Activity
Exploratorium

Tired Weight

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Take your class out to visit your automobile and use the tires to compute the weight of the vehicle. This is done by measuring the surface of the tire meeting the ground and the air pressure. This is a fun lesson in the relationship...
Activity
Exploratorium

Bernoulli Levitator

For Teachers 7th - 10th
Two versions of this activity are presented for you to choose from when teaching about Bernoulli's principle in your physical science class. One is a hands-on activity, while the other would be best used as a demonstration during...
Activity
Exploratorium

Balancing Ball

For Teachers 6th - 10th
Demonstrate lift to the class that is studying aerodynamics. In the stream of air produced by a blow dryer, little physicists place a wad of tissue paper and a spherical figure to compare. Or, if you have a vacuum cleaner and beach ball,...
Activity
Exploratorium

Tired Weight

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
You don't need a scale to determine weight. This activity provides a way to use the concepts of air pressure and surface area to determine the weight of a vehicle by calculating the amount of weight each tire supports.
Activity
1
1
Teach Engineering

Building a Barometer

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Forget your local meteorologist — build your own barometer and keep track of the weather with an activity that provides directions to build a barometer out of a narrow necked bottle, a glass, and some water. Using their barometer,...
Lesson Plan
DiscoverE

Pilot a Balloon

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Balloons will go where you want them to. Young pilots first add paper clips to a balloon to make it neutrally buoyant. They then use cardboard to steer the balloon in different directions, taking air pressure into account.
Activity
Colorado State University

Why Can Warm Air "Hold" More Moisture than Cold Air?—Vapor Pressure Exercise

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Does it feel a little humid in here? Learners assume the role of water vapor in the atmosphere as they explore the differences between warm and cold air. They roll dice to determine their level of energy, which determines if they...
Activity
Chymist

Pressure-Volume Relationships: Experiments with 140-mL Syringe

For Students 9th - 12th
Learners examine Boyle's Law by analyzing experimental results with a hands-on lesson that provides a set of four experiments that illustrate the relationship between pressure and volume of gases. Groups analyze results using...
Activity
Colorado State University

What Causes Pressure?

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Are you feeling the pressure? Let loose a little with a kinesthetic activity that models molecular motion in a closed space! The activity varies conditions such as volume and temperature and examines the effects on molecules.
Activity
Exploratorium

Hand-Held Heat Engine

For Teachers 6th - 8th
See the direct relationship between pressure and temperature using these classic science toys. As individuals hold the glass bulb, the liquid inside reaches it's boiling temperature, which is just a bit above room temperature. As the...
Activity
Curated OER

Experience Gravity Free Water

For Teachers 2nd - 6th
Students complete an experiment with a glass of water and cover the opening with cardboard and turn it over. In this gravity lesson plan, students observe how air pressure does not allow the cardboard to fall and let the water out.
Activity
Exploratorium

The Dipping Bird

For Teachers 6th - 9th
If you have or want to order the dipping bird demonstration, it is useful for showing how evaporation and changes in the pressure of a closed system cause cyclical motion. After teaching about pressure, consider setting this little guy...
Activity
DiscoverE

Air-Powered Mini Rocket

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Does the position of the clips make a difference? The activity provides directions to build and test a paper rocket. Pupils attach paper clips to the rocket in different configurations and measure the distance the rocket flies each time....
Activity
1
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NOAA

How Do We Know?: Make Additional Weather Sensors; Set Up a Home Weather Station

For Students 6th - 8th Standards
Viewers learn about three different weather measurement tools in installment five of the 10-part Discover Your Changing World series. They build weather vanes to collect data on wind speed, barometers to determine air pressure, and...
Interactive
Curated OER

Design Project: Audio Power Amplifier

For Teachers 10th - Higher Ed
In this audio power amplifier worksheet, learners answer five questions about class A amplifiers, sound pressure, crossover distortion, and amplifier design.
Lesson Plan
1
1
Baylor College

Breathing Machine

For Teachers 2nd - 5th
Take a deep breath and have your class construct working models of a lung! Using 500ml plastic bottles as the chest cavity, and balloons for the lung and the diaphragm, learners work in groups to make a model. The models help them to...
Activity
Royal Society of Chemistry

A Cartesian Diver—Classic Chemistry Experiments

For Teachers 6th - 10th Standards
Sometimes the simplest experiments leave the biggest impression! Introduce young chemists to the Cartesian Diver by having them make one of their own. Use the Diver to further their study of liquids and gases, as well as compression.
Activity
1
1
NOAA

Climate, Weather…What’s the Difference?: Make an Electronic Temperature Sensor

For Students 6th - 8th Standards
What's the best way to record temperature over a long period of time? Scholars learn about collection of weather and temperature data by building thermistors in the fourth installment of the 10-part Discover Your Changing World series....
Activity
1
1
Teach Engineering

Rock and Boat

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Present the class with a question on whether the water level of a pond will rise they take a large rock out of a boat and drop it into the pond. Groups come down on all sides of the question and try to justify their answers. The activity...
Activity
American Museum of Natural History

Make Your Own Weather Station

For Students 6th - 12th
Scholars build a weather station equipped with a wind vane, rain gauge, and barometer. Following an informative page about the weather, learners follow steps to build their pieces then turn into meteorologists to chart the weather they...
Activity
NASA

Write the Book on Weather Metrics

For Students 6th - 12th
It's not easy to measure the weather. Pupils learn about what all weather has in common—the atmosphere. Scholars discover how a meteorologists must be able to measure aspects of the atmosphere and decipher the data. They then create a...
Activity
Weather Wiz Kids

Cloud in a Bottle

For Students 4th
This resource provides a short experiment for students to explore how clouds are formed.
Activity
1
1
Teach Engineering

Equal and Opposite Thrust in Aircraft: You're a Pushover!

For Teachers 7th - 9th Standards
It's the law—every action requires a reaction, no matter how small. Pupils experience two demonstrations of Newton's third law of motion as it relates to thrust in the 10th segment of a 22-part unit on flight. Using their mathematical...
Activity
Exploratorium

Straw Oboe

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Trim the end of a straw to construct a vibrating wind instrument. Everyone in your class can make their own during a lesson on sound waves.

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