These two activities are just a small part of overall fun students will have in discovering the wonders of magnets and how they apply to us every day.
In this activity students analyze the motion of a student walking across the room and predict, sketch, and test distance vs. time graphs and velocity vs. time graphs.
In this activity students will determine the speed of a moving vehicle using a stopwatch and meter stick. Then convert units of meters/sec to miles/hr.
This activity is a lab where students make measurements of a mass on a spring and work through appropriate calculations dealing with simple harmonic motion.
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.
This video segment adapted from NOVA relates the dramatic story of vulcanologists trying to predict the timing of the cataclysmic eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines.
This article describes the work of Hubert Staudigel and Cathy Constable, researchers from Scripps Institution of Oceanography who study Mt. Erebus, Antarctica's most active volcano.
This is a guided inquiry investigation for students to determine the state of matter of a mystery material and to make potential real world applications/products for the mystery material.
Join a group of middle-school students on a visit to a laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where they experiment with "mystery mud" and learn about the relationships between magnetism, particle motion, and changes in the state of matter.
What is known about gravity? Find out Einstein's thoughts on gravity in a brief overview of this mysterious force.
In this video adapted from NOVA scienceNOW, find out about the discovery of a new building material, the carbon nanotube, whose physical properties could theoretically enable the creation of a 22,000-mile elevator to space.
Students learn about frequency and period, particularly natural frequency using springs. They learn that the natural frequency of a system depends on two things: the stiffness and mass of the system. Students see how the natural frequency of a structure plays a big role in the building surviving an earthquake or high winds.
This article provides background information related to natural resources of the poles, and renewable and non-renewable energy.
This activity is a classroom lesson on how a slinky relates to sound waves and how sound waves relate to the human ear.
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.
In this physics lab, students investigate the motion of different skateboarders pulled with various values of constant force. Using skateboarders of different masses and a variety of constant force values, students produce distance vs. time motion graphs for a number of skateboarding trials. Students may develop their own methods for setting up the lab and recording the necessary data. Following data collection, students analyze the data using Newton's second law and discuss differences between trials, the effects of friction, and possible sources of error in the experiment.
Students use miniature explosives to analyze actions and reactions. An Alka-seltzer tablet is sealed in a small film canister with water which sets up a pressure explosion pushing the canister one direction and an adjacent film canister in the opposite direction. Students repeat this set up but vary the mass of the second canister by adding sand. The distances that each canister travels is measured, recorded and later analyzed and discussed.
This activity is a classroom investigation where students gather information from observing Newton's first law, develop a definition of Newton's first law and force, and apply to real life situations.
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.