TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Flying With Style
As students begin to understand the physics behind thrust, drag, and gravity and how these relate these to Newton's three laws of motion, groups assemble and launch the rockets that they designed in the associated lesson.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Sliding Textbooks
In this culminating activity of the unit which highlights how forces play a role in engineering design and material choices, students explore and apply their knowledge of forces, friction, acceleration, and gravity in a two-part experiment.
Utah Education Network
Uen: The Larger It Is the Harder It Falls
Understand the concept of force and the effect it has on the motion of objects.
Utah STEM Foundation
Utah Stem Action Center: Angry Birds Are Mad About Physics
Learn about catapults and Newton's laws of motion.
Physics Classroom
The Physics Classroom: Circular and Satellite Motion: Weightlessness in Orbit
Through illustrated examples and practice problems, this interactive physics tutorial helps students clear up their possible misconceptions about weightlessness.
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Gravitational Attraction
Applies Newton's concept of gravity to computer graphic programming.
Concord Consortium
The Concord Consortium: Molecular Workbench: Rolling Down an Inclined Plane
Experiment with gravity as a variable to observe the effects of gravity on an object rolling down an inclined surface.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Mechanics Mania
Through ten lessons and numerous activities, students explore the natural universal rules engineers and physicists use to understand how things move and stay still. Together, these rules are called "mechanics." The study of mechanics is...
University of New South Wales (Australia)
University of New South Wales: School of Physics: Physclips
Physiclips thoroughly presents mechanics concepts with animations and film clips.
NASA
Nasa: The Space Place: Orbits 'R' Us
Learn about how Earth orbits the sun and how satellites orbit the Earth. Discover the different types of satellites such as GOES and POES and what they are used to monitor.
Sophia Learning
Sophia: Gravitational Force & Newton's Second Law of Motion
This lesson explains how gravitational force is related to free fall, acceleration due to gravity, and Newton's second law of motion.
Other
Personal: The Laws of Motion
This personal site explains the physics of angular momentum and their application to flight. Part of a much larger site on the procedures, principles, and perceptions of flight.
University of St. Andrews (UK)
University of St. Andrews: Orbits and Gravitation
A page describing the physics, mathematics, and historical figures associated with planetary motion, satellite motion, and universal gravitation.
NASA
Nasa: Kepler's Second Law
This site from NASA states Kepler's second law of planetary motion and depicts its meaning with an informative diagram. Relates the law to conservation of energy principles and discusses the eccentricity of a satellite's (or a planet's)...
Other
Wikibooks: Physics Study Guide
A handy resource that gives an overview of equations and definitions pertinent to an introductory, college-level physics course, with two of its three sections focusing on motion-related topics and principles.
Physics Classroom
The Physics Classroom: Kepler's Three Laws
The three laws of planetary motion as described by Kepler are stated and elaborated upon. Useful graphics and an easy-to-understand language are used to explain the nature of planetary motion. Both conceptual and mathematical. Includes a...
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Newton's Third Law: Action Reaction
An early astronaut's experiences teach students that Newton's third law of motion-for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction-applies both on Earth and in outer space.
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Egg Drop
In this physics lab, students build a container to safely deliver two eggs from the top of the school. Students calculate average velocity, acceleration, momentum, and the amount of force as it hits the ground. If their egg breaks, they...
University of Virginia
University of Virginia: Rotational Motion
A page describing rotational equilibrium and non-equilibrium situations. Includes graphics, equations, and many examples.
Curated OER
Zona Land: Mechanics and Vectors
An exceptional tutorial on the topic of vectors that offers many helpful graphics, some of which are interactive.
Georgia State University
Georgia State University: Hyper Physics: Earth Orbit Velocity
A discussion and statement of an equation for orbital speed. An interactive JavaScript form allows the user to investigate the relationship between orbital height and orbital speed. A very good opportunity to practice and receive...
Concord Consortium
The Concord Consortium: Molecular Workbench: A Suspended Rope
Adjust the elasticity and mass of a rope suspended between two points to see how it will be affected by gravity.
ClassFlow
Class Flow: Simple Machines Quiz
[Free Registration/Login Required] This flipchart consists of a humorous quiz on identifying simple machines and forces of motion such as gravity and inertia.
Better Lesson
Better Lesson: Falling Objects
Students will determine if objects fall at the same speed by testing a variety of objects as they let them fall from above. They will learn that gravity is the force that is pulling on the object. Included in this lesson is a video about...