Concord Consortium
The Concord Consortium: Molecular Workbench: Rolling Down an Inclined Plane
Experiment with gravity as a variable to observe the effects of gravity on an object rolling down an inclined surface.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Heave Ho!
Students will discover the scientific basis for the use of inclined planes. They will explore, using a spring scale, a bag of rocks and an inclined plane, how dragging objects up a slope is easier than lifting them straight up into the...
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Galileo: His Experiments
This interactive activity from the NOVA Web site samples Galileo's experiments with falling objects, projectiles, inclined planes, and pendulums.
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: A Ramp in an Administrative Office
This passage will test your knowledge on forces on inclined planes.
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Hills, Inclement Weather, and Cars
This passage will test your knowledge on forces on inclined planes.
University of Colorado
University of Colorado: Ph Et Interactive Simulations: The Ramp
Explore forces, energy, and work as you push household objects up and down a ramp. Lower and raise the ramp to see how the angle of inclination affects the parallel forces acting on the file cabinet. Graphs show forces, energy and work.
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Inertia: An Object in Motion Will Tend to Stay in Motion
This activity is a take off of Galileo's experiment with the inclined planes to show that an object in motion would stay in a straight line motion if no outside forces acted were acting on it. In this version, students will roll a ball...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Engineering: Simple Machines
Simple machines are devices with few or no moving parts that make work easier. Students are introduced to the six types of simple machines - the wedge, wheel and axle, lever, inclined plane, screw, and pulley - in the context of the...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Simple Machines and Modern Day Engineering Analogies
Students apply the mechanical advantages and problem-solving capabilities of six types of simple machines (wedge, wheel and axle, lever, inclined plane, screw, pulley) as they discuss modern structures in the spirit of the engineers and...
Read Works
Read Works: Safer Sidewalks
[Free Registration/Login Required] An informational text about curb ramps to make sidewalks safer. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in reading comprehension.
CK-12 Foundation
Ck 12: Plix Series: Friction
[Free Registration/Login Required] Use given friction formulas and an interactive diagram for an inclined plane to solve a motion problem. After the activity, answer a challenge question to check for understanding.
Integrated Publishing
Integrated Publishing/the Screw
A full and complete discussion of the simple machine called the screw, a modified inclined plane. Many examples and drawings and applications.
Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments: What Is Gravity?
In this activity, students will perform a series of experiments with inclined planes. They will learn that as the angle of inclination of the inclined plane approaches 90 degrees, the value of the acceleration of the cart traveling down...
Science and Mathematics Initiative for Learning Enhancement (SMILE)
Smile: The Soup Roll
A lab activity written for grade 5. Students roll various cans down inclined planes and compare the times required to reach the bottom. Results are related to rotational inertia.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Solid Rock to Building Block
Students continue their pyramid building journey, acting as engineers to determine the appropriate wedge tool to best extract rock from a quarry and cut into pyramid blocks. Using sample materials (wax, soap, clay, foam) representing...
Curated OER
Image of Inclined Plane
An interactive Java applet from the University of Utah that allows users to investigate the effect of the coefficient of friction on the motion of a block sliding down an incline. Initial height of the block and the friction coefficient...
University of Colorado
University of Colorado: Ph Et Interactive Simulations: The Ramp
Which object takes more energy to push up a ramp: a file cabinet, a refrigerator, a piano, or a sleepy dog? Find out in this ramp simulation when you change the angle of the incline, change the objects, or change the friction on the ramp.
The Franklin Institute
Spotlighting Simple Machines
Simple machines such as inclined planes in wedges and screws are explained.
PBS
Pbs Teachers: Dish It Out, Simple Machine Game
Explore the physics of motion and simple machines with this interactive game. Try a pre-made challenge or set up ramps in your own challenge to get the mysterious Dim Sum ball into the take-out container.
Ducksters
Ducksters: Physics for Kids: Simple Machines
Kids learn about the science behind simple machines such as levers, wheels, pulleys, inclined planes, and screws. How they work together to make complex machinery.
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
Nctm: Figure This: Access Ramp
So, you're interested in becoming a civil engineer, builder, or landscaper? Then you'll need to sharpen your skills in measuring slope. Try this math challenge where you will discover how to measure the steepness of an incline.
PBS
Wgbh: Peep and the Big Wide World: Explore and Play: Sliding Peep
Students make their own ramps and test them out by sending various objects down them.
PBS
Wgbh: Peep and the Big Wide World: Share the Day's Discoveries
Share and discuss ideas the students have about ramps and rolling objects.
PBS
Wgbh: Peep and the Big Wide World: Share the Day's Discoveries
Discuss classroom explorations and discoveries about ramps.