Utensil Trick on YouTube

Posted by Katharine M. J. Osborne Aug 11, 2007

I recently found this video of a spoon and fork resting incredibly on the end of a toothpick which in turn was resting on the rim of a drinking glass. The free end of the toothpick was then burned until it reached the edge of the glass, and it looked as if the the utensils should have dropped, considering the counterweight of the toothpick had been removed. This one was actually new to me, and it was quite intriguing.

Well, it took me a few minutes to figure why the fork and spoon didn't fall. I replicated the set-up, and realized that the toothpick couldn't of its own accord supply enough weight to counterbalance the the utensils. But I did see that it is was in fact stiction (static friction) that counter-acted the weight of the utensils (and to be fair, the utensils were turned towards the glass altering the center of mass of the system). The end of the toothpick was "stuck" to the rim of the glass, and it helped that the rim was curved upward (most all drinking glasses have this feature so you don't cut your mouth when you drink).

I also filmed a response video.