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Browse results: Motions and Forces
| RESOURCE | GRADE LEVEL | MEDIA TYPE |
|---|---|---|
Acids and Bases: Testing Rocket CarsIn this ZOOM video segment, cast members make bottle rocket cars using lemon juice and baking soda, and experiment with different ways of launching the cars. Accessibility features: Caption |
3-8 |
Video |
Acids and Bases: Testing RocketsWhat happens when you mix baking soda and lemon juice? Watch the ZOOM cast launch a rocket using kitchen chemistry. Accessibility features: Caption |
3-8 |
Video |
Air Power: Experimenting with BalloonsIn this video segment adapted from ZOOM, cast members experiment with the amount of air expelled first from a balloon, then through a straw attached to it, and see how both affect a balloon's behavior. Accessibility features: Caption |
3-8 |
Video |
Arch BridgeThis video segment adapted from Building Big illustrates the strength of the arch in bridge design and construction. Accessibility features: Caption |
3-12 |
Video |
Booming Sands This video segment, adapted from NOVA scienceNOW, presents basic concepts of physics behind "booming" sand dunes. See how surface tension affects potential and kinetic energy and how it all works together to create sound.
Accessibility features: Caption |
6-12 |
Video |
Building Simple Machines: A Glass of Milk, PleaseIn this video segment adapted from ZOOM, the cast shows how the 34 steps in their Rube Goldberg invention use everything from gravity to carbon dioxide gas in order to accomplish one simple task: pouring a glass of milk. Accessibility features: Caption |
3-8 |
Video |
Building Simple Machines: Plant QuencherIn this video segment from ZOOM, Jillian explains how her simple machine uses marbles, levers, flowing sand, and a spinning wheel to water a plant. Accessibility features: Caption |
3-8 |
Video |
Building the Channel TunnelHow do you build a tunnel 32 miles long -- under water? This video segment adapted from Building Big, follows the construction of the Channel Tunnel (nicknamed "Chunnel"), the engineering wonder that connects England to France. Accessibility features: Caption |
3-12 |
Video |
Carbon-Fiber Car of the FutureIn this video segment adapted from NOVA, find out how cars made of a material stronger than steel and half the weight can help combat climate change. Accessibility features: Caption |
6-12 |
Video |
Center of Gravity: Pencil BalanceWatch the ZOOM cast learn about center of gravity by trying to balance a pencil on their fingers and noses. Accessibility features: Caption |
3-8 |
Video |
Columns: Experimenting with Paper CupsIn this video segment from ZOOM, the cast experiments to see if a bunch of paper cups covered by a piece of cardboard can support the weight of a cast member. Accessibility features: Caption, Transcript |
3-8 |
Video |
Columns: Hillary's NeighborhoodIn this video segment from ZOOM, Hillary, from Randolph, MA, takes us on a tour of the columns in her neighborhood. Accessibility features: Caption, Transcript |
K-8 |
Video |
Defy Gravity! Centripetal ForceHow can you keep a ball from falling out of a jar if the jar is upside down? Watch the ZOOM cast use centripetal force to meet this challenge. Accessibility features: Caption, Transcript |
3-8 |
Video |
Defy Gravity! Upside Down Ping Pong BallIn this video segment, the ZOOM cast is challenged to keep a ping pong ball in a funnel while the funnel is held upside down, seemingly defying gravity. Accessibility features: Caption |
3-8 |
Video |
The Deployable Energy AbsorberWatch how engineers stage a crash to test a new helicopter safety design technology in this video from NASA. Accessibility features: Caption |
9-12 |
Video |
Designing a Paper BridgeIn this video segment adapted from ZOOM, cast members make a bridge from a single piece of paper. Will it be strong enough to hold a hundred pennies? Accessibility features: Caption |
3-8 |
Video |
Designing a Puff MobileThe air you exhale can power a puff mobile. Watch as the ZOOM cast races their air-powered designs to see which design features are the most successful. Accessibility features: Caption, Transcript |
K-5 |
Video |
Designing a Roller CoasterIn this video segment adapted from ZOOM, the cast is challenged to design and test a roller coaster with loops, hills, and U-turns. Accessibility features: Caption |
3-5 |
Video |
Designing Balloon CarsCan the air in a balloon power a car? Watch students from Weston, Massachusetts, demonstrate their balloon car designs in this video adapted from ZOOM. Accessibility features: Caption, Transcript |
3-8 |
Video |
Designing Electric Circuits: Steadiness TesterIn this video segment adapted from ZOOM, cast members discover that metal is a good conductor of electricity as they play the steadiness tester game. Accessibility features: Caption |
3-5 |
Video |
Designing Future Cities: Alternative EnergyIn this video segment adapted from ZOOM, visit a class as they design a city of the future that will use solar, wind, and water power to fuel its economy. Accessibility features: Caption, Transcript |
3-8 |
Video |
Design Squad: Suspension Bridge In this video segment adapted from Design Squad—a PBS TV series featuring high school contestants tackling engineering challenges—students employ the concepts of tension and compression to build a suspension bridge without the aid of power tools.
Accessibility features: Caption |
5-12 |
Video |
Design Squad: Truss Bridge In this video segment adapted from Design Squad—a PBS TV series featuring high school contestants tackling engineering challenges—students employ the concepts of tension and compression as they build a truss bridge without the aid of power tools.
Accessibility features: Caption |
5-12 |
Video |
Down to the Core ChallengeIn this video from Design Squad Nation, kids design and build devices that can extract a core sample from a potato “asteroid.” They also learn how samples give NASA scientists insight into solar system objects. Accessibility features: Caption |
4-8 |
Video |
Electric GirlAnna loves electricity. Watch her construct a homemade flashlight and show off her new, electrifying hairdo in this video segment from ZOOM. Accessibility features: Caption |
3-8 |
Video |
The Electromagnetic Spectrum: FRONTLINEThis video segment adapted from FRONTLINE introduces the electromagnetic spectrum and explains how the various types of electromagnetic waves are distinguished by the amount of energy each wave carries. Accessibility features: Caption |
6-12 |
Video |
The Electromagnetic Spectrum: NASAFrom radio waves to gamma rays, this video segment from NASA introduces the seven categories of the electromagnetic spectrum and how each type of radiation is part of our everyday lives. Accessibility features: Caption |
3-12 |
Video |
Electrophoresis and Gel AnalysisIn this animation produced by WGBH and Digizyme, Inc., see how molecules of DNA are separated using gel electrophoresis, and how this process enables scientists to compare the molecular variations of two or more DNA samples. Accessibility features: Caption |
9-12 |
Video |
Energy Transfer in a Trebuchet On NOVA, a team of carpenters, timber framers, engineers, and historians recreate a medieval throwing machine called a trebuchet. This adapted video segment explores how understanding energy transfer informs their design.
Accessibility features: Caption |
6-12 |
Video |
Experimenting with a Lemon BatteryCan a fresh lemon power a digital clock? In this video segment adapted from ZOOM, the cast shows you how this can be done and, in the process, discover how kids can be a part of an electric circuit. Accessibility features: Caption |
3-8 |
Video |
Experimenting with a PendulumIn this video segment, members of the ZOOM cast experiment with a pendulum and discover what they need to do to make the pendulum complete one back-and-forth swing in five seconds. Accessibility features: Caption |
3-8 |
Video |
Exploring Conductivity: Kid CircuitsIn this video segment adapted from ZOOM, cast members join hands and become electron conductors to complete an electric circuit. Accessibility features: Caption |
3-8 |
Video |
Exploring Windmill DesignIn this video segment adapted from ZOOM, cast members are challenged to design a windmill that can be powered by a hair dryer. Accessibility features: Caption |
3-8 |
Video |
Firth of Forth Cantilever BridgeThis video segment from Building Big: "Bridges" demonstrates the basic design of a cantilever bridge by looking at Scotland's Firth of Forth Railway Bridge. Accessibility features: Caption |
3-12 |
Video |
Flight This video segment from IdahoPTV's D4K takes you on a flight with a young student and a pilot as you learn about the 4 aerodynamic forces which are present when air is moving past an object such as an airplane. Accessibility features: Caption, Transcript |
4-6 |
Video |
Force and Motion This video segment from IdahoPTV's D4K explains and gives examples of Sir Isaac Newton's 3 Laws of Motion using the rides at an amusement part. Accessibility features: Caption, Transcript |
4-6 |
Video |
Galileo on the MoonWatch Apollo 15 astronaut David Scott perform Galileo's falling objects experiment on the Moon in this video segment from NASA. Accessibility features: Caption |
6-12 |
Video |
Galileo's Big MistakeScientists don't always get it right. This video segment adapted from NOVA looks at Galileo's failed theory for the motion of the tides. Accessibility features: Caption |
6-12 |
Video |
Galileo's Thought ExperimentHow can Earth move through space without our feeling its motion? This video segment adapted from NOVA answers this question by dramatizing one of Galileo's thought experiments. Accessibility features: Caption |
6-12 |
Video |
Glider BoyMeet 12-year-old Jesse, the designer of dozens of gliders, in this ZOOM video segment. Some of his gliders fit in your hand, while others can only be stored in the garage. Watch his gliders go and learn why they fly. Accessibility features: Caption, Transcript |
K-8 |
Video |
Gravity This video segment from IdahoPTV's D4K demonstrates how gravity, mass, matter, and weight are related and how astronauts can overcome earth's gravity to fly to space. Accessibility features: Caption, Transcript |
2-6 |
Video |
Gravity at Earth's CenterIn this video segment from NOVA scienceNOW, learn about the effects of gravity as astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson falls through a virtual hole through Earth's center. Accessibility features: Caption |
6-12 |
Video |
Hoover DamThis video segment from Building Big: "Dams," demonstrates the basic principals at work in the Hoover Dam, a concrete gravity dam that also makes use of the properties of the arch. Accessibility features: Caption |
3-12 |
Video |
How Do You Get to the Moon?This video, adapted from NOVA, showcases the competing engineering plans designed for landing a person on the Moon for the first time. Accessibility features: Caption |
6-12 |
Video |
How Would You Turn a Bolt in Space?In this fast-paced NASA Brain Bites™ video, an astronaut demonstrates the impact of microgravity on the use of tools in space. Accessibility features: Caption |
3-8 |
Video |
Infrared: More Than Your Eyes Can SeeIn this video segment adapted from NASA, astronomer Michelle Thaller introduces the world of infrared light and demonstrates how infrared cameras allow us to see more than what the naked eye can perceive. Accessibility features: Caption |
3-12 |
Video |
Inspector Detector ChallengeIn this video from Design Squad Nation, kids design and build magnetic-field detectors and use them to find hidden magnets. They also learn how NASA uses magnetometers to learn what is going on inside a planet or moon. Accessibility features: Caption |
4-8 |
Video |
Investigating a Suspension BridgeIn this video segment adapted from ZOOM, the cast builds a suspension bridge from a couple of chairs, some cardboard, and rope. Accessibility features: Caption |
3-8 |
Video |
Invisible Force ChallengeIn this video from Design Squad Nation, kids design and build systems that use magnets to control the speed and direction of a rolling ball. They also learn how NASA uses gravity to direct a spacecraft. Accessibility features: Caption |
4-8 |
Video |
Kid Designer: A Comfortable Cardboard ChairFollow along in this video segment from ZOOM as 13-year-old Nick explains how he came up with a design, tested materials, and constructed his own cardboard chair. Accessibility features: Caption, Transcript |
3-12 |
Video |
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