Become Your Own Balancing Act - Learn to Balance Everything from Brooms to Chairs on Your Chin

By Anon Anon

This unusual book describes in detail the art of balancing everyday objects on your body. Learn to amaze your friends using this step by step guide. Thoroughly recommended for he who currently lacks a party trick. This book contains classic material dating back to the 1900s and before. The content has been carefully selected for its interest and relevance to a modern audience.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Read Books Ltd.
• Release date: Mar 6, 2013
• ISBN: 9781447489283

Book preview

STRENGTH

Balancing

Everyone has a natural sense of balance—that is, a feeling for the center of gravity of their body, as well as of objects they may be carrying. Just think of the graceful movements of southern peoples—women especially—who carry heavy burdens or containers on their heads with remarkable ease and grace.

Many uncivilized peoples understand this art, while civilized peoples have, to a great extent, lost the ability to balance weights with their bodies as they move. In the following exercises, you will try to regain the agility and skill which our one-sided civilized life has taken away.

We often try balancing exercises for fun. Look around a bit. You will see children and adults playing at balancing; perhaps some boy is trying his skill at balancing himself on a stone, rail, beam, railing, or fence. Or maybe someone else is trying to make a stick, walking stick, or broomstick stand up on his finger or on the tip of his nose.

What forces control the balancing process? First of all, you must consider gravity. This tries to pull every object downwards, from a higher position to a lower one—if possible making it fall to the ground. When you balance, you are working against gravity. You give an object support and stability by the way you hold it up. The larger the supporting surface—the greater the stability. You will be able to see and understand this easily with an example. Fig. 33 shows two vases of flowers. One, with a small supporting surface, has a weak stand. As soon as the center of gravity (C in illustration) is no longer over the supporting surface, the vase tips over. In the picture, you can see the perpendicular extension of the center of gravity. Because this lies outside of the supporting surface, the vase overturns. Falling or standing, therefore, is the result of simple natural laws.