Specifically we started with Newton's first law of motion: "Something at rest stays at rest, and something moving stays moving unless acted on by an outside force."
We started off with the inertia side.
Did you know that if you drop your clothes on the floor, and no one picks them up, they will stay there for hundreds of years? It may be propaganda, but it's true!
We went on to do the jar and coin trick - you place a quarter on an index card over a jar, and then flick the card away. The coin's inertia causes it to remain stationary, then gravity drops it into the jar. They ended up able to do it with a stack of coins.
I had Mxyl and Klenda show them the catching the coins on your elbows trick.
Than I slowed it down a bit and showed them inertia by pulling a heavy coffee can with a rubber band. This is nice because the rubber band shows (by it's length) how much force you are using. You see the band lengthen until the can starts moving, and then contract as it uses less force to keep moving.
Next we went to work on the momentum side.
Then we practiced with a hula hoop - this actually shows inertia (you give it a hard push to start it) and momentum (once it gets going it's a lot easier to keep it going).
We moved on to our dump truck demonstration. I couldn't find enough little people, so we added a pony for pizazz. On the plus side, one of the little people was missing the top of his head so I could show them, Look! He has no brains, he thinks it's a great idea to ride in the back of a dump truck!
Off they went, straight into a wall, and even the youngest kids got it - that's why we wear seat belts!
Everyone felt the need to repeat that demonstration, so I was able to set up the balloon rocket experiment.
The balloons were a real hit, so we eventually took them off the tracks and just zoomed them around the room!
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