Exploratorium

=Exploratorium=

Research:
Newtons First Law- An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force. Inertia: the resistance an object has to a change in its state of motion, tendency of an object to resist changes in its velocity.

A force is a push or pull upon an object resulting from the object's //interaction// with another object. Whenever there is an //interaction// between two objects, there is a force upon each of the objects. When the //interaction// ceases, the two objects no longer experience the force. Contact Forces are those types of forces that result when the two interacting objects are perceived to be physically contacting each other. Examples of contact forces include frictional forces, tensional forces, normal forces, air resistance forces, and applied forces.

2nd Law- The acceleration of an object as produced by a net force is directly proportional to the magnitude of the net force, in the same direction as the net force, and inversely proportional to the mass of the object. Objects that are said to be undergoing //free fall//, are not encountering a significant force of air resistance; they are falling under the sole influence of gravity. Under such conditions, all objects will fall with the same rate of acceleration, regardless of their masses.

3rd Law- For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

http://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/newtlaws/

Plan:
Demos Don't forget these are supposed to be sequential... starting with more simplistic ideas and building into more complex. I don't see this here. 1) Balloon attached to a car. As the balloon loses air the car moves forward. 2) Place an index card over a beaker and a penny on top of the card, pull the card out and the penny should fall into the beaker.- Demonstrates an object at rest stays at rest. http://www.darylscience.com/Demos/1stLawQuickies.html 3) Cart on a track with a hanging mass over a pulley... add mass more acceleration. Can you do this in a more experiential way? 4) TAKE AWAY DEMO- make an "m" shape with a hanger and add clay to the ends of each and have them turn 180 degrees and see that the hanger does not move. No third law?

Materials:
Metal Hangers, clay Metal track, cart, pulley, hanging mass Cup, penny, index card Two objects with different mass

Script 1:
Physics Exploratorium Script

Good Afternoon kids! Today you will be learning about Newton’s Laws of Motion. Does anyone know who Sir Isaac Newton is? (No or yes) He was a very famous scientist, who lived almost 300 years ago. Isaac Newton developed Calculus a form of math and Physics a form of science. He came up with three basic ideas that are used to describe the physics of motion. These are called Newton’s Laws of Motion.

We are going to go through a series of demos. First, Do you know what a force is? A force is a push or pull between two objects. Keep that in mind as we progress.

Look here at this cup. It has an index card over it with a penny right in the middle. What do you think will happen, if I pull the index card? Ok, Let’s try and see what happens. Wow! The penny falls into the cup! Let’s try this again to make sure it was accurate. It does it again. Why can this be? Any ideas? Well, this demonstrates Isaac Newton’s first Law of motion. An object at rest tends to stay at rest, and an object in motion tends to stay in motion until acted on by an unbalanced force. This penny has some inertia. Anyone know what inertia is? Well, it is the resistance to change the state of motion. It is like if you are resting in bed and someone tells you to get out, and you just don’t want to. You want to just stay where you are.
 * 1st **

Now to our second demonstration. We have here a track with a car on it and a string is attaching it to another mass that is hanging. What is happening right now on the track? Nothing, correct. This is Newton’s ______ Law? Right, First… the object’s are just staying at rest.
 * 2nd **

What do you think will happen if we add more weight to the car? It just stays at rest, This is Newton’s ______ Law (Have them answer 1st. What will happen if I begin to take the weight of the car? What will happen if I begin to add weight to the hanging weight?  The car begins to move faster. Does anyone know what it’s called when something begins to move faster? It is called acceleration.  This demonstrates the 2nd Law of Motion. When there is more force, there is more acceleration. When there is less force there is less acceleration.

Let’s keep on rolling. Here we have a balloon attached to car. Is anything happening right now to the car when there is no air in the balloon? Nothing… What law does this demonstrate? First… correct… now you are getting the hang of it. If I blow this balloon up and put the car down what do you think will happen? Let’s test it and find out. What is happening? Let me do it again for you guys to see. Right the air is being released from the balloon and the car is moving forward and then it isn’t moving when no air is being released. If more air is being released, a larger force, and the car is moving faster. What law is this? Correct the 2nd because when the force is larger it has a larger acceleration. We also can learn Newton’s Third Law of Motion. The third law says that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Do you guys know where this is seen in this demo? As the air is being released backwards the car is moving forward.
 * 3rd Demo **

Right now we are going to make a thing I like to call… Mickey Mouse Ears, which you are going to be able to Keep! We have already bent hangers into m shapes but we will like you to finish making these “ears.” We are giving you clay, roll the clay into a ball and put it onto the ends of the hangers. Watch out because they are a bit pointy. Now follow Maddie on how to place it onto your heads… Look the hanger “ears” don’t move. Which law does this demonstrate? First, great… The clay balls have alot of inertia and tend to stay in place.
 * TAKEAWAY Demo **

Let’s do a quick review… The first Law is… The second law is… The third Law is… It was great to work with you all today
 * Review **