Students gain first-hand experience on how friction affects motion. They build a hovercraft using air from a balloon to levitate a craft made from a compact disk (CD), learning that a bed of air under an object significantly reduces the friction as it slides over a surface.

Concepts

engineering, friction, stem, air pressure

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Additional Tags

hovercraft, reduce friction, reducing resistance, christopher cockerell, integrated teaching and learning program and laboratory, john thornycroft, teachengineering

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Classroom Considerations

• Knovation Readability Score: 4 (1 low difficulty, 5 high difficulty)