Spring Semester Week 6 February 13, 2019 - Motion, Forces, and Gravity

This week we will be finishing our discussion on our Speed, Distance, and Time Class Activity. If time permits, we will move on to Motion and Forces, namely friction, and Gravity, namely Projectiles. Below are the notes for these topics as well as some introductory videos that students should view prior to class this Thursday.

Update: This week, we had fun learning about forces, gravity, and projectiles. We had two graphic organizers this week. The first graphic organizer accompanied our Motion and Forces notes. With it, we identified the four types of friction we studied in our notes: Rolling friction, sliding friction, static friction, and fluid friction.

In our second graphic organizer that accompanied our notes on gravity, we discussed the horizontal and vertical motion of projectiles using the illustration of kids throwing a football in different ways and the resulting path the football would take.

While we couldn't cover every concept covered in our notes associated with motion and forces and gravity, we did perform a series of mini-activities which illustrated various concepts we learned.

In our first mini-activity, we went outside and observed the effects of centripetal force by swinging a bucket of water around in a circular motion. Many students were surprised that the water remained in the bucket due to centripetal force.

Next, we used the same concepts we learned regarding centripetal force to cause a marble to circle inside of a wine glass without falling out even when the glass was turned upside down. This proved to be trickier than it first appeared, but one student successfully accomplished the task!

Next, we went back inside and launched giant marshmallow projectiles through various sizes of cardboard tubes to determine which ones would go the furthest distance. We dipped our marshmallows in flour in order to reduce the effects of friction. The shorter tubes launched the marshmallows the farthest distance.

Finally, we used changed the center of gravity of popsicle sticks using pipe cleaners and clothespins and were able to balance them on a chopstick.

I love days like this where the kids get the opportunity to do a series of hands-on activities that help them understand that science is a part of their every day life. It was a productive day!