PBS
Rubber Band Car
Class, start your engines. Future engineers design a car with old CDs as wheels. The power source? Some rubber bands will do the trick! This is the first installment of a five-part series.
College Board
2016 AP® Physics 2: Algebra-Based Free-Response Questions
While AP Physics 1 counts as an introductory college Physics course, AP Physics 2 counts as a second-year college Physics course. Help scholars prepare for this more advanced college-level test with questions from previous assessments...
Curated OER
Kinetic and Potential Energy
Students calculate kinetic and potential energy in the lab. In this physics lesson, students demonstrate how energy can be transformed from one form to another. They collect data from the experiment and write a detailed lab report.
Curated OER
Kinetics and Temperature
In this kinetics learning exercise, students calculate the value of the activation energy for reactions at given rate constants. This learning exercise has 5 problems to solve.
Curated OER
Falling Water
Students drop water from different heights to demonstrate the conversion of water's potential energy to kinetic energy. They see how varying the height from which water is dropped affects the splash size. In seeing how falling water can...
Curated OER
Building a Roller Coaster
High schoolers describe the law of conservation of energy. They identify the conversion between potential and kinetic energy. They investigate and describe the application of Newton's Laws of Motion.
Curated OER
Acceleration, Drag, Gravity, Motion, Forces, and Friction
Eighth graders build and run mousetrap cars in order to measure distance, time, and mass for their cars. They use these measurements to calculate average speed and kinetic energy, then create a slide show to visually explain how the car...
Curated OER
Introduction to Materials Science - Part B
Learners are able to give specific examples of what to do and what not to do during given safety situations, and classify materials as metals, polymers, ceramics/glass, or composites. They are able to distinguish between chemical and...
Curated OER
Physics 210
In this physics 210 worksheet, students calculate the frequency of oscillation of several word problems provided. Students find the lowest 5 modes of oscillation in each system presented.
Curated OER
Rockin Roller Coaster
Students discuss gravitational potential energy, kinetic energy, and the relationship between potential and kinetic energy. They create a working roller coaster from provided materials and criteria then evaluate each roller coaster. They...
Curated OER
Perpetual Motion
Students are introduced to the concept of Energy Conservation with the example of: Tony Hawk seems to defy the conservation of energy as he keeps reaching new heights on each pass on the halk-pipe. Actually, Tony is supplying the extra...
Curated OER
A River Ran Through It
Students research how water is used to generate electricity. They investigate water's potential-to-kinetic energy transfer in hands-on activities about falling water and waterwheels. They take measurements, calculate averages and graph...
Curated OER
How Do You Use Thermal Energy?
In this thermal energy worksheet, learners review radiation, convection, and conduction. This worksheet has 3 matching and 6 short answer questions.
Curated OER
Typical Numeric Questions for Physics I - Photoelectric Effect
As the title implies, here is a collection of typical photoelectric effect problems that physics learners need to be able to solve. They determine the amount of energy of a photon, the photons produced per second, the frequency required...
Science 4 Inquiry
Investigating How Heat Flows
It is impossible to cool down a glass of water by adding ice. Young scientists explore heat transfer through videos, experiments, and interactive games. They quickly catch on that the water melts the ice and things aren't always as they...
Curated OER
Alternative Energy
Students identify the five major alternative energy sources. In this physical science lesson, students assess the advantages and disadvantages for each type of energy. They complete a concept map using information they researched.
Curated OER
Energy Sources - Water Wheel Investigation
Students create their own water wheel to show the conversion of potential energy to kinetic energy. They discover the production of electricity through hydropower and apply it to different situations. They share any data collected with...
Curated OER
Worksheet Heat of Reaction (Bond Energies)
For this bond energies worksheet, students analyze bond enthalpy data in order to estimate the change in heat, in kilojoules, of three different chemical reactions.
Curated OER
States of Matter
By viewing this PowerPoint your students' understanding of molecular energy should increase. The properties and inter-particular forces are summarized. The logical progression of information is useful, but more data to demonstrate...
Curated OER
Breaking Energy
Students experiment with the amount of work required to break a piece of wood by hanging masses from a string attached to a thin dowel of wood. At the completion of activity, students calculate if a fast moving hand could break the dowel.
Curated OER
Mechanical Energy
Students discover the difference between kinetic and potential energy in an experiment using toy cars and tracks. In small groups, they set up the experiment to determine the distance milk cartons will travel when hit by toy car. They...
Curated OER
Let's Outrage the Bull
Students study kinetic and potential energy. In this energy activity, students in grades K-2 understand the differences between kinetic and potential energy. Students in grades 3-5 demonstrate that kinetic and potential energy. Students...
Curated OER
Wind Power! 2
Fourth graders explore how engineers transform wind energy into electrical energy by building their own miniature wind turbines and measuring the electrical current it produces. They see how design and position affect the electrical...
Curated OER
Design Your Own Rube Goldberg Machine
Learners participate in a culminating activity for a unit on Energy and Simple Machines. They are challenged to incorporate simple machines in to a complex mechanical system. While designing and testing their machine they will also...