. Unlike the usual horizontal level balances which rely on the pivotal rotation, a drinking straw balance shows rolling motion. Because of this rolling and relative position between the pin and the center line of a straw, a new equilibrium state is possible after placement of a test mass. Relative errors between the measured values by a drinking straw balance and an electronic scale are order of 22%. Minimum value of a measurable mass by a straw balance is order of 10 mg.

Cite

@article{arxiv.1104.1494,
  title  = {How does a drinking straw balance work?},
  author = {Hyunbyuk Kim and Jungwoo Park},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1104.1494},
  year   = {2011}
}

Comments

10 pages, 1 table, 4 figures; typos corrected, one reference added

R2 v1 2026-06-21T17:51:10.975Z