How to Add the Toothpick to the Butterfly Center of Gravity Experiment

Video Transcript

" Hi I'm Scott Thompson for expertvillage.com, and today I'm going to demonstrate a center of gravity activity using balancing butterflies. The next step is to take the toothpick, and we are going to cut it roughly so it is as long as the butterfly's body, and you can do this ahead of time if you want to speed things up a bit, or have the students do it their selves, depending on how old they are. I like to put the pointy end of the toothpick out at the head of the butterfly. Once you get it sized right, lay down a bead of glue, just enough to make it work from the butterfly's head to the other end of its body. And then carefully lay the glue—I'm sorry, the toothpick—on into the glue. That is going to give the butterfly's body a little bit of rigidity so it will sit on your finger tip better. That glue sets up really quick."