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Interactive
Exploratorium

Exploratorium: Your Weight on Other Worlds

For Students 9th - 10th
From the Exploratorium Museum. Includes an interactive feature in which a visitor enters their weight on earth and has their weight on other planets computed and displayed. Discusses the distinction between mass and weight and describes...
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Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Back and Forth to Go Forward: A Snake on Wheels?

For Students 9th - 10th
Have you ever ridden on a Roller Racer or Plasma Car? These are ride-on toys that you move ahead by moving the steering mechanism back and forth. You've probably seen skateboarders "slaloming" on level ground to keep rolling, it's...
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eBook
Physics Classroom

The Physics Classroom: Newton's Laws

For Students 9th - 10th
A four-lesson e-textbook covering topics in Newton's Laws. Tutorials include informational text,animations, interactive activities, and quick, interactive comprehension checks throughout the lessons.
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Website
Other

Nye Thermodynamics: Basic Gas Turbine Theory

For Students 9th - 10th
Outstanding information (and a lot of it) on gas turbine (jet) engines. Describes the history behind their development and the theory behind their operation. Well written and includes very informative graphics.
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Unit Plan
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Mit: Open Course Ware: Impulse and Momentum

For Students 11th - 12th
Students explore impulse and momentum. Some topics examined in the activities are collisions, impulse, Newton's laws, and momentum. The resource consists of lecture notes, practice problems, and exam questions. Practice problems and exam...
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Activity
Physics Central

Physics Central: Physics in the Bathroom: Ripping Neatly

For Students 3rd - 8th
A great science experiment to demonstrate Newton's First Law of Motion, inertia. There is a step-by-step guide on how to conduct this experiment and links to other sites about inertia.
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eBook
NASA

Nasa: Newton's Theory of "Universal Gravitation"

For Students 9th - 10th
This site, which is provided for by NASA, discusses the thinking which led Newton to understand universal gravitation.
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Handout
Georgia State University

Georgia State University: Hyper Physics: Rockets

For Students 11th - 12th
HyperPhysics site with dealing with the mathematics of rocket flight. The site is interactive and allows the user to input data. This is a rather high level site and, while any student could use it to get answers, to understand some of...
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Website
Curated OER

Zona Land: Galileo and Inertia

For Students 9th - 10th
A tutorial with accompanying animations on classical mechanics. Well-illustrated. Good navigation.
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Interactive
Curated OER

Zona Land: Components of a Vector

For Students 9th - 10th
An interactive Java applet where users can rotate a vector about its tail and view the components of that vector. Magnitude of the components is updated on screen as the vector is dragged.
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Handout
Florida State University

Florida State University: Science, Optics & You: Sir Isaac Newton

For Students 9th - 10th
Biography of Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727), a scientist whose impact is felt in many disciplines today. His laws of motion are integral to basic physics, and he co-invented calculus.
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Handout
Harvard University

Harvard University: Math 21a Supplement 1 on Work and Energy [Pdf]

For Students 11th - 12th
A handout for a university calculus course. It looks at the application of Newton's Laws to calculate work and energy for a particle of mass with a force being exerted on it.
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Website
Pennsylvania State University

Acoustics and Vibration Animations: Demonstrations: The Simple Pendulum

For Students 9th - 10th
A series of graphics, downloadable animations and text describe and explain the motion of a pendulum. Some sections require an understanding of calculus.
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Handout
University of Guelph

University of Guelph: Physics Tutorials: Torque and Angular Acceleration

For Students 9th - 10th
Words and equations are used to explain the relationship between angular acceleration and the torque exerted upon an object. Well-written; great graphics.
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Website
Wolfram Research

Wolfram Science World: Life of Sir Isaac Newton

For Students 9th - 10th
This site from ScienceWorld provides an interesting biographical sketch of the English physicist and mathematician, Isaac Newton. The biography is a good size in length and very informative, with links provided throughout for additional...
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Activity
Texas Instruments

Texas Instruments: Velocity

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This activity will test a student's understanding of the relationships between location and motion as pertaining to time.
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Activity
Texas Instruments

Texas Instruments: Bouncing Ball

For Teachers 6th - 8th
In this activity, students' will create a Height-Time plot for a bouncing ball. They will examine how the ball's height changes mathematically from one bounce to the next.
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Activity
Texas Instruments

Texas Instruments: Graphing Your Motion

For Teachers 9th - 10th
In this activity, students use a Motion Detector to measure distance and velocity. Students prepare graphs of motion and analyze them. They compare and match graphs of distance versus time and velocity versus time.
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Activity
Texas Instruments

Texas Instruments: Newton's Laws

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This activity assesses students' knowledge and understanding of Newton's Laws.
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Activity
Texas Instruments

Texas Instruments: Swing Thing

For Teachers 6th - 8th
In this activity, students will construct a pendulum and create a motion plot for a swinging pendulum. They will also identify characteristics that affect a pendulum's motion.
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Activity
Texas Instruments

Texas Instruments: What's Your Speed?

For Teachers 6th - 8th
In this activity, students' will use a motion detector to determine what effect the speed at which a person moves has on the appearance of the distance versus time plot.
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Activity
Texas Instruments

Texas Instruments: Slow Down: Speed Up

For Teachers 6th - 8th
In this activity, students' will use a motion detector to observe the effect of speeding up, slowing down, and moving at a constant rate on a Distance versus Time plot.
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Activity
Texas Instruments

Texas Instruments: Walk the Line

For Teachers 6th - 8th
In this activity, students will create constant-speed motion plots and develop linear equations to describe them mathematically.
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Activity
Texas Instruments

Texas Instruments: Which Way?

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students' use a motion detector to examine how different types of motion affect the shape of the distance versus time plot. They explore how changes in direction and other factors affect the shape of the plot.