Sliders - Static and Kinetic Friction

Friction and gravity are always at odds! Learners complete a set of activities to explore the relationship between friction and gravity. Groups make conclusions about the factors that affect the amount and type of friction between surfaces.

Students, in groups, use given materials to devise a way to deposit a ping-pong ball into a paper cup that is located in the middle of a 6-foot diameter circle, while standing outside the circle.

Students design and conduct experiment to determine if weight added incrementally to an object affects amount of friction encountered when it slides across a flat surface. They graph data from their experiments, and calculate...

Students investigate the effect of weight on normal friction or the friction due to surface roughness. They tell about the effects of contact area that occurs as a result of molecular attraction by looking at data on line graphs.

Pupils 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...

Young scholars measure frictional force existing between a moving cup and the surface it slides on. They conduct the experiment and answer discussion questions.

Why do sprinters wear spiked shoes? Scholars explore various styles of shoes and how they handle forces when running. Scholars adjust variables including shoe type, horizontal force, surface type, and normal force to determine which...

Explore the relationship between sports and physics in a cross-curricular lesson. Middle and high schoolers prepare a multimedia presentation based on a chosen sport. They answer five physics vocabulary questions about how the laws of...

Learners learn examples of friction and drag, and suggest ways to reduce the impact of these forces. The equation that governs common frictional forces is introduced, and during a hands-on activity, students experimentally measure a...

Middle schoolers describe how to recognize a force, define balanced and net forces, state Newton's first law of motion, explain why friction works, state Newton's second Law of Motion, and explain why the direction of force is important.