Physics
Topic outline
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General
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This page is organized in different sections. In each section you will find links and PDF activities that are related to lessons in that area. The header will appear at the top of each page, so click on the section that you are interested in below and scroll past this header to see the resources. Note: we are continuously adding resources as we come across them so if you don't see something that you need please check back or contact your program specialists.
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A Concept Builder is an interactive learning activity that targets student understanding of a discrete concept. Each Concept Builder presents learners with carefully crafted questions that target various aspects of the concept. There are typically multiple levels of difficulty or multiple activities. And there is an effort to track learner progress at each level or in each activity.
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Hovercrafts use pressurized air to travel smoothly on land or water. They are used for search and rescue efforts and to train astronauts for space missions. Hovercrafts can even transition from land to water, making them an exciting amphibious vehicle. In this activity, students will investigate the relationship between friction and motion by building a simple hovercraft.
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Projectile motion is a form of motion where an object moves in a bilaterally symmetrical, parabolic path. The path that the object follows is called its trajectory. Projectile motion only occurs when there is one force applied at the beginning on the trajectory, after which the only interference is from gravity. In this activity students will dive into this activity with diagrams, formulas and example problems.
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In this activity, students will:
- Work individually or in teams of two to construct and launch paper rockets using a teacher-built PVC-pipe launcher.
- Following the flight of their rocket, calculate the altitude their rocket achieved.
- Based on the flight performance of their rockets, analyze their rocket designs, modify or rebuild them, launch again, and calculate the altitude achieved to determine if their changes affected the performance of the rocket.
- Conclude the activity by writing a post-flight mission report.
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In this video adapted from QUEST, take a sailing lesson from a San Francisco-based sailing club and learn what it takes to get a sailboat moving in the water. With the help of some of the Bay Area’s top aerospace engineers, the QUEST team learns that sailboats don’t simply rely on wind to push them forward but that there are other invisible forces that are fundamental to the process. In fact, the physical elements that make a sail boat sail are the same ones that make an airplane fly.
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This lesson provides a remote lab for students working individually at home. Using the game is part of the lab, but if you have studied torque already, you may want to use just the Game lesson. Learning Goals: Students will be able to: Describe the factors that determine whether two objects will balance each other Predict how changing the position of a mass on the balance will affect the motion of the balance Use a balance to the find the masses of unknown objects.
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Explore the forces at work when pulling against a cart, and 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.
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Glass Analysis, Determining Direction of Fore and Sequence of Shots
Analysis of glass at a crime scene will provide factual evidence as to the direction of force fracturing the glass as well as sequence of shots.
Activities in this Lesson:
- Introduction
- Forensic Glass Analysis
- Direction of Force Quiz
- Sequence of Gun Shot Fractures
- Gun Shot Sequence Quiz
- Summative Assessment
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Topics
- Collisions
- Momentum
- Velocity
Description
Use an air hockey table to investigate simple collisions in 1D and more complex collisions in 2D. Experiment with the number of discs, masses, and initial conditions. Vary the elasticity and see how the total momentum and kinetic energy changes during collisions.
Sample Learning Goals
- Draw "before-and-after" pictures of collisions.
- Construct momentum vector representations of "before-and-after" collisions.
- Apply law of conservation of momentum to solve problems of collisions.
- Explain why energy is not conserved and varies in some collisions.
- Determine the change in mechanical energy in collisions of varying “elasticity”.
- What does “elasticity” mean?
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Car and Ramp Labs: Motion on horizontal and inclined planes
How can we describe motion? Think of some typical words that are used to describe how a car may be moving...or not. Fast. Slow. Forward. Backward. Speeding up. Slowing down. Turning. Stopping. Going. Now how can we quantify those words and turn them into numbers or even a graph? If we graph a car’s motion, we can learn more about what it’s actually doing.
This is a two-part lab:
Part 1: Car on a Horizontal Track analyzes the motion of a car on level ground or a horizontal track.
Part 2: Car on an Inclined Plane looks at a car moving down a ramp, technically called an inclined plane.You can do these independently of each other, but it’s best to compare the two sets of results. This is an excellent activity that can be done virtually.
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