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Physics Tug of War
Learners set up books with rubber bands stretched between the books. When two identical books are stretched apart and released, they move back toward each other an equal distance.
Watch It Fly
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Learners observe projectile motion by launching wooden balls off of a table top. They set up a rubber-band launcher so that each ball experiences a consistent amount of force.
Newton's 2nd Law: Inquiry Approach
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In this lab activity, learners act as fellow scientists and colleagues of Isaac Newton. He has asked them to independently test his ideas on the nature of motion, in particular his 2nd Law.
3-2-1 POP!
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In this physics activity, learners build their own rockets out of film canisters and construction paper.
Blow-and-Go Parachute
Learners make a skydiver and parachute contraption and launch it. They see that the drag created by air resistance slows the descent of skydivers as they travel back to Earth.
Swinging Yo-Yo
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Learners build a pendulum from a yo-yo, and then design their own experiment to determine what affects the pendulum's period of swing.
Build a Borneo Glider
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In this inquiry-based activity, learners investigate the basic forces of flight as they construct their own paper glider that represents a rainforest creature from Borneo (large, tropical island in So
Swing in Time
Learners build and investigate pendulums of different lengths. They discover that the longer the string of the pendulum, the longer the time it takes to swing.
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.
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.
Breaking Beams
Learners investigate stress and strain by designing, building, and testing beams made from polymer clay.
Pulleys
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In this physics activity, learners experiment with pulleys and find that they can decrease the effort needed when using a pulley to lift or move different loads.
Egg-stra Strength
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In this physics activity, learners will investigate the strength of egg shells.
Newton's in the Driver's Seat
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In this playful physics activity (page eight of the pdf), learners use toy cars to explore how speed and weight affect the results of collision.
Conservation of Mass
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This activity was designed for blind learners, but all types of learners can participate to learn about conservation of gas. This is one of the classic experiments using baking soda and vinegar.
I Can't Take the Pressure!
Learners develop an understanding of air pressure in two different activities.