Young learners explore friction. They view a video or DVD (bibliography provided) and define terms related to friction, and work in groups to experiment with the effects of friction on speed and motion using ramps and toy cars.

Students investigate that an unbalanced force, acting on an object, changes it speed or path of motion or both, and know that if the force always acts toward the same center as the object moves, the objects path may curve into an orbit...

Introduce your young scholars to the concepts of circular motion, projectile motion, angular speed, simple harmonic motion, torque, center of mass, centripetal force, and Hooke's Law with a 86-slide presentation. The circular motion...

Cliff diving is more than an adrenaline rush ... it's a lesson in physics! Scholars adjust the height of a cliff and plot the resulting velocity and position over time on graphs. They also can incorporate air resistance to monitor the...

Some consider physics the branch of science concerned with using long and complicated formulas to describe how a ball rolls. This presentation, while long, is not complicated, yet it covers rolling, falling, and more. It compares vectors...

Make solutions to projectile motion problems magically appear using equations. Pupils watch a clip from a Harry Potter movie and find the length of time it takes for a remembrall to fall into Harry's hands. They use a projectile motion...

How do the laws of motion work in space? Learners explore Newton's laws of motion in different experiments as part of the Christa's Lost Lessons series. They rotate around the room in three stations to experience each law in action using...

Drop a perfect project into your lesson plans. Groups use different building materials to create models of parachutes for food drops. After testing out their prototypes, they make improvements to their designs.

There's more to fluids than meet the eye—they include gases, liquids, and polymers, too! Scholars complete three hands-on activities exploring different properties of fluids. They explore viscosity by measuring the resistance, or...

Take a look at an organized physics course. The 34-section electronic textbook covers material in AP® Physics 1 and 2. Teachers use the text to supplement lectures and have the class work through the labs. Each section contains...

High schoolers distinguish between weight and mass. They examine how in oscillations of a mass against an elastic spring--in the absence of gravity, or in horizontal motion--the length of the oscillation period is proportional to the...

Students recognize the effect of Earth's gravity on an object's weight. In this force and motion lesson students understand the role of gravity when you drop an object. Students experiment with small items. Students measure in Newton's....

Students explore energy by completing a science worksheet in class. In this principles of matter lesson, students define the vocabulary terms force, gravity, nuclear, and electromagnetic before reading assigned text about energy....

Students explore mathematical concepts, problem solving, and the ability to program in LOGO to test ideas about speed, acceleration, gravity, and slope when dealing with downhill skiing.

You have to crack a few eggs to make a good engineer! Working in small groups, young scholars design, build, and test devices that protect an egg from breaking when dropped from a ladder.

A mouse can fall from large heights without injury! Air resistance is a large influence on small falling objects. In an exploratory lesson, young scholars build a raindrop bottle to compare the falling rate of different-sized objects.

In this energy changes activity, students solve 5 problems using the formulas for potential and kinetic energy related to baseball energy, coasting rocket energy and the energy of falling stones.

Students hypothesize what forces affect the motion of a falling body. In this physical science lesson, students create diagrams and illustrations to support their hypothesis. They perform the experiment and record observations.

Young scholars practice calculating the moment of inertia when discussing a skater and the position in which it is best to spin. After class discussion, students practice calculating inertia on their own.

In this projectile motion worksheet, students solve 3 problems and an inquiry problem using three equations that describe projectile motion. One equation is for the maximum velocity to reach a height, H, the other is the maximum...

Eighth graders conduct internet research to produce a timeline of man's growth in understanding of concepts of motion and planetary motion through history.

Students experiment with simple pendulums to determine the validity of an equation for all angles. Students discover the usefulnes and limitations of approximations in science. Using spreadhseets and a java applet, students observe the...

Students predict the behavior of coffee in a cup while it is dropped during a demonstration. They relate their observations to the weightless conditions that astronauts experience in space and discuss the concept of free-fall.

In this black holes and tidal forces worksheet, students solve 5 problems in which they find the tidal acceleration and answer questions about spaghettification.