Dragons, Rats and Friction, Oh My!

This past Sunday, Big Sister and I went to the local Chinese Association New Year's Dinner and Talent Show. We are fortunate to have a large Asian community here, and this event is held each year. There was lots to see, taste and hear. But the dragon was definately picture worthy! Later on, we saw the dragon flying and chasing a red and gold ball on stage. Very cool to see!

The dragon is all folded up here. But once his humans are underneath, holding the poles, he must have been somewhere close to 100 feet long. He was able to wrap completely around the stage and was still a bit cramped. In addition, one man played a huge Chinese drum along with the dragon dance. It just gave me goosebumps.

What is going on here? An experiment in friction. The kids learned that friction can be so strong that if you fold two phone books together, alternating page by page, two tanks cannot pull them apart. Thank you Mythbusters! They have been wanting to try this, but we only have one phone book. But tonight, the kids watched Nova ~ Making Stuff Stronger and were inspired to try this experiment with whatever materials they could find.

Little Brother used two catalogs, each about 30 pages and with slick pages. When it was time to pull them apart, we noted that the catalogs did separate, but it was like pulling through syrup! Friction definately slowed the separation down. Neat sensation.

With Big Sister, she used two paperback books with typical paper. Each book was about 100 or so pages. Her books would. not. separate! In fact the harder you pulled, the more stable they felt. She and Little Brother both gave it a try, and the book cover began to rip off before the books would separate. Wow! The power of friction! Fascinating!

Big Sis is actually trying to pull these interwoven books apart!

And then, Little Brother decided he wanted to design a cat toy. So he drew this:

Original Design!

He brought the felt and a string for the tail, and then decided he wanted ME to make it. OK. Anything for my boy! I decided to make him exactly as he was drawn. Too cute. The cat toy turned out so cute, Little Brother cant bear to let the cats destroy him. His name is now Tom, and he is cuddled in bed right now.