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Newton's Laws Demonstrations
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In this collection of demonstrations, learners explore Newton's Laws of Motion.
Free-Fall Bottles & Tubes
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In this physics activity, learners conduct two experiments to explore free-falling.
Falling Feather
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In this physics activity, learners recreate Galileo's famous experiment, in which he dropped a heavy weight and a light weight from the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa to show that both weights fall
Playing with Parachutes
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In this activity, learners explore how parachutes are used to slow down moving objects. Learners work in teams of "engineers" to design and build their own parachutes out of everyday items.
Parabola Basketball
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In this activity, learners build mini-basketball courts and explore the laws of physics. Learners discover that everything you throw or shoot on earth travels in a parabola.
Coupled Resonant Pendulums
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In this activity, learners discover that two pendulums suspended from a common support will swing back and forth in intriguing patterns, if the support allows the motion of one pendulum to influence t
Paper Drop Design Competition
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Using paper, paper clips, an index card, and tape, teams of learners design flying devices to (1) stay in the air as long as possible and (2) land as close as possible to a given target.
Doughy Physics
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Learners drop two different masses of play dough and observe how long it takes them to hit the ground.
Paper Airplane Contest
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In this fun physics activity (page 9 of the pdf), learners take part in a paper airplane design challenge.
Handheld Water Bottle Rocket & Launcher
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In this activity, learners build handheld rockets and launchers out of PVC pipes and plastic bottles. Use this activity to demonstrate acceleration, air pressure, and Newton's Laws of Motion.
Which Parachute
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In this activity, learners will engineer three different parachutes to test how well each one works.
Make and Fly a Helicopter
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Learners follow the template to build and fly a paper helicopter.
Sky Glider Challenge
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In this design challenge activity, learners use two helium-filled balloons to build a blimp that can travel in a straight path across the room.
How Do Things Fall?
Learners engage in close observation of falling objects. They determine it is the amount of air resistance, not the weight of an object, which determines how quickly an object falls.
Why do Raindrops Sometimes Land Gently and Sometimes Land with a Splat?
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In this activity, learners examine raindrop bottles (prepared ahead of time) to observe in slow motion the behavior of falling droplets and explore concepts such as drag and terminal velocity.
Echo Base Bobsleds
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The goal of this activity is to build a miniature bobsled that is either the fastest or the slowest. Learners use recycled materials to design, build, and test their bobsled on a bobsled track.
Homemade Rube Goldberg Machine
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In this fun and, at times, hilarious force and motion activity, learners will use household objects to build a crazy contraption and see how far they can get a tennis ball to move.
Hang Time
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In this physics activity, learners will build their own parachutes out of tissue paper. They will explore the effects of weight, height, and design on the parachutes' speed and stability.
Springs and Stomachs
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In this demonstration, learners investigate mass, gravity, and acceleration by dropping a wooden bar with a balloon attached to its underside, a mass suspended from it by rubber bands, and a sharp-poi