The Working Principle of a Seesaw

Seesaw is one of the children’s amusement activities. It includes indoor seesaw and outdoor seesaw. The materials can be divided into metal, wood and plastic. Usually metal seesaw is outdoor seesaw. We often see it in the parks, playgrounds, and communities. For indoor seesaw, there is wooden seesaw or plastic seesaw. We know that seesaw is a kind of activity for two or more persons to participate. One person sit on one end of the seesaw, and another person sit on the other end of the seesaw, which can work normally and can be played by people. When playing it, one end goes up, and one goes down. It is very interesting and is loved by many kids. It is also a kind of sport, which is loved by the Koreans and Russians. It seems that seesaw is a simple amusement activity. In fact, it relates to some knowledge of physics. Now let us get to know how seesaw works.

What is the principle of seesaw?

The principle of the children’s seesaw is to use the principle of leverage. Usually the persons who sit in the two ends need have almost same body weight, if one is heavy, and another is lighter, the seesaw cannot work normally. Because the pressure of the person on the seesaw is the power and resistance, and the distance between the person and the fixed point of the see saw is the force arm. The gravitational acceleration causes one up and down. The high one is greater than the low one, then the high one drops, and the lower one is lifted up under the action of the principle of leverage. It sounds little difficult to understand, after all, it relates the knowledge of physics. But people all know if one person sitting on one end of seesaw is heavier than another, he must sit near the fixed point, and the seesaw can work. Otherwise, another one cannot be lifted up and dropped down.

Is there any benefit to play seesaw game?

Many kids like to play seesaw, when they go to the park, they will play it together if they find playmates. It makes them joyful. Of course, there are benefits to play the kids’ seesaw. It can train the children’s sense of integration. What is sense of integration? People often call it as sense of balance. It is the coordination between us and gravity. Every second of our body is inseparable from the gravity of the earth. When a child move a little, and the entire nervous tissue of the balance sense will immediately produce a feeling of adjustment, otherwise it will cause the child to be physiologically uneasy, which will manifest as the wrong postures of sitting and standing, even inattention, irritability, poor memory, and severely it can cause imbalance in the development of the left and right brains. And playing seesaw game can train a child’s balance. If there are two kids in your home, you may buy one indoor small seesaw for kids to play at home.