Physics Classroom
Free Fall
Scholars must understand freefall before they learn how objects like airplanes fly. They apply knowledge of velocity and acceleration to predict speed and direction as part of a larger series on vectors and projectiles.
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What a Drag!
Stop and drop what is in your hand! Pupils investigate how form effects drag in the 12th part of a 22-part unit on aviation. Groups create equally weighted objects and determine which one falls the fastest by collecting data.
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Free Fall
Students investigate the law of gravity and how an object can accelerate while going through a free fall. They examine the influence of air resistance and how it can influence the momentum of an object. The instructional activity...
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Picket Fence Free Fall
Students measure acceleration using a Picket Fence and a Photogate. In this physics lesson, students drop an object and measure the acceleration of the object free falling. They log their data using the TI.
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Gravity Gets You Down
Students investigate the force of gravity and how it effects different objects that are put into acceleration when applied the experiment of free falling. They drop different objects that have a variety of masses and some that cause air...
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Force Problems
Who knew F=MA could determine the force of a free-falling elevator? Give your class this set of thirteen word problems for practice determining force, mass, and acceleration of everyday objects. One question introduces an object in...
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Jump! An Exploration into Parametric Equations
Explore parametric equations in this lesson, and learn how to determine how much time it takes for an object to fall compared with an object being launched. high scoolers will use parametric equations to follow the path of objects in...
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The Way Things Fall
Learners see that light and heavy objects fall at the same rate, as established experimentally by Galileo. They see that falling objects, and balls rolling down an incline, tend to accelerate at a constant rate a. Their velocity...
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The Way Things Fall
High schoolers explore concept of acceleration and motion under the influence of gravity, starting with free fall and ending with motions that start out with both horizontal and vertical initial velocities.
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Unit VI: Worksheet 1 - Constant Force/Gravitational Force
Seven problems regarding gravitational pull are presented in this physics drill. Pupils solve for displacement, time, speed, and acceleration. Critical thinking and problem solving skills are both required to complete the assignment.
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Lesson 3: Acceleration and Force
A nine-page physics resource supports your instructional activity on acceleration. A step-by-step lesson plan walks you through the materials you need, the background information, steps for leading experimentation, and the explanation of...
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Forces and Motion
Students build parachutes for chicken eggs. In this physics instructional activity, students describe the forces acting on a falling object. They predict which of the three parachute models they made has the best chance of keeping the...
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Gravitational Acceleration
Students investigate the interdependence of mass and gravitational acceleration using computer simulation. In this physics lesson plan, students derive the formula for acceleration due to gravity. They calculate air resistance on falling...
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Weightlessness
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.
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Gravity: It's GREEEAAATTT!
Students calculate effects of gravitational force on planets, discuss the effects of weightlessness on the human body and describe and demonstrate how objects in a state of free fall are accelerated by gravity at an equal rate.
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Weightlessness
Young scholars use a coffee cup to demonstrate weightlessness. After a lecture/demo, students read an article on free-fall. They perform a simple experiment which helps them explain the concept of weightlessness.
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Gravity Gets You Down
Students design an experiment to investigate how objects with different masses fall. In this physics lesson, students predict how these objects will fall in a vacuum tube. They write a report explaining experimental results and conclusion.
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Gravity Study Guide
In this gravity worksheet, students define terms such as free fall, terminal velocity, and inertia. Then students compare the different types of forces that act upon objects. This worksheet has 9 short answer and 4 fill in the blank...
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Weightlessness Demonstration
Students explore the concept that free-fall eliminates the local effects of gravity. They discuss what an Earth-orbiting spacecraft experience is like as well as the terminology of weightlessness. Their lab experiment commences.
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Weightlessness Demonstration
Students investigate gravity. In this weightless lesson students complete a lab activity about how a free fall might effect how one perceives gravity.
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Physics: Bounce - Projectile Motion and Collisions
Students conduct and observe experiments in Newtonian mechanics, kinematics, and projectile motion. They analyze the motion of a ball rolling off a table, falling, and then bouncing. Students answer a series of questions analyzing the...
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Terror in Space
Students view a video clip about the role of satellites in space. They examine the concept of center of mass. They participate in an experiment showing how altering the location of an object's center of mass can change its motion.
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Weightlessness
Eighth graders study weight, force and mass as it pertains to the earths pull. In this weightlessness instructional activity students are divided into groups and complete an activity.
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Does Weight Affect Drag?
Students 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.