Download Physics Stations

Physics Stations
NAME:___________________________________
Station 1: Acceleration
Background information; Acceleration describes how velocity changes over time. On the
weather channel a hurricane’s path is explained in terms of velocity. People want to know
how fast a hurricane is travelling but they also need to know in what direction it is
travelling so that they can evacuate if necessary. For instance, the weatherman will report
a hurricane’s velocity as five kilometers per hour moving in a northeasterly direction.
Activity 1: Calculate the acceleration of the roller coater here. Show your work:
Activity 2: Draw your 3 acceleration diagrams here:
Station 2: Simple Machines
The three pages for this station are attached to the very back of the packet.
Station 3: Measuring Force
Background information: Forces are pushes or pulls. If forces are unbalanced, they make
objects move or stop moving. Forces are measured in Newtons. A Newton is the amount
of force necessary to accelerate one kilogram of mass at a rate of one meter per second
squared. Weight is the downward force of gravity on an object. It is properly measures in
Newtons.
Record your data here.
WEIGHT (G)
FORCE NEEDED TO MOVE (N)
What relationship do you see between weight and
force:___________________________________________________________________
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Station 4: Air Pucks
Use pages 43 – 51 for more information on Newton’s Laws. How did you use the air
pucks to represent each of the three laws. Use illustrations if necessary.
1st Law:
2nd Law:
3rd Law:
Station 5: Speed Walking
Background information: Speed is a way to describe motion. It describes how much time
it takes to travel a distance.
Average speed is calculated by dividing the total distance travelled by the total time it
took to travel the distance.
Distance can be calculated by multiplying the speed and time.
Velocity is speed and direction.
Activity – Speed Walking – Record data below.
Trial
1
2
3
Distance (m)
AVERAGE SPEED
Time (sec)
Speed (m/sec)
Station 6: Work
Background information: Work in physics means using a force to create movement or
cause motion. Work is only done when a force moves an object and the motion of the
object is in the same direction as the force.
To measure the amount of work that you do, you multiply the force times the distance the
object moved.
Work = Force X Distance
Activity; Are you working?
Describe you observations
below:__________________________________________________________________
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Station 7: Friction
Background information: Friction is the resistance that happens when one object moves
over or rubs against the surface or another. The force of friction can start things moving,
slow them down, or stop them.
Two things that affect the amount of friction are the roughness of the surface and the
mass of an object, The heavier the object is, the more friction there is when you try to
move the object.
Surface
Bare desk
Wax paper
Foil
Plastic wrap
Brown paper
Prediction
Total Mass
Station 8: Speed
Number of
Blocks
Length of
ramp
Time on Ramp
Average Speed
Distance from
Ramp
1. When did the car move the fastest?
2. When did the car move the farthest?
Station 9: Action-Reaction
Background information ; The law of action and reaction states that whenever an object
exerts a force (action) on a second object, the second object exerts an equal and opposite
force (reaction) on the first. For example, when a jet engine is started or when a rocket is
fired, rapidly expanding gases exert a force on them while they exert equal but opposite
forces on the gases. The gases move backwards and the jet or rocket moves forward or
upward.
# of marbles
# of marbles that move
1
2
3
4
What pattern do you see?
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Station 10: Gravity
Background Information: One force that affects everything on Earth is gravity.
Gravity is a force that acts at a distance and pulls objects toward each other. The
amount of matter in an object is called its mass. The force of gravity depends on the
amount of mass a body has. The weight of an object is the measurement of the force of
gravity on that object. You weigh something on a scale, according to the force that the
Earth pulls it down. So the weight is actually the force of gravity on that object.
If you drop an object, it will speed up because of acceleration due to gravity.
Interestingly, mass does not have anything to do with acceleration due to gravity.
Heavy objects fall just as fast as lighter objects. Air friction will slow some objects
down, but if we didn’t have any air, all objects would fall at the same speed.
Trial 1
Trail 2
Trail 3
Average
Helicopter
Helicopter + 1
paper clip
Helicopter + 2
paper clips
Helicopter + 3
paper clips
Did the mass of the paper clip helicopter make a difference in the time it took to
fall? Why or why
not?_____________________________________________________________
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Station 11; Newton’s Laws/Speed graph
Background Information: Newton's First Law of Motion is often stated as:
An object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object in motion tends to stay
in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted
upon by an unbalanced force. Put another way, first law says that if an
object is not pushed or pulled upon, its velocity (speed & direction) will
naturally remain constant. This means that if an object is moving along,
untouched by a force of any kind, it will continue to move along in a
perfectly straight line at a constant speed. This also means that if an
object is standing still and is not contacted by any forces, it will continue
to remain without moving. This is also known as The Law of Inertia.
Newton's Second Law of Motion explains how an object will change
velocity (speed & direction) if it is pushed or pulled upon. This law states that if you do
apply a force on an object, it will accelerate (change velocity), and it will change its
velocity in the direction of the force. Secondly, this acceleration is directly proportional
to the force. For example, if you are pushing on an object, causing it to accelerate, and
then you push twice as hard, the acceleration will be two times greater. Lastly, this
acceleration is inversely proportional to the mass of the object. For example, if you are
pushing equally on two objects, and one of the objects has five times more mass than the
other, it will accelerate at one fifth the acceleration of the other. Newton’s Third Law of
Motion states that for every force there is an equal and opposite force. For example, if
you push on a wall, it will push back on you as hard as you are pushing on it.
1st Law
� Description:
2nd Law
� Description:
3rd Law
� Description:
Station 12; Internet Assignment
Background Information: When an object rolls over a surface, the
kind of friction that occurs is rolling friction. Skate boarders take
advantage of this type of friction all the time. Reducing the amount
of friction between the surface and the wheels allow skaters to go
really fast.
1. What three forces are acting on a skateboard during an Ollie?
a. _______________________________
b. _______________________________
c. _______________________________
2. Describe any change in force that occurs during an Ollie. What
does it do?
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3. What is a torque?
_________________________________________________________
4. What is the force that acts on you in midair?
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5. Record your observations of the activity:
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6. Describe how skateboarders build up speed in a half pipe.
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Station 13; Speed Domino Dash
Record the speed of the falling dominoes in the data table below;
Length of domino row
Time to fall
Speed of Dominoes
1. What effect does distance have on the speed of a moving
object?___________________________________________________________
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2. What affect does time have on the speed of a moving object?
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Station 14; Balloon Rocket
Data:
Observations of completely inflated balloon
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Observations of partially inflated balloon
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Questions:
1. What is the action force in this investigation?
___________________________________________________________
2. What is the reaction force in this investigation?
___________________________________________________________
3. What is the action force acting on in this investigation?
___________________________________________________________
4. What is the reaction force acting on in this investigation?
___________________________________________________________
5. What happened when the amount of force (amount of air in the balloon)
was changed?
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6. Explain your answer to number 5 using Newton’s 3rd Law.
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7. Think about a real rocket launching at NASA. What are the action and
reaction forces in the launch? What are the forces acting upon?
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