Adventures in Science and Technology

[Biology]

How does your body balance? Canals inside your ears are filled with fluid. When your head tilts, the fluid moves. This information is then sent to your brain. Your brain tells your body to compensate for the initial movements, and so your body becomes balanced.

timer
measuring tape

Static balance:

Stand on one foot with your other foot in a stork position, and your hands on your hips. See how long you can balance for.
Now try the same thing, but with your eyes closed. How does this affect your balancing time?

Dynamic balance:

Stand in the same position as the previous test except this time, instead of standing still, try moving sideways by shuffling your foot. How far can you go before you fall?
Now try it again, but with your eyes closed. How does this affect the distance you can go?

Conclusions:

[Did you know... Cats have an amazing sense of balacnce. Their inner ear contains a very sensitive balancing mechanism... and their tail helps, too!]

Your body requires two types of balancing. One is static for when you are standing still, and one is dynamic for when you are moving. Can you think of times when you would need each type of balance? In this test you tried to balance with your eyes closed and probably found it harder. This is because you had nothing to focus your eyes on to keep your body still.

Produced by Galactics.
Comments: galactics@spacesim.org.
Last updated on 14 August 1998.