Awesome Balance

Performer Alexey Shleg is an expert at balancing household items. We watched in awe as he stacked an assortment of bottles, glasses, wrenches, and other objects in formations that seem impossible. Of course, it takes a lot of trial-and-error.

A bicycle is a fairly simple vehicle, but the physics involved in keeping it from falling over are more complex than you might think. But as Veritasium demonstrates, get one critical mechanism wrong, and you end up with a bike that’s nearly impossible to keep upright – especially when turning.

It takes skill to balance on a unicycle, but even if you’re an expert, we don’t recommend using power tools at the same time. That didn’t stop Mike Taylor from weed whacking his lawn while riding on his one-wheeler. Mike’s backyard antics are contrasted by a more graceful demo by fellow unicyclist Marie Schlenker.

Not too long ago, we saw how somebody had managed to stack 518 Jenga planks on just one at the bottom. Now, to celebrate his 1000th YouTube subscriber, MENGA managed to perform the same feat with more than 1000 blocks. As a bonus, we get the satisfaction of watching the whole thing toppled over at the end.

It’s tricky enough to stack Jenga blocks normally. But there are some folks out there who go far beyond the ordinary block stacking and use the wooden planks to create complex structures. Jenga expert stacker Captain Noodles managed to stack 518 planks, all balanced atop a single vertical plank. Time-lapse video here.

(PG-13: Language) Not to be confused with RocketJump’s awesome clip by the same name, in this video, Olympic skier Andri Ragetti performs a choreographed sequence of balancing exercises as he freeruns his way through a Rube Goldberg-inspired obstacle course. He says it took him 232 attempts to get it right.

Kuma Films captured this footage of performer Li Wei Yang as she demonstrates her ability to spin and juggle objects like a table and umbrellas using her feet. Apparently, she also offers amusement park rides in her spare time.