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The box and balloons were the start of the Gravity Presentation for year 6 at Kingsway Junior, Watford. Ian Williamson, a STEM Ambassador from SETPOINT Hertfordshire , began the talk by having the box well over the edge of the desk supported by two helium balloons ably assisted by one pupil. Clearly two helium balloons can support the heavy box over the edge of a table. (It was obviously heavy because of the effort required to carry it in!)

The ideas of how to recognise a force were covered first followed by a discussion of large and small force. A certain Sir I Newton received a mention and an apple was provided together with a spring balance for pupils to estimate force sizes and take measurements. Other items available were onions, carrots, oranges, a pear, a banana, a tin of corn and some noodles.

Ideas concerning balanced forces were discussed next together with the convention that if the arrows representing the force are equal length then the forces are equal in size. Dropping objects with and without air resistance were covered next including the hammer and feather on the moon with the Apollo 15 astronauts. A thought experiment was performed with a plane, parachute and hippo.