Motion Analysis Of An Object Onto Fine Plastic Beads Using High-Speed Camera

Fine spherical polystyrene beads (NaRiKa, D20-1406-01, industrial materials of styrene form) are useful for frictionless demonstrations of dynamics and kinematics. Sawamoto et al. have developed the method of demonstrations using the plastic beads onto a glass board. These fine beads (the average of the diameter is 280 μm and the standard deviation of the diameter is 56 μm) function as ball bearings to reduce the friction between a moving object, glass Petri dish, and the surface of the glass board. The beads that are charged stick onto the glass board by static electricity, and arrange themselves at intervals. The movement characteristic of a Petri dish that moves on the fine polystyrene beads that adhere onto the glass board is shown by video analysis using a USB camera and a high-speed camera (CASIO, EX-F1). The movement of the Petri dish on the fine polystyrene beads onto the glass board is good linearity, but the friction of the beads is not too small. The high-speed video showed that only a small number of beads behind the bottom of the Petri dish supported the Petri dish. The number of the beads that supported the Petri dish that caused the friction is about 0.14.