Balancing Act

Balancing Act Screenshot
  • Balance
  • Rotational Equilibrium
  • Lever Arm
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Topics

  • Balance
  • Rotational Equilibrium
  • Lever Arm
  • Torque
  • Proportional Reasoning

Description

Play with objects on a teeter totter to learn about balance. Test what you've learned by trying the Balance Challenge game.

Sample Learning Goals

  • Predict how objects of various masses can be used to make a plank balance.
  • Predict how changing the positions of the masses on the plank will affect the motion of the plank.
  • Write rules to predict which way a plank will tilt when objects are placed on it.
  • Use your rules to solve puzzles about balancing.
Version 1.05

Teacher Tips

Download teacher tips PDF Overview of sim controls, model simplifications, and insights into student thinking ( PDF ).

Teacher-Submitted Activities

Concept questions for Physics using PhET (Inquiry Based) A gold star indicates high-quality, inquiry-based activities that follow the PhET design guidelines. This contribution was designed by PhET. Trish Loeblein UG-Intro
HS
MC Physics
Balancing Act Inquiry A gold star indicates high-quality, inquiry-based activities that follow the PhET design guidelines. This contribution was designed by PhET. Ariel Paul MS Lab Physics
Balancing Act Homework Activity 1 and 2 A gold star indicates high-quality, inquiry-based activities that follow the PhET design guidelines. kimberly skinner HS HW Physics
How do PhET simulations fit in my middle school program? This contribution was designed by PhET. Sarah Borenstein MS Other Biology
Earth Science
Chemistry
Physics
Balance Lab - Mystery Box Ryan Walker MS Lab
Guided
Remote
HW
Physics
Mapping of PhET and IBDP Physics Jaya Ramchandani HS Other Physics
MS and HS TEK to Sim Alignment Elyse Zimmer HS
MS
Other Physics
Biology
Chemistry
PhET Simulations Aligned for AP Physics C Roberta Tanner HS Other Physics
balance mrwin lee MS Guided Biology
Balancing act 1 Witold Ferens HS
MS
Guided
HW
Physics
PRIMARIA: Alineación con programas de la SEP México (2011 y 2017) This contribution was designed by PhET. Diana López K-5
MS
Guided
Lab
Discuss
HW
Demo
Mathematics
Astronomy
Chemistry
Physics
Momentenwet Bonita Bronsteijn HS HW
Lab
Pesawat Sederhana (Tuas) azmi khusnani MS Discuss Physics
Equilíbrio e torque Francisco Evamar Barros, Francisco Régis Vieira Alves HS Guided Physics

Language Download or Run Tips
Albanian All shqip Run now Veprimi balancues
Amharic All Amharic Run now Balancing Act
Arabic All العربية Run now قانون الاتزان
Armenian All Armenian Run now Balancing Act
Azerbaijani All Azerbaijani Run now Ölcmə əməliyyatı
Basque All Euskara Run now Balantza orekatzen
Belarusian All беларускі Run now Ураўнаважванне
Bengali All Bengali Run now ভারসাম্য করি
Bosnian All Bosanski Run now Ravnoteža
Chinese (Simplified) All 中文 (中国) Run now 平衡探究实验
Chinese (Traditional) All 中文 (台灣) Run now 平衡動作
Czech All čeština Run now Rovnováha
Danish All Dansk Run now Balance akt
Dutch All Nederlands Run now Balanceer Act
Finnish All suomi Run now Tasapainottaminen
French All français Run now Action d'équilibrage
Galician All Gallegan Run now Lei de Equilibrio
German All Deutsch Run now Balanceakt
Greek All Ελληνικά Run now Ισορροπία ροπών
Hebrew All עברית Run now פעולת איזון
Hungarian All magyar Run now Erőegyensúly
Indonesian All Bahasa Indonesia Run now Tindakan Menyeimbangkan
Italian All italiano Run now Leve
Japanese All 日本語 Run now Balancing Act
Kazakh All Kazakh Run now Тепе-теңдік ойыны
Khmer All Khmer Run now សកម្មភាពដែលមានតុល្យភាព
Korean All 한국어 Run now 균형잡기
Kurdish All کوردی Run now هاوسه‌نگبوون _
Kurdish (Turkey) All Kurdish (Turkey) Run now Hevsengkirin
Latvian All Latviešu Run now Sviras līdzsvarošana
Macedonian All македонски Run now Рамнотежа
Marathi All मराठी Run now संतुलिकरण
Persian All فارسی Run now قانون گشتاورها
Polish All polski Run now Równowaga
Portuguese All português Run now Balancing Act
Portuguese (Brazil) All português (Brasil) Run now Balançando
Romanian All română Run now Echilibrul
Russian All русский Run now Уравновешивание
Serbian All Српски Run now Равнотежа
Slovak All Slovenčina Run now Vyvažovanie
Spanish All español Run now Malabarismo
Spanish (Mexico) All español (México) Run now Malabarismo
Spanish (Peru) All español (Perú) Run now Ley de Equilibrio
Spanish (Spain) All español (España) Run now Balancing Act
Swedish All svenska Run now Balansakt
Thai All ไทย Run now ทำให้สมดุล
Turkish All Türkçe Run now Denge Hareketi
Turkmen All Turkmen Run now Deňagramlyk işi
Ukrainian All українська Run now Рівновага важеля
Uzbek All Uzbek Run now Действие по балансированию
Vietnamese All Tiếng Việt Run now Cân bằng

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Design Team Third-party Libraries Thanks To
  • Kathy Perkins (co-lead)
  • John Blanco (co-lead, developer)
  • Michael Dubson
  • Trish Loeblein
  • Ariel Paul
  • Piccolo