Newton's Challenge
These activities are used as stations and depending upon the understanding of the
students may not all be used.
Newton's First Law of Motion Activities:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Bumping Washers-Flick a washer toward a stack of washers.
That's the Way the Ball Bounces-Bounce a rubber ball while standing still,
walking, and running.
Money Going Nowhere-Flick a card resting on a glass from under a coin.
Thump-Flick a card resting on a glass from under a clothespin.
Checker Challenge- Try to see how many checkers you can catch from your
elbow.
Inertia Breaks a Pencil-Compare the difference when striking a pencil hanging
over a table slowly and fast.
Eggs-Compare the spin of hard and soft boiled eggs.
Oops-Determine that objects remain stationary due to inertia
Moving vs. Immovable-Compare the inertia between stationary and moving
objects.
Newton's Second law of Motion Activities:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Table Hockey-Play table hockey with different sized coins.
Losing your marbles-Make a ramp and roll first one marble, then two, then three
and then four down the ramp into a paper cup to determine the effect of increasing
the mass has on acceleration.
Ball and Cup-Using a Ping-Pong ball, some string, a ruler and a cup try to swing
the ball into the cup.
Super, Super Balls-Take one super ball, drop it from shoulder height. Determine
the added height when adding another ball on top of the super ball to the drop.
Elephant and the Mouse-Compare the falling rate when two different sized
"stuffed' critters are dropped from the same weight.
Paper Weight-Compare the falling rate when two coins of different weight are
dropped the same distance.
String and Washers-Using string and washers compare the rate of falling when
dropped the same distance
Newton's Third Law of Motion Activities
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Jet Straws-Attach a balloon to a straw, compare the angle of bend with the
movement of a straw
Flywheel-Thread a piece of string through the holes of a button and twirl it, then
gently pull the ends of the string.
Turbo Tops-Spin the turbo tops and try to stack them on top of each other.
Balloon Rockets-Thread a string through a straw, stretch a string between two
chairs, then attach a balloon the straw and launch it.
Newton's Puzzler -Using a cork in a jar of water, determine which direction the
cork will move when pushed
Cannon-Tape a film canister on a ruler and put a small piece of an effervescent
table with some water in the canister and put the lid on.
Hovercraft-Create a hovercraft from a piece of cardboard a, ruler and a balloon.
Paddle Boat-Using a rubber band and a piece of cardboard, construct a paddle
boat that will travel across the water.
Spring Jumpers/Budgie Jumping-Press down on a spring jumper and watch what
happens.
Newton's Laws Olympics- seven different stations showing different laws of motion.
This can be used as a summary or wrap up activity.
Playing with Physics:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Speed, Acceleration, Momentum and Friction Activities
Baker's Inclined Car Raceway-Determine the speed of hot wheel cars down a
ramp.
Marble Motion-Determine the speed and acceleration of marbles down a ramp.
How Fast do they Fall?-Determine the acceleration of dominoes when spaced at
different widths.
Falling Fun-Try to catch a falling ruler between your thumb and finger.
Up a Hill-Using two funnels, determine the effect an object's center of gravity has
on motion
Friction of a rolling sphere-Compare the speed of a marble as it rolls down a ramp
covered with different surfaces.
Measuring Friction-Compare the movement of a box over difference surfaces.
•
•
•
Moving On-Pull a wagon with a ball inside and watch how friction effects inertia.
Roller Derby-Using poster board to construct a marble track, groups will use
some of the design techniques needed for the final project.
Foam Tubes-Explore specific design elements using sections of foam tubes
Technology Activities:
•
•
•
•
An Internet Scavenger Hunt about different roller coasters.
Participation in roller coaster simulation both on line and on CD
Power Point presentation on the various features of your roller coaster
A poster advertising your roller coaster created in Microsoft Word or Microsoft
Publisher
Link to Rubric for evaluating the PowerPoint presentation:
Proposal Criteria:
Your proposal must include the three design elements that your roller coaster will feature.
It must also show how you arrived at your final design, what other things you tried and
why you changed them. This should also be in your notebook. Your proposal will be a
power point presentation. It should be atleast five slides long.
Final Project:
Design and create a roller coaster that incorporates atleast 3 of the following design
elements: hills, ramps, loops, spirals, turns. The marble must not leave the track (for
legal reasons). During construction you will need to keep a notebook which includes
construction ideas, related assignments, other project requirements, and data collected
during the development process. You will also need to complete the data form and
answer the following questions about your roller coaster.
How does this roller coaster demonstrate the laws of Inertia?
How does this roller coaster demonstrate the laws of unbalanced forces?
How does this roller coaster demonstrate the laws of action/reaction pairs?
How does this roller coaster demonstrate the affects of gravity on an object?
Data Sheet:
Top Speed
Our Roller Coaster
Trial Trial Trial
Average
1
2
3
Class Average
Average Speed
Height
Marble Mass
Results with different marble masses
The students should keep a copy of this data sheet in their notebook with notes on how
they will make changes to increase their speed and why.
Link to Rubric for evaluating the final project:
back to top
Context (Environment, Accommodations)
For inclusion students all materials are read aloud, during activities and projects they are
paired or grouped with other students from a variety of levels. They have shortened
assignments, lengthened time or other modification listed in their IEPs.
For enrichment students they will design a formula to determine the safety factor and the
fun factor of two different roller coasters from Sim Coaster based on the information in
the Discovery Coaster Web sight. As Physics Investigators (P.I.s) you will also create a
rubric to evaluate roller coasters created by the class