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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.

How Far?
To learn how friction affects motion, learners build a measurement tool from a rubber band and other simple materials.

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.

Fun with Bernoulli
Learners conduct four simple experiments to demonstrate the effects of air pressure.

Exploring How Robots Move
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In this activity, learners explore how pneumatics and hydraulics could be used to produce movement in a robotic arm.

3-2-1 POP!
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In this physics activity, learners build their own rockets out of film canisters and construction paper.

Action-Reaction Rocket!
Learners construct a rocket from a balloon propelled along a guide string.

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.

Strong Bones, Weak Bones
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Most people will break a bone in their body at some point in their life, but how much force does it take to break one?

The Squeeze is On
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Each group of learners uses everyday materials, such as paper, toothpicks, and tape to design and construct a structure intended to support the weight of a cinder block for 30 seconds.

Skateboard Disaster
Learners examine collisions between two skateboards carrying different masses. They learn about conservation of momentum in collisions.

Leaning Tower of Pasta
Learners build structures from spaghetti and marshmallows to determine which structures are able to handle the greatest load.

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.

Sliding and Stuttering
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Learners use a spring scale to drag an object such as a ceramic coffee cup along a table top or the floor.

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.

"Boyle-ing" Water
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In this activity, learners explore Boyle's Law and discover that water will boil at room temperature if its pressure is lowered.