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Activity
Exploratorium

Balancing Stick

For Teachers 6th - 10th
Have some physical science fun when studying the center of gravity or center of mass. Simply have balancing artists stand a dowel on one finger and keep it from falling over! A lump of clay is added and moved up along the dowel over a...
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Lesson Plan
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

Tinkering with Tops

For Teachers 3rd - 12th Standards
Get kids' heads spinning by challenging them to design a top that will rotate for a minimum of 10 seconds without leaving a 30-cm circle. Groups of learners collaborate through a planning stage, testing stage, and evaluation stage. Some...
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Interactive3:35
Scholastic

Study Jams! Gravity & Inertia

For Students 6th - 9th Standards
Is it possible to defy gravity? Not really. With force and inertia, we can act against it for a little while, but, eventually, gravitational force will pull us back to Earth. The relationships among mass, force, and inertia are all...
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Lesson Plan
Kenan Fellows

Impacting the Risk of Falling: How Do Accelerometers Work?

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Young engineers consider how to apply accelerometers and sensors to help prevent falls in elderly people. They consider forces of motion and gravity as part of the engineering design process.
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Interactive
CK-12 Foundation

Walk the Tightrope

For Students 9th - 12th Standards
Why do many tightrope walkers use a balancing pole? The simulation explores the benefits of balancing poles and the features that are most important. Pupils control the pole length, pole mass, pole stiffness, and the initial angle of...
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PPT
Urbana School District

Gravitation

For Teachers 11th - Higher Ed
Introduction your class to famous astronomers with a presentation that also covers Newton's Laws of Gravitation, Kepler's Laws of Planetary Motion, both uniform and nonuniform gravitational fields, and how to calculate the gravitational...
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Activity
University of Saskatchewan

Using Conservation of Energy to Determine Average Impact Force

For Teachers 7th - 12th Standards
Explore the center of gravity with your science class as they create a deadfall trap with common materials. They research the concepts of energy conservation and gravitational force before dividing into small groups to create a model of...
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Lesson Plan
Discovery Education

Future Fleet

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Turn your pupils into engineers who are able to use scientific principals to design a ship. This long-term project expects pupils to understand concepts of density, buoyancy, displacement, and metacenter, and apply them to constructing a...
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Activity
Exploratorium

Take It From the Top

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Experiment with the center of gravity by stacking blocks in a way that appears to defy its force. This is a fascinating demonstration that you can use when teaching about gravity, forces, or balance. 
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Lesson Plan
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BioEd Online

Center of Gravity

For Teachers 5th - 8th Standards
Between the pull of gravity and the push of air pressure, it's a wonder animals can balance or move at all. With a hands-on lesson about the center of gravity, learners discuss their own experiences with the topic, then work with...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Strawkets and Weight

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students investigate the effect that weight has on rocket flight. They construct a variety of straw-launched rockets that have different weights, observe what happens when the weight of a rocket is altered by reducing its physical size...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Balancing The Day Away In Grade 2

For Teachers 2nd
Second graders sped the day exploring about balance by playing with and making balancing toys. They discover how varying the amount and position of mass affects the toys' balance. Pupils explore gravity and balance while playing with the...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Ellipses and Kepler's First Law

For Teachers 11th - 12th
The class examines graphs in the form r = F(¿¿) in polar coordinates (r, ¿¿), in particular with the circle, ellipse and other conic sections. They determine the nature of an ellipse by studying the role of the semimajor axis and...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Center of Gravity

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Students work with boxes and weights to find the center of gravity. In this simple center of gravity experiment, students find success in using weights to move the center of gravity. Students will be assessed at the end of the lesson as...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Fast Cars and Roll-Over

For Teachers 2nd - 4th
Students creat a ramp using cardboard and tape. They follow directions to perform an experiment to determine the degree of tilt needed to cause an empty milk carton to tip over. Students discuss their results in terms of center of gravity.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

TE Activity: Wow! That Captures It!

For Teachers 5th - 7th
Learners examine how motion capture technology allows computer based animators to design realistic effects in animation. They study how the center of gravity contributes to animation and how to use the center of gravity to write an...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Floating Fishes: Boat Sinking Lab

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Cut milk cartons in half to make boats and let investigators attempt to sink them. They add dividing walls and observe what happens if marbles are put into only one of the newly formed compartments. Vocabulary is provided: buoyant force,...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Fork It Over!

For Teachers 1st - 5th
Students identify an object's center of gravity. In this physics lesson, students use two metal forks, modeling clay, toothpick, and a drinking glass to balance the forks on the glass. Students use the angle of the forks to spread the...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Acrobatic Clown

For Students 2nd - 3rd
In this science investigation learning exercise, learners learn about balancing points and center of gravity by making a cardboard acrobatic clown using the directions and pattern provided.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Center of Gravity

For Teachers 7th
Seventh graders determine the center of gravity of an object. They get card stock objects to balance on pencil eraser and a meter stick to balance with same # of weighted string(s) on each side. They get meter stick to balance with...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Strawkets and Control

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students investigate the effect that fins have on rocket flight. They construct two paper rockets that they can launch by blowing through a straw, one with fins and one with wings, and observe and record the results of the rocket flights.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Tightrope Trials

For Teachers 5th - 7th
Students research the concepts of center of mass and how to make different things balance. They make symmetrical cut-outs of different "creatures" and experiment with how they balance on a tightrope of string.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

High Jump

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Learners examine how physics help high jumpers break records. They discuss the phases of the high jump, gravity, and center of gravity, and conduct an experiment to determine whether they can improve the height of their jump.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Balanced Forces

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students are able to explain why football running backs benefit from having a lower center of gravity when opponents are trying to tackle them. They explain why racing cars are designed to have a low center of gravity. Students explain...