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).
Material Type: Simulation
Students are introduced to the concepts of force, inertia and Newton's first law of motion: objects at rest stay at rest and objects in motion stay in motion unless acted upon by an unbalanced force. Examples of contact and non-contact types of forces are provided, specifically applied, spring, drag, frictional forces, and magnetic, electric, gravitational forces. Students learn the difference between speed, velocity and acceleration, and come to see that the change in motion (or acceleration) of an object is caused by unbalanced forces. They also learn that engineers consider and take advantage of these forces and laws of motion in their designs. Through a PowerPoint® presentation and some simple teacher demonstrations these fundamental science concepts are explained and illustrated. This lesson is the first in a series of three lessons that are intended to be taught as a unit.
Material Type: Lesson Plan
Students explore the physics utilized by engineers in designing today's roller coasters, including potential and kinetic energy, friction, and gravity. First, students learn that all true roller coasters are completely driven by the force of gravity and that the conversion between potential and kinetic energy is essential to all roller coasters. Second, they also consider the role of friction in slowing down cars in roller coasters. Finally, they examine the acceleration of roller coaster cars as they travel around the track. During the associated activity, the students design, build, and analyze a roller coaster for marbles out of foam tubing.
Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan
Students are asked how acceleration, mass, momentum and velocity are involved in mountain boarding. ***Access to Teacher's Domain content now requires free login to PBS Learning Media.
Material Type: Lecture
Investigate how torque causes an object to rotate. Discover the relationships between angular acceleration, moment of inertia, angular momentum and torque.
Material Type: Simulation
Investigate how torque causes an object to rotate. Discover the relationships between angular acceleration, moment of inertia, angular momentum and torque.
Material Type: Simulation
Explore forces and motion as you push household objects up and down a ramp. Lower and raise the ramp to see how the angle of inclination affects the parallel forces. Graphs show forces, energy and work.
Material Type: Simulation
The purpose of this activity is to demonstrate Newton's 3rd Law of Motion, which is the physical law that governs thrust in aircraft. The students will do several activities that show that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
Students observe the relationship between the angle of a catapult (a force measurement) and the flight of a cotton ball. They learn how Newton's second law of motion works by seeing directly that F = ma. When they pull the metal "arm" back further, thus applying a greater force to the cotton ball, it causes the cotton ball to travel faster and farther. Students also learn that objects of greater mass require more force to result in the same distance traveled by a lighter object.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
Students learn about slope, determining slope, distance vs. time graphs through a motion-filled activity. Working in teams with calculators and CBL motion detectors, students attempt to match the provided graphs and equations with the output from the detector displayed on their calculators.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
Through a series of three lessons and one activity, students are introduced to inertia, forces and Newton's three laws of motion. For each lesson, a combination of class demonstrations and PowerPoint® presentations are used to explain, show and relate the concepts to engineering. Lesson 1 starts with inertia, forces and Newton's first law of motion. Lesson 2 builds on lesson 1 with s review and then introduces Newton's second law of motion. Lesson 3 builds on the previous two lessons with a review and then introduces Newton's third law of motion. In a culminating activity, students apply their knowledge of forces, friction, acceleration and gravity in an experiment to measure the average acceleration of a textbook pulled along a table by varying weights, and then test the effects of friction on different surfaces.
Material Type: Full Course, Unit of Study
Explore the forces at work in a tug of war or pushing a refrigerator, crate, or person. Create an applied force and see how it makes objects move. Change friction and see how it affects the motion of objects.
Material Type: Simulation
Students learn about the physical force of linear momentum movement in a straight line by investigating collisions. They learn an equation that engineers use to describe momentum. Students also investigate the psychological phenomenon of momentum; they see how the "big mo" of the bandwagon effect contributes to the development of fads and manias, and how modern technology and mass media accelerate and intensify the effect.
Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan
Two astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) describe mass and weight and the differences between the two in this video from NASA’s Teaching From Space initiative.
Material Type: Lesson
This video segment explains centripetal force and illustrates how roller coasters rely on it to give you a thrilling ride.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
This is a four page sheet of equations that are based on the chapter summaries of OpenStax University Physics Volume 1. The primary intent is to create an equation sheet for students to use during in-class exams. It is on a wiki, and therefore can be edited. Formula sheets for Volumes 2 and 3 will come out this summer (if all goes well).
Material Type: Reading
This resource consists of two .zip files that have reading guides for the College Physics textbook at openstax.org. Each zip file has Word documents for the standard first and second semester set of topics for a year-long freshman level college physics course. The reading guides summarize the key points, provide extra explanations, and pose questions for the student. The reading guides were written for the first edition of the textbook. Permission is granted for free use and editing of the reading guides.
Material Type: Full Course, Lecture Notes, Student Guide
This interactive resource from the Exploratorium calculates your weight on other bodies in our solar system and offers an explanation of mass and weight and the relationship between gravity, mass, and distance.
Material Type: Interactive, Reading
This activity by Lauren Roberts guides students through the process of finding, vetting, summarizing, and citing a scientific article. Professor Roberts is from South Mountain Community College in Arizona's Maricopa Community College District.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
Newtonian Mechanics Full Curriculum whereby fundamental concepts (momentum, energy, force, motion) are introduced on the first day and developed in parallel. Access entire curriculum: comprehensive lecture videos with questions, textbook (calculus based, algebra based, and conceptual), exams, syllabus, past student evaluations.
Material Type: Activity/Lab, Assessment, Full Course, Homework/Assignment, Lecture, Teaching/Learning Strategy, Textbook
