Lift—it is about the wing's attack. Using a virtual wind tunnel, pupils investigate wing shape and angle of attack. Learners use worksheets to record their observations and to convert verbal relationships into mathematical equations in...

High school physical scientists collide with motion. They work in pairs to design a paper car that will protect a raw egg during a head-on collision. Measurements of distance traveled, time of run, vehicle specs, and photo gate flags are...

A well-developed lab sheet guides physical science learners through an investigation of kinetic and potential energy. In small groups, collaborators discover whether or not the ramp height or mass of an object has an effect on the...

Accelerate knowledge of gravitational pull with this activity. Physical science fans drop a golf ball and tennis ball from the same height at the same time and discover that they hit the ground at the same time. This is an ideal...

Become a pinball wizard by understanding acceleration. Mia and Sam define acceleration for the audience and touch on the property of inertia. Get your physical science class up to speed by showing this little video, reviewing the...

What a fun demonstration! Show the video, or better yet, have your physics learners construct this hex nut pendulum and test it themselves. Then have them discuss in groups why the single hex nut wraps around the finger. See if they can...

A very interesting demonstration on angular momentum and velocity. If you've ever wondered why ice skaters are able to spin so quickly during their routines, this video explains it in scientific terms. By bringing one's arms in to the...

What a fun demonstration! Show the video, or better yet, have your physics learners construct this hex nut pendulum and test it themselves. Then have them discuss in groups why the single hex nut wraps around the finger. See if they can...

A very interesting demonstration on angular momentum and velocity. If you've ever wondered why ice skaters are able to spin so quickly during their routines, this video explains it in scientific terms. By bringing one's arms in to the...

Baby energy is not what it sounds like, it's better. Using a baby playing at the park as his model, this young man describes, provides solid examples, and works through a series of equations that show energy. Potential and kinetic...

"One of nature's boldest predators," the peregrine falcon, has the fastest raw speed amongst any creature on the planet. Follow these researchers as they study how the falcon lives and moves.

During the Battle of Baltimore in the War of 1812, only 25% of the bombs and rockets fired at Fort McHenry actually reached their target. Using an interactive online simulation, combine your historical study with physics and discover why...

Computer-interfaced motion detectors are required to carry out this inquiry. It is a new twist on exploring motion with plunger carts: they are set back-to-back and then propelled away from each other. Their velocities are measured, and...

In collaborative groups, physics learners design and create a web portfolio of internet resoucres explaining poitive and negative acceleration, zero acceleration, and positive and negative velocity. This is a terrific assignment for...

The guidelines for holding a paper airplane competition are here for you to use with junior high flight engineers. No educational explanations are included, however, so make sure to teach about forces, flight, and Bernoulli's principle...

Those who take this challenge will draw force diagrams and then calculate velocities and displacement. The problems are applicable to any general physics curriculum that covers motion. Add this to your collection of homework selections. 

Future physics majors look at a diagram of a marble rolling across a railing. They sketch motion maps and force diagrams. They determine the horizontal range of the marble as it falls to the floor. Then they double the height and repeat...

Send physics learners into orbit by assigning this seven-problem worksheet. They will calculate the mass of a satellite, construct a force diagram, determine the radius of the orbit, and more. Physics worksheets can become wearisome, but...

Here are nine motion problems for physics fanatics to solve. Topics are pretty typical: rifles firing bullets, freight train cars colliding, astronauts gliding through space, balls being thrown. Pupils compute recoil speed, combined...

On the first of two pages, physics aces graph velocity versus time on sets of axes. On the second page, they look at graphs of position versus time and then draw velocity versus time on graphs right next to them. This is good practice in...

Eight motion-related problems are contained in this physics assignment. Upcoming physicists calculate combined velocity after collisions, impulse, and momentum. They also address critical thinking situations, making this a well-rounded...

Bouncing balls and rockets taking off provide ammunition for your physics arsenal. Your class will solve mulit-step problems for velocity, momentum, and force. This is an ideal homework assignment for practice solving motion problems.

This concise handout posts a diagram of a block sliding down a ramp. High schoolers draw qualitative graphical representations for displacement vs. time, velocity vs. time, and acceleration vs. time. They draw a motion map and list the...

This is a smart approach to displacement concepts. Physics learners analyze a motion map and then draw qualitative graphs for time versus displacement and time versus velocity. Get your class thinking critically through the use of a very...