An activity where students demonstrate elastic potential energy and gravitational potential energy by looking at the travel height of a ping pong when dropped vs a ping pong dropped with a "dropper popper".

Intended for students with a strong math and science background, a course introducing physics concepts of Newtonian mechanics, special relativity, gravitation, thermodynamics, and waves. Twenty-four class sessions in video format are...

This module is written for a first-year algebra-based physics class, though it could easily be modified for conceptual physics. It is intended to provide hands-on activities to teach the overarching concept of energy, as it relates to...

Hang various mass weights on spring scales while you adjust the spring stiffness and damping in this online activity. Slow down the action, take it to another planet, or watch the amount of potential, thermal, and kinetic energy.

For this activity, students learn about conservation of mechanical energy as they measure the velocity of a girl jumping on a trampoline using a direct measurement video with an embedded frame counter and ruler.

In this activity, students will design and construct a water bottle rocket. Students will demonstrate understanding of a good experimental design and analysis of results.

Step-by-step instructions, with photos, of how to prepare an egg for a 'bungee jump' using a plastic bag and elastics, and a yard stick to measure the distance it falls each time it is dropped. The activity investigates the Law of...

This tutorial introduces the concept of electric potential. It relates this concept to the potential energy of a positive test charge at various locations within an electric field. Take the interactive quiz to test your understanding.

Combined with aspects of circular motion, students discover that Kepler's third law follows directly from the law of universal gravitation. This unit will expand upon the conservation of energy principle for problems beyond the confines...

An interactive simulation that teaches about gravitational force, Newton's Third Law, and force pairs by varying properties affect the gravitational force exerted between two objects. This simulation can either be downloaded or played...

An interactive simulation that teaches about gravitational force, circular motion, and astronomy by manipulating the sun, earth, moon, and a space station to observe the effects of gravity and orbital paths. This simulation can either be...

This site from Georgia State University Physics Department defines and explains the concept of gravitational potential energy. Uses many equations and graphics to illustrate the idea. Provides an online computational practice set with...

This site from Georgia State University Physics Department defines and explains the concept of gravitational potential energy. Uses many equations and graphics to illustrate the idea. Provides an online computational practice set with...

Create a simplified roller coaster with this simulation by creating a track shape for a ball to travel on. Students can change gravity and damping. Site includes equations to help students understand what is happening in the simulation.

This lesson focuses on the formation and life cycle of stars. Stars form when enough dust and gas clump together because of gravitational forces. Nuclear reactions release energy to keep the star hot. Some stars grow larger over time....

After creating three different ramps with various heights, students will release toy cars from the tops of each ramp. Based on the elementary age level, students will collect data and analyze it.

This unit has students design and build foam tubing roller coasters. The design process integrates energy concepts as they test and evaluate their designs that address the task as an engineer would. The goal is for students to understand...

This lab is designed to have students discover the relationship between the work that is done and the changes to height that occur to an object. Students can adjust the amount of energy added to the object. They can test five different...

This site examines the black hole as an object in astrophysics. Delve into this comprehensive resource that covers this concept from its history, to qualitative physics, the reality of black holes, mathematical physics and more.

Change the mass of a suspended object to see how its movement and forces are affected by gravity.

Explore an interactive encyclopedia of known and suspected black holes and find out how they are formed. Includes a glossary of terms, movie files and links to black holes in popular movies and books.

Manipulate the mass of a weight and the length of string in this interactive pendulum simulation. Change the speed, friction, and gravity to make the pendulum swing change as measurements are displayed on the screen. Younger students can...

In this video, Peter Bohacek explains the interplay between work and power and how it can be seen in the functioning of a clock. [4:31] Followed by a short quiz and a list of additional resources to explore.

This site from the Georgia State University provides an interesting chart form of the ideas of relativity. Column 1 - Idea, Column 2 - Experiment. Each item is linked to its own page of explanation, which is well done. A nice type of...