Curated OER
Mechanically Inclined
Eighth graders examine the mechanical advantage of an inclined plane through experimentation.
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Galileo: His Experiments
This interactive activity from the NOVA Web site samples Galileo's experiments with falling objects, projectiles, inclined planes, and pendulums.
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Investigating the Inclined Plane Through Inquiry
In this activity, students will use different materials to find the most effective way to use an inclined plane (in other words, moving an object with as little force as possible). This is a guided inquiry. Although the students will be...
University of Colorado
University of Colorado: Ph Et Interactive Simulations: The Ramp
Explore forces, energy, and work as you push household objects up and down a ramp. Lower and raise the ramp to see how the angle of inclination affects the parallel forces acting on the file cabinet. Graphs show forces, energy and work.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Tools and Equipment, Part I
Through a series of activities, students discover that the concept of mechanical advantage describes reality fairly well. They act as engineers creating a design for a ramp at a construction site by measuring four different inclined...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Watch It Slide!
Students use inclined planes as they recreate the difficult task of raising a monolith of rock to build a pyramid. They compare the push and pull of different-sized blocks up an inclined plane, determine the angle of inclination, and...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Heave Ho!
Students will discover the scientific basis for the use of inclined planes. They will explore, using a spring scale, a bag of rocks and an inclined plane, how dragging objects up a slope is easier than lifting them straight up into the...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: An Introduction to Inclined Planes
Students are introduced to the concept of simple tools and how they can make difficult or impossible tasks easier. They begin by investigating the properties of inclined planes and how implementing them can reduce the force necessary to...
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: Slinking Slinkies
Want to do a project with a toy your parents, or even grandparents, might have played with? Slinkies are fun toys that also make great science fair projects. In this experiment you can build an inclined plane to compare the walking speed...
Physics Classroom
The Physics Classroom: Vectors: Inclined Planes
Through examples and interactive practice problems, this physics tutorial helps students understand how forces behave on an object on an inclined plane.
Other
Honolulu Community College: Galileo's Kinematics
In this experiment you will attempt to reproduce Galileo's results using the inclined plane. You will test three hypotheses relating to motion on an incline. You will learn to draw a "best fit" or regression line of experimental data....
CK-12 Foundation
Ck 12: Episd: Inclined Planes
[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] Students will identify how work and force are figured out on inclined planes as well as how to apply Newton's Second Law of Motion to them.
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.
Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments: What Is Gravity?
In this activity, students will perform a series of experiments with inclined planes. They will learn that as the angle of inclination of the inclined plane approaches 90 degrees, the value of the acceleration of the cart traveling down...
Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments: How Incline Affects Speed
Students determine how incline affects speed. They will communicate their results graphically.
Science and Mathematics Initiative for Learning Enhancement (SMILE)
Smile: The Soup Roll
A lab activity written for grade 5. Students roll various cans down inclined planes and compare the times required to reach the bottom. Results are related to rotational inertia.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Slide Right on by Using an Inclined Plane
Students explore building a pyramid, learning about the simple machine called an inclined plane. They also learn about another simple machine, the screw, and how it is used as a lifting or fastening device. During a hands-on activity,...
CK-12 Foundation
Ck 12: Physical Science: Inclined Plane
[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] Discusses what an inclined plane is, its mechanical advantage, and how it changes force to make work easier.
Scholastic
Scholastic: Dirtmeister: The Inclined Plane
This site from Dirtmeister gives information on how the Ancient Egyptians used the inclined plane. Dirtmeister explains the inclined plane and its uses.
Sophia Learning
Sophia: Objects at Rest on an Inclined Plane
Investigate which forces are acting on an object resting on an inclined plane.
Sophia Learning
Sophia: Practice With Inclined Planes
A video presentation providing example problems on finding the net force acting on objects at rest or sliding across inclined planes. [13:08]
Physics Aviary
Physics Aviary: Practice Problems: Power of Motor for Billy on Hill (Level 1)
Students must determine the power that is being exerted by a motor to pull a person up a frictionless incline.
Physics Aviary
Physics Aviary: Practice Problems: Energy on an Incline With Friction
Students must predict the final speed of the block on the incline after sliding down a certain distance. Students must account for the energy lost due to the friction between the block and the incline.
Walter Fendt
Walter Fendt: Inclined Plane
This site is an interactive app of an inclined plane showing the effect of the angle, the weight of the block, and the friction as a block is pulled up an incline.