Example of a didactic game, part of the entertaining physics that was never lacking in 19^th century laboratories, with the aim of surprising, intriguing – and lastly explaining.
The puppet represents a Chinese acrobat and is built so that it performs somersaults when walking down stairs. The body contains some lead, due to which the centre of mass is always higher than the puppet’s axis of rotation. In its search for equilibrium, and in accordance with the principle that the centre of gravity tends to move downwards, the puppet performs somersaults.
Device on display.