Curated OER
Does Weight Affect Drag?
Learners investigate how weight affects a parachute's rate of fall. In this investigative lesson students test parachutes, average results and conclude what makes a faster descent.
American Association of Physics Teachers
Com Padre Digital Library: Open Source Physics: Free Fall Air Resistance Model
A Java-based simulation where students can observe what happens to a free-falling object, with and without air resistance. Controls allow the user to adjust settings and the results are graphed as the simulation progresses.
Georgia Department of Education
Ga Virtual Learning: Ap Physics 1: One Dimensional Kinematics
Using only two of our fundamental units, time and displacement students will build a framework to predict the motion of objects, starting with one dimensional motion.
OpenStax
Open Stax: Falling Objects
In the following interactive module, students will describe the effects of gravity on objects in motion. They will also describe the motion of objects that are in freefall and calculate the position and velocity of objects in freefall.
Other
University of Alaska: Terminal Velocity
University of Alaska physics professor site explaining the concept of terminal velocity. Uses the terminal velocities of humans and cats for comparison. Site contains an interesting graph of the percent fatalities versus stories fallen.
National Geographic
National Geographic: Terminal Velocity
Researchers compare the terminal velocity of humans to peregrine falcons in hopes to increase top speeds in human extreme skydiving.
PBS
Pbs Teachers: Stationed in the Stars
Examine the factors that impact an astronaut's freefall in space. Differentiate between zero gravity, weightlessness and freefall.