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Swinging on a String

For Teachers 5th - 7th
Students explore how pendulums work and why they are useful in everyday applications. In a hands-on activity, they experiment with string length, pendulum weight and angle of release.
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Egyptians as Engineers

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Student design and build Lego vehicles that drag given amount of weight up an incline. They show how this demonstrates Egyptian methods of pyramid construction.
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In-Line Inertia

For Teachers 8th - 9th
Students practice calculating the moment of inertia when discussing a skater and the position in which it is best to spin. After class discussion, students practice calculating inertia on their own.
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FORCES, MOTION, AND ENERGY

For Teachers 8th
Eighth graders engage in a variety of activities in order to investigate the basic concepts of physics. They read and answer questions in a written text. This is only one type of activity that is part of many others.
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Balanced Forces

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students are able to explain why football running backs benefit from having a lower center of gravity when opponents are trying to tackle them. They explain why racing cars are designed to have a low center of gravity. Students explain...
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Toys and Forces

For Teachers 3rd
Third graders discuss the collection of toys and demonstrate to the class how a given toy moves. They discuss the part of this toy that could be broken or missing to cause the toy not to work. Which parts could be broken and the toy...
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Pendulum Motion Experiments

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students experiment with simple pendulums to determine the validity of an equation for all angles. Students discover the usefulnes and limitations of approximations in science. Using spreadhseets and a java applet, students observe the...
Worksheet
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Momentum

For Students 9th - Higher Ed
In this momentum worksheet, students review impulses, angular momentum, and the law of conservation of momentum. This worksheet has 30 fill in the blank statements.
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The Spin Doctor Is In

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students are given the difintion of translational motion, which is the object in motion stays in motion. If you are in a car and the car stops, you keep moving. They then discuss rotational motion, which is a spinning object continues to...
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Making Objects Move

For Teachers K - 2nd
Students will make many discoveries about how and why objects move. They will explore and manipulate the motion of objects and the forces required to control that motion (pushing, pulling, throwing, dropping, rolling, and so on). This...
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Sliding and Stuttering

For Teachers 9th
Ninth graders use a spring scale to drag an object such as a ceramic coffee cup along a table top or the floor. The spring scale allows them to measure the frictional force that exists between the moving cup and the surface it slides on....
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Catapults!

For Teachers 5th - 7th
Students work together to discover the relationship between the angle of catapults and the flight of different objects. They discover the heavier the object the more force is needed. They examine how engineers use this information to...
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Fantastic Friction!!!

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Learners work in small groups to list at least 10 items that have movement or motion choosing one item from the list to use as a topic for the following questions: How does this item move? How can we slow down the movement? How can we...
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Friction and Gravity

For Teachers 7th
Seventh graders identify the factors that determine the strength of the friction forces when two objects push against each other. Describing the difference between weight and mass, they participate in experiments. They state the law of...
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The Science of Swinging

For Teachers 2nd - 4th
Learners learn how a pendulum works in the concept of an amusement park ride. In this pendulum lesson, students are introduced to Newton's first law of motion and how it works in an amusement park ride. Continuous motion and inertia are...
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Newton's Theory of Universal Gravitation

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students explore how Newton tied together the gravity observed on Earth and the motion of the Moon. They apply an earlier lesson about centripetal forces.
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Rockets and Payloads

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students investigate Newton's Second Law of Motion as they predict the effect of a payload on the amount of energy needed to lift a rocket vertically. The constraints of the weight of the equipment carried to Mars is compared to the...
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A Focus on Mechanical Friction

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Young scholars explore mechanical friction. They perform experiments to observe the direction of mechanical motion and the difference between rolling and sliding friction. Data results on the experiments are recorded and students...
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Pitch, Yaw & Roll

For Teachers K - 12th
Students practice the concepts of pitch, yaw and roll. They practice pitch, yaw, roll in a make-believe airplane simulator. Students explore about air, forces, and movement of flight. They read for themselves about air; lift, dragweight,...
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Proportionality: The X-Plane Generation

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Students meet NASA researchers who describe the relationship between force, energy and motion. They discuss how NASA's experimental X-plane is being tested to make space travel more reliable and show how proportionality and ratios are...
Worksheet
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Worksheet 20

For Students 10th - 12th
In this math worksheet, they write down and solve a differential equation governing the motion of an underdamped spring. Then they find the solution to the initial value problem.
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Discovering Friction

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students watch a demonstration that introduces them to the idea that friction is a force that impedes motion when two surfaces are in contact. They work in groups to experiment with frictional force using a coffee cup on which they alter...
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That Mu You Do

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Learners are told that the weight of a car is equal to its mass multiplied by the acceleration due to gravity. When a car is at react on a horizontal road, there must be a normal force with which the road pushes up on the car to keep it...
Worksheet
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Simple Machines and Mechanical Advantage

For Students 7th - 10th
In this simple machines science learning exercise, learners read about simple machines, mechanical advantages, calculating mechanical advantage, output force versus input force, and distance effort versus distance of resistance. Then...

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