I just realized Sami's math book requires her to learn to use a balance in a day or two. We don't have one and I have 50 cents to my name. Anybody know how to make a homemade one?
How much of a balance is needed? You can actually make one, but it would only be good for the comparative weight for objects. It won't tell you exacly how much something weighed. Take two empty one cup (or even one pint) milk cartons. Cut the bottoms off about an in or two up. Get four LARGE rubber bands (all the same size) and attatch them to the box bottoms. You attatch it on opposite sides, so they cross each other in the middle. Then you place each of these, hanging from the rubber bands, on the edges of a ruler. Make sure they are equal distance from the edge! Put the ruler center of the ruler on the corner of the table (you will have to hold it or weight it down!) so that the ends and boxes hang over, and you have your balance.
We made one not long ago, like Jackie said you can't weigh it but you can see the balance. My dd got two plastic cups, string, and a ruler, large stack of books. put the ruler across the high books, you don't want it to be close to the table, then tied yarn or string to each side, she put hole punch in her cup and tied them on, then she put her items she needed to balance in each side of cup to see what balance and what didn't she was so proud of her job we had to keep it up till dad got home to show him, he was proud that she could come up with something like that.
I think the books would be a good idea and the cups would be easier to come by than the empty milk cartons. (Remember that I learned to make mine at a school, where the kids all have the little milk cartons at lunch, so they are abundant, lol!). But I would suggest using the rubber bands instead of yarn. It gives it more strectchability. Otherwise you're depending on the flexibility of the ruler, rather than the elasticity of the bands.
that is true Jackie, at the time we had no rubber bands in the house so did with what we had. I will tell her about it and see if she wants to do another one, now that I have rubber bands in a house. My youngest dd took all the rubber bands and made one of those rubber band balls and wasn't going to take it apart for her sister, so I got more now. Thanks Jackie
Cool Thanks everyone... It dosn't want exact weights but has questions like "Which is Heavier a pencil or a ruler"
Here's another ruler one- Use a ruler with holes for a binder. Make 3 holes around the top of two paper cups. Thread string- knotted at one end- through the holes. Pull up the unknotted ends and tie them together. Open a paper clip and insert one end into one of the end holes of the ruler. Slip the cup onto the other end of the paper clip. Repeat on the other end of the ruler. Tie a string at the middle hole in the ruler and either hold it for the student or suspend it and use it that way.
we made a free standing balance about 6 months ago, and i wish i had pictures of it still becasue it worked really well...a little more involved to make than what has been sugested so far, but like i said it is free standing and will hold up if you plan on using it for a while. heres what we did -we had a 6x6 square off the end of a 2x6x6 board, cut on the diagonal...2 triagnles of wood. - 2 rulers (you only need one, but ds used 2) -hammer and 1 large 6" nail. - 2 containers that can be attached to the ruler ends (we used the "dip size" throw away tupperwear bowls and hot glued the lids, top side down, to the ruler and cut the bottoms out of the containers they go with, so our balance has a flat platform for larger objects but you can snap in the now bottomless container and it makes a bowl to hold things like marbles and beads) -2 or 3 "pony beads" or somthing else that your nail will fit through. - hot glue -a grown up to help! take the two pieces of wood and stand them up so that the two trianges are pointed up. drive the nail al the way through the center near the top point on one triangle, thread your beads onto the nail and carefully hammer the nail far enough into your second triangle that it will be secure, but not stick out of the other side. you should now have two triangles with a "nail bridge" going across the top, with the beads on the nail. ds used the extra ruler (cut into pieces) to cover the open open gap between the wood and add stability, but you dont have to do this. take the 2nd ruler and attach your cups or containers to each end of the ruler, equal distances from the end. mark the very center of the bottom of your ruler. put a dab of hot glue on each bead (make sure you dont glue them to the nail or wood) and press the center of your ruler onto the glue. "TA-DA!" you have a sturdy, free standing balance! (ps the day we started using our balance we went to a local park and used the see-saws to balance each other, buckets of water, lunch boxes, bucksts of sand etc...
i'm gonna have to scour my house and see which balance I have the materials for. I;ll update you tomorrow when I make one/
If you're weighing little things, you could try a ruler balanced on the number 6 of a 6 sided pencil. I haven't tried it, I would but all of my penicls are round. I think it also said that 4 quarters weigh an ounce. I read it so it must be true.
YOu could take a few things to the post office and weigh them on the scale in the lobby, then take them to the produce dept. of the market and compare results, equitment etc. and talk about the difference between a scale and a balance.
