In this video David quickly explains each concept behind Forces and Newton's Laws and does a sample problem for each concept. Keep an eye on the scroll to the right to see how far along you've made it in the review. Created by David SantoPietro.

One video clip, with embedded graphs, can be used to help students understand the mathematical relationships that describe simple harmonic motion.

This activity enables students to apply concepts of 'newton's laws of motion' that are learned in class to a realworld situation by having them create a car powered by a deflating balloon that travels as far as possible.

Bridges come in a wide variety of sizes, shapes, and lengths and are found all over the world. It is important that bridges are strong so they are safe to cross. Design and build a your own model bridge. Test your bridge for strength using a force sensor that measures how hard you pull on your bridge. By observing a graph of the force, determine the amount of force needed to make your bridge collapse.

A bungee jump involves jumping from a tall structure while connected to a large elastic cord. Design a bungee jump that is "safe" for a hard-boiled egg. Create a safety egg harness and connect it to a rubber band, which is your the "bungee cord." Finally, attach your bungee cord to a force sensor to measures the forces that push or pull your egg.

Using the scientific method this simple hands on experiment is designed to verify Newton's Second Law.

During the associated lesson, students have learned about Newton's three laws of motion and free-body diagrams and have identified the forces of thrust, drag and gravity. As students begin to understand the physics behind thrust, drag and gravity and how these relate these to Newton's three laws of motion, groups assemble and launch the rockets that they designed in the associated lesson. The height of the rockets, after constructed and launched, are measured and compared to the theoretical values calculated during the rocket lesson. Effective teamwork and attention to detail is key for successful launches.

Explore the forces at work when you try to push a filing cabinet. Create an applied force and see the resulting friction force and total force acting on the cabinet. Charts show the forces, position, velocity, and acceleration vs. time. View a Free Body Diagram of all the forces (including gravitational and normal forces).

The lesson will apply Newton’s Second Law equation, F=ma (Force equals mass times acceleration) to a lab, which allows learners to solve problems using the equation while performing an experiment. The lab will be created in a way to teach the scientific method.
The purpose of the lesson with respect to adult education is to teach learners about the scientific method, while it is not used directly the process is the foundation of what would be performed in a typical entry-level laboratory or research job, which would consist of doing part of or all of an experiment in a similar manner.

Students apply their mathematics and team building skills to explore the concept of rocketry. They learn about design issues faced by aerospace engineers when trying to launch rocketships or satellites in order to land them safely in the ocean, for example. Students learn the value of designing within constraints while brainstorming a rocketry system using provided materials and a specified project budget. Throughout the design process, teamwork is emphasized since the most successful launches occur when groups work effectively to generate creative ideas and solutions to the rocket challenge.

Isaac Newton's famous thought experiment about what would happen if you launched a cannon from a mountaintop at a high velocity comes to life with an interactive computer model. You are charged with the task of launching a satellite into space. Control the angle and speed at which the satellite is launched, and see the results to gain a basic understanding of escape velocity.

David explains how to use Newton's second law when dealing with multiple forces, forces in two dimensions, and diagonal forces. Created by David SantoPietro.

Study the motion of a toy car on a ramp and use motion sensors to digitally graph the position data and then analyze it. Make predictions about what the graphs will look like, and consider what the corresponding velocity graphs would look like.

In this lesson, students will explore motion, rockets and rocket motion while assisting Spacewoman Tess, Spaceman Rohan and Maya in their explorations. They will first learn some basic facts about vehicles, rockets and why we use them. Then, the students will discover that the motion of all objects including the flight of a rocket and movement of a canoe is governed by Newton's three laws of motion.

In this lab activity, students independently test Newton's ideas on the nature of motion. Students focus on how they would design a procedure to test Newton's hypothesis and then communicate that idea to others.

This activity is a field investigation where students design and test a gravity ball launcher, record their observations, and share their findings in the large group setting.

This activity is a physics lab in which students generate distance vs. time graphs for skateboarders of different masses being pulled with various values of constant force. Students develop procedures, record and graph data, and analyze the data in light of Newton's 2nd law.

This activity is a laboratory experiment where students change the force applied to a lab cart to investigate the relationship between force, mass and acceleration. They create and analyze graphs to see if Newton's second law applies to the experiment.

Newton's second law of motion is F = ma, or force is equal to mass times acceleration. Learn how to use the formula to calculate acceleration. Created by Sal Khan.

David explains what rotational kinetic energy is and how to calculate it. Created by David SantoPietro.