Curated OER
Diving Raisins
Students participate in a mini lab to explore density. In this density lesson students view a demonstration and answer questions.
Curated OER
Float Your Boat
Students design an experiment to find density using Archimedes' Principle. In this physics lesson, students calculate density using mass and volume. They share their findings in class.
Curated OER
Floating Pencil
Students discover how salt water makes a pencil float better than freshwater by measuring and comparing the lengths of the portion of the pencil that floats above the water surface. They then determine if an unknown water sample is...
Teach Engineering
Rock and Boat
Present the class with a question on whether the water level of a pond will rise they take a large rock out of a boat and drop it into the pond. Groups come down on all sides of the question and try to justify their answers. The activity...
Teach Engineering
Archimedes' Principle, Pascal's Law and Bernoulli's Principle
What do Pascal's law, Archimedes' Principle, and Bernoulli's Principle have to do with fluid mechanics? The included PowerPoint presentation provides the basic definitions and equations associated with the three. A set of homework...
Curated OER
Properties of Matter
High schoolers describe four states of matter and their characteristics, explain thermal expansion of matter, interpret state changes in terms of kinetic theory of matter, explain relationship between temperature and volume of a gas,...
Curated OER
Float Your Boat
Students investigate buoyancy, displacement and density. In this flotation lesson students study the Archimedes' Principle, analyze data and draw conclusions.
Curated OER
Forces in Fluids
In this forces in fluids worksheet, students answer questions as they relate to forces in fluids. Students complete a chart about atmospheric pressure.
Curated OER
Sink or Swim
Students define density and explain how to determine the density of an object. Students participate in a demonstration that shows the differences in the densities of different liquids and how they affect the liquid's physical properties.
Vision Learning
Visionlearning: General Science: Density
Instructional module focusing on density as a physical property of matter. Discussion incorporates historical references as well as formulas. Site also includes an interactive practice quiz and links relating to the topic.
Science Struck
Science Struck: How to Find Volume With Water Displacement Method
Tells the story of how Archimedes discovered the Archimedes Principle and his water displacement method for determining the volume and density of an object. Provides an explanation and several examples of how it is done.
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Investigating Density: Determined by Using Mass and Volume of a Substance
In this activity, young scholars investigate the history of density, its uses, and applications. Students will generate and calculate data applying it to a graph. They will be looking at the relationship between mass and volume.
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: "Does It Float?" an Inquiry Based Activity Investigating Buoyancy
This is an inquiry-based activity in which students will need to work together as a class to solve the following problem: they must construct a "boat" entirely out of modeling clay that is capable of supporting 150 grams of cargo without...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Investigating the Effects of Density and Volume of a Cartesian Diver
In this lesson, students will investigate why the Cartesian diver dives and rises in a 2 liter bottle. They will also, through their own discovery, come up with a question and then change one variable and record their results. Students...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Floaters and Sinkers
Through this curricular unit, students are introduced to the important concept of density. The focus is on the more easily understood densities of solids, but students may also explore the densities of liquids and gases. Students devise...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Balloons
Students follow the steps of the engineering design process as they design and construct balloons for aerial surveillance. After their first attempts to create balloons, they are given the associated Estimating Buoyancy lesson to learn...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Floaters and Sinkers
This lesson introduces students to the important concept of density. The focus is on the more easily understood densities of solids, but students can also explore the densities of liquids and gases. Students devise methods to determine...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: The Physics of Fluid Mechanics
Five lessons about the study of fluid mechanics. The unit concludes with students applying what they have learned to determine the stability of individual above-ground storage tanks given specific storm conditions so they can analyze...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Rock and Boat
Students observe Archimedes' principle in action in this challenge where a toy boat is placed in a container of water and a rock is placed on the floating boat. Students must explain why the water level rises/falls/stays the same based...