Forces and Interactions

  In this activity, students use scientific experimentation and elements of the engineering design process to determine a solution to the problem of safely demolishing a football stadium.  Students collect and analyze data as they explor ...

  In this lesson, students will learn about three major types of bridges, identify tension and compression forces, and build models to discover how and where those forces act on each of the bridge types.  The lesson concludes with a choi ...

A boy rides up an elevator in a tall building (the World Trade Center), with a scale under his arm.  Upon reaching the top, he stands on the scale and watches what happens to his weight as he rides down.  NOTE: For this phenomenon, start th ...

  In these activities, students explore the concept of inertia.  They try to keep a block tower standing when cards are pulled from between the blocks, then compare with what happens when they try the same activity with lighter objects s ...

Students investigate the actions of charged balloons.  They then use the PhET simulation “Balloons and Static Electricity” to make sense of their observations in the light of electric charge, and the simulation “Electric Field ...

Students explore the motion of objects after collisions. The objects have a range of masses and shapes.  The concept of conservation of momentum is explored.  Students extend the learning with an online simulation of collisions.  Empha ...

This interdisciplinary curriculum unit from the National Energy Education Development Project provides 11 complete lessons for teaching about hydropower and conversion of moving water to electrical energy. The resource includes every component requir ...

This is the first in a series of 3 video clips. In this first video, a slinky is held in the air by one end.  The question is asked: when the slinky is let go, will the top fall first, will the bottom fall first, will the slinky “accordion ...

Students will experiment with magnets to identify magnetic properties and the differences between contact and non-contact forces.  They will use their discoveries, based on the results of their experiments, to design and build a "levitating ...

This two-minute video shows the phenomenon of a cannonball being fired from a cannon and the cannon rolling backwards as it is fired.  This phenomenon could stimulate the following driving questions: Why does the cannon move backwards w ...

In this introduction to the concept of electromagnetism, students build and test two versions of electromagnets - with an iron core and without - and compare results.  They follow up by doing an experiment to test the effect of another, student- ...

In this game, students use their understanding of momentum, Newton’s 2nd and 3rd Law, and forces, to send rubber ducks through obstacles to a food source.  BumperDucks is an educational physical science game that will help teach players ab ...

A 5-E lesson about electromagnets.  Students will do an activity to introduce them to the link between electricity and magnetism.  They then test variables that they believe may affect the strength of electromagnets.  The “Elabor ...

This lesson plan and student worksheet have students use an online simulation to explore the relationship between gravitational pull, masses, and distance.  An optional assessment has students write one or two claim-evidence-reasoning paragraphs ...

Students investigate the transfer of electric charge and electric force by building and using electroscopes.  They use the electroscopes they built, to make qualitative observations about the static electric charge between pairs of objects. &nbs ...

This is an online simulation in which spheres of varying masses are “hit” with varying amounts of force, and the resulting accelerations are displayed in table format.  Students are asked to come up with a rule to explain the relatio ...

This is a collection of activities and links on the Physics Classroom website, about Newton’s Third Law of Motion. Many of these directly reference objects' behavior during collisions. Some of the materials are created by the Physics Classroom them ...

This resource is a Word document comprising a 5-E lesson sequence about the relationship between force, mass and motion. Components include activities, a video clip, a reading with interactive questions, designing and running an experiment, and disc ...

This interactive from PBS ZOOM Games has students play alone or head-to-head to move a “goal puck” onto a target by colliding into it with “game pucks”. Variables include the masses of the pucks and the amount of friction from various surfaces. Stu ...

The resource describes five short activities involving static electricity attraction and repulsion, then offers suggestions for students to alter activities by changing one suggested variable at a time, in order to design and try their own investigat ...

Students use the engineering design process to design and build magnetic-field detectors, and use them to find hidden magnets. Parallels are drawn to real-world NASA missions and how NASA scientists use magnetic field data from planets and moons. ...

Students will investigate the characteristics of electromagnetism and then use what they learn to plan and conduct an experiment on electromagnets.

A teacher-submitted, NGSS-mindful lesson plan for using the PhET model "Forces and Motion - Basics". The model uses a tug-of-war with participants of different sizes and strengths, placed different distances from the center, in order to sho ...

Students enter a weight on Earth, and view the equivalent weight on other planets, Pluto, Earth’s moon, some of Jupiter’s moons, and a few types of stars. The calculator/model is followed by a reading about the difference between mass and weight, ...

In this series of games, your students will learn about equal and opposite forces. The Equal and Opposite Reactions: Newton’s Third Law learning objective — based on NGSS and state standards — delivers improved student engagement and academic perform...

In this series of games, your students will learn about net forces and the relationship between force, mass, and acceleration. The Factors Influencing Motion: Newton’s First and Second Laws learning objective — based on NGSS and state standards — del...

In this series of games, your students will learn how speed, motion, and other metrics are measured. The Reference Frames and Scale Units learning objective — based on NGSS and state standards — delivers improved student engagement and academic perfo...

In this series of games, your students will learn about the forces of attraction between charged particles and magnets, and the rules governing those forces. The Electric and Magnetic Forces learning objective — based on NGSS and state standards — de...

In this series of games, your students will learn how gravity functions and is measured. The Gravitational Force learning objective delivers improved student engagement and academic performance in your classroom, as demonstrated by research.

In this series of games, your students will learn about electric, magnetic, and gravitational fields and their visual representations. The Force Fields learning objective delivers improved student engagement and academic performance in your classroom...

From TeachEngineering - Working as if they were engineers, students design and construct model solar sails made of aluminum foil to move cardboard tube satellites through “space” on a string. Working in teams, they follow the engineering design think...

From TeachEngineering - One exciting challenge for engineers is the idea of exploration. Through the continuing storyline of the Rockets unit, this lesson looks more closely at Spaceman Rohan, Spacewoman Tess, their daughter Maya, and their challenge...

From TeachEngineering - Students examine how different balls react when colliding with different surfaces, giving plenty of opportunity for them to see the difference between elastic and inelastic collisions, learn how to calculate momentum, and unde...

From TeachEngineering - While we know air exists around us all the time, we usually do not notice the air pressure. During this activity, students use Bernoulli's principle to manipulate air pressure so its influence can be seen on the objects around...

From TeachEngineering - Students learn about Newton's second law of motion: force = mass x acceleration. In other words, a heavy object requires a greater force to move than a lighter object. In a tug-of-war experimental setup using paperclips, rubbe...

Newton's Third Law Paper Trampoline

The goal of the Velocity: Free Fall virtual lab is to allow students to investigate how height and mass impact speed and time. Students conduct experiments to understand the relationship between a ball’s mass, its final speed and its acceleration whe...

The goal of this virtual lab is to allow students the opportunity to explore the factors that influence an object’s weight, primarily gravity and mass.

The goal of this virtual lab is to allow students the opportunity to explore the factors that influence an object’s weight, primarily gravity and mass.

The goal of these virtual labs are to allow students the opportunity to investigate into different factors that can impact collisions. Students will cause the collision of two objects and learn how various properties affect velocity and momentum.

The goal of these virtual labs are to allow students the opportunity to investigate into different factors that can impact collisions. Students will cause the collision of two objects and learn how various properties affect velocity and momentum.

The goal of these virtual labs are to allow students the opportunity to investigate into different factors that can impact collisions. Students will cause the collision of two objects and learn how various properties affect velocity and momentum.

The goal of the Motion and Forces virtual lab is to allow students to investigate how forces impact the motion of a wooden sled. Students conduct experiments to understand the relationship between height, mass, friction, and gravity.

The goal of the Motion and Forces virtual lab is to allow students to investigate how forces impact the motion of a wooden sled. Students conduct experiments to understand the relationship between height, mass, friction, and gravity.