Volume 1 (Issue 2)
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Analysing the popular card-coin experiment used to demonstrate Inertia of rest

Smita Fangaria and H.C. Verma

 

Abstract

This paper presents a detailed analysis of the card-coin experiment in terms of the forces acting on the coin and on the card and the velocities acquired by them in the experiment. The motion of the card and the coin is studied in two stages: during the flick (or the jerk) on the card and after the flick. Mathematically, we show that the fate of the coin depends on various factors like the strength of the flick on the card, length of the card, radius of the tumbler on which the card is kept, nature and mass of the card and the coin. Some case studies are done by taking plausible values of the above parameters. The study shows that this experiment does not demonstrate “Inertia of rest” in laboratory conditions.