Frames of Reference: The Basics

In case of earthquake, go to a safe place before posting on social media. The unit includes 12 lessons, most with hands-on activities or experiments. The first six lessons cover the physical process of earthquakes and volcanoes. Lessons...

Now, that's some fire power! The five-page handout provides a description of the basics of how rockets work. The reading explains Newton's Laws of Motion by beginning with defining some of the important terms. The article finishes by...

Ninth graders conduct an experiment demonstrating what happens when a train hits a car using easily accessible materials. They calculate momentum, velocity, and distance using the appropriate formulas. Then they write an incident report...

Middle and high schoolers examine the basics of a mountain lion's diet by examining food chains and food webs. Learners are each assigned one of the lion's prey species and they must construct a food chain for this animal. They see how a...

There are three models, all unconfirmed, of the possibility of multiverses, or multiple parallel universes. Each are explained in detail, with supportive drawings and diagrams. This is a mind-boggling topic for your astrophysicists to...

High schoolers discuss the application of frames of reference to an airplane flying with a constant velocity v through the air.

The mind-bending concept of space-time is further discussed by two cartoon scientists in this second of three animated films. Assign each part and the accompanying Think questions as homework or as an enrichment when working on motion...

Young scholars explore the concept of frames of reference in physics.

Students work in groups analyzing different scenarios to explain the critical issue of frame of reference. They create and present a short skit, based on information from their research, that describes a trip to a nearby solar system.

Students examine the concept of frames of reference in physics: that two frames of reference, each moving with respect to the other with a constant velocity v, observe the same accelerations and therefore Newton's laws are the same in both.