Description A jacobs ladder consists of a series of wooden blocks all connected by two flat ribbons. It’s all about kinetic energy transfer and can be quite tricky for kids to explain what is going on! Hold the top block on thin sides of the block. Turn the top block 180 degrees. This will cause the second block down to flip 180 degrees as well and tumble downwards. This causes the next block down to flip. … and then the next one … and then the next one … and so on until the energy reaches the last block. As long as you don’t get your fingers in the way of the moving blocks, the toy will work perfectly. Teaching ideas for a Jacobs ladder Do a slow-motion capture of the toy’s movement and get kids to describe what is happening. Discuss the differences between potential and kinetic energy. Have races between the students, is there any way to speed up the falling of the blocks? What happens if you tape a coin on different locations of the jacobs ladder. Does this change in balance affect the movement? A jacobs ladder is also handy for using as a visual model for sound transfer too. School science visit that complements this science resource Forces, Friction & Movement science incursion
