In this activity, students use their knowledge of levers to compete against another student in a simple game. Students will add wooden blocks or similar objects to a tray balanced on a pivot. By competing to keep the tray level, students will learn about the physics of levers.
Students will be able to:PS Phy.6 Understand the relationship among work, energy and power.6.1 Use models to qualitatively and quantitatively analyze the kinetic and potential energy in a system.
In this lab, students will investigate the law of conservation of energy. Student teams must develop and carry out a lab procedure to achieve the stated goal of finding the maximum conversion of potential energy to kinetic energy. Using a ruler and a toy car, students will work collaboratively to design a lab that will demonstrate the change from one form of energy to another based upon the law of conservation of energy. Teams will then develop a hypothesis for maximizing the amount of energy transfer and create a procedure for proving the hypothesis. Once they run their lab, students will work independently to create formal lab reports that summarize the activity.
Students study the effects of friction in a simple mechanical system.
This brief video lesson discusses the concepts of work and power and applies them to two common objects - a lightbulb and a grandfather clock. Discussion/assessment questions and suggested supplemental resources are also included.
In this project-based unit, students build a working catapult and prepare an extensive lab report explaining the physics behind its design and implementation.
This series of simple activities introduce students to the concept of potential energy and demonstrate the effect of height and weight on potential energy.
Students predict where a ball will land when released using knowledge of projectile motion and potential and kinetic energy.
In this activity, students analyze a video clip showing a person jumping on a trampoline. Using the handout provided students will be able to determine the person's velocity when they leave the trampoline based on the fact that they can calculate gravitational potential energy at two different locations.
Students will demonstrate that work equals force times distance and investigate the connection between work and potential energy, kinetic energy, and heat.
In this unit of study, students will learn about the relationships among work, energy, and power. Lessons in this unit include: Definitions and Mathematics of Work; Calculating the Amount of Work Done By Forces; Potential Energy; Kinetic Energy; Mechanical Energy; and Power. This unit includes questions at the end of each section to allow students to self assess and check for understanding.