Acids and Bases: Testing Rocket Cars

In 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.

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Acids and Bases: Testing Rockets

What happens when you mix baking soda and lemon juice? Watch the ZOOM cast launch a rocket using kitchen chemistry.

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Aerodynamics: What Causes Lift?

How does an airplane stay aloft when upside down? This media-rich essay from the NOVA Web site offers an explanation based on Newton's third law of motion.

Air Power: Experimenting with Balloons

In 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.

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Air Power: Making a Hovercraft

In this video segment adapted from ZOOM, cast members make their own hovercraft and demonstrate how the air leaking out of a balloon can make a plastic plate hover above a table.

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Amplitude

This interactive activity adapted from the University of Utah's ASPIRE Lab shows how a pendulum's amplitude changes as you set it swinging from different distances from its axis, and how the amplitude of a sound wave changes as you adjust the volume.

Astronauts in Hard Hats

This media-rich series of interviews from the NOVA Web site explores the unique challenges faced by astronauts doing construction work in outer space.

Astronauts Speak: Gene Cernan

In this audio resource from NOVA, astronaut Gene Cernan recounts his harrowing experience during America's first attempt to do work in outer space.

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Basketball Physics

In this video from DragonflyTV, Jai and Jonathan track, graph, and analyze the motion of basketball shots as they investigate what factors influence the accuracy of their game.

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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.

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Bouncing Science

In this lesson, based on the Science Friday segment Physics of Basketball, students explore the properties of various balls from different sports, and discuss why the design of each ball is suited to its associated sport.

Building Simple Machines: A Glass of Milk, Please

In 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.

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Building Simple Machines: Plant Quencher

In this video segment from ZOOM, Jillian explains how her simple machine uses marbles, levers, flowing sand, and a spinning wheel to water a plant.

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Carbon-Fiber Car of the Future

In 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.

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Carnival Physics: Midway Games

Follow Mary Jane and Eliza as they test and measure the best way to use a moving ball's energy to win at carnival games in this video from DragonflyTV.

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Centripetal Force

In this animation a ball bounces off the sides of the circle, and the number of sides double, until the circle appears to exert force on a ball that is constant in size and always directed towards the center.

Centripetal Force: Pulling Cs and Gs

In this interactive activity from NOVA, discover how centripetal force can affect you when riding in a car or flying at high speeds in a fighter jet.

Centripetal Force: Roller Coaster Loops

This video segment explains centripetal force and illustrates how roller coasters rely on it to give you a thrilling ride.

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Circular Motion

In this interactive activity featuring videos adapted from the Rutgers PAER Group, observe examples of circular motion. Can you find a common reason why the objects and people presented move in a circle?

Collisions on an Air Track

In this interactive activity adapted from the University of Toronto, observe the effect of mass on momentum in elastic and inelastic collisions.

Conical Pendulum

A pendulum that swings in a horizontal circle and sweeps out the shape of a cone with its mass and string is known as a “conical pendulum.” In this animation we see the pendulum sweep from several angles with a superimposed equation toward the end.

Defy Gravity! Balancing Balls on Air

In this video segment adapted from ZOOM, cast members use a hair dryer to balance a ball in a stream of air, seemingly defying gravity.

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Defy Gravity! Centripetal Force

How 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.

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Defy Gravity! Upside Down Ping Pong Ball

In 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.

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Designing a Puff Mobile

The 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.

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Designing a Roller Coaster

This video adapted from DESIGN SQUAD profiles Chris Gray, a mechanical engineer who uses his knowledge of energy transfer to design roller coasters.

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Designing a Roller Coaster

In this video segment adapted from ZOOM, the cast is challenged to design and test a roller coaster with loops, hills, and U-turns.

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Designing Balloon Cars

Can the air in a balloon power a car? Watch students from Weston, Massachusetts, demonstrate their balloon car designs in this video adapted from ZOOM.

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Energy in a Roller Coaster Ride

See potential energy convert to kinetic energy in this interactive activity from WGBH that shows a roller coaster in action.

Energy Transfer in a Roller Coaster

In this lesson designed to enhance literacy skills, students examine energy forms in moving objects and discover how changes from one form to another move cars through a roller coaster ride.

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.

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Experimenting with a Pendulum

In 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.

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Exploring Windmill Design

In this video segment adapted from ZOOM, cast members are challenged to design a windmill that can be powered by a hair dryer.

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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.

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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.

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Forces of Gravity and Air Resistance

In this lesson designed to enhance literacy skills, students learn how the forces of gravity and air resistance affect the motion of falling objects.

Frames of Reference

Explore how different frames of reference affect your perception of motion in this interactive activity from the American Museum of Natural History.

Frequency

In this interactive activity adapted from the University of Utah's ASPIRE Lab, investigate frequency in terms of trampoline jumps, pendulum swings, and electromagnetic waves.

Galileo: A Different Thinker

Students examine four of the experiments that Galileo used to discover the effects of gravity and inertia on moving objects.

Galileo: His Experiments

This interactive activity from the NOVA Web site samples Galileo's experiments with falling objects, projectiles, inclined planes, and pendulums.

Galileo: His Place in Science

Einstein called Galileo the "father of modern physics." This media-rich essay from the NOVA Web site looks at Galileo's quest to understand the mathematics of motion.

Galileo on the Moon

Watch Apollo 15 astronaut David Scott perform Galileo's falling objects experiment on the Moon in this video segment from NASA.

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Galileo's Big Mistake

Scientists don't always get it right. This video segment adapted from NOVA looks at Galileo's failed theory for the motion of the tides.

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Galileo's Inclined Plane

How did Galileo figure out the mathematics of falling bodies? This video segment adapted from NOVA examines Galileo's work on motion.

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Galileo's Thought Experiment

How 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.

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Galileo: Timeline of His Life

This illustrated timeline from the NOVA Web site turns back the clock to the late 1500's to relive the dramatic life of one of the world's most renowned scientists.

Getting Airborne and Wing Design

What makes an airplane fly? Discover the connection between Newton's third law of motion and flight in this interactive activity from the NOVA Web site.

Glider Boy

Meet 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.

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Glory: The Rough Road to Space

This video adapted from NASA describes the various factors engineers must consider when designing a spacecraft that can withstand the extreme conditions in space.

Gravity and Falling Objects

Students investigate the force of gravity and how all objects, regardless of their mass, fall to the ground at the same rate.

Gravity at Earth's Center

In 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.

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Invisible Force Challenge

In 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.

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Invisible Forces

Sometimes it is challenging to comprehend the forces that effect out everyday life because most forces we can't see. This video segment from SPARK shows how one artist makes them visible.

Let's Build Something

Children learn about the types of machines on a construction site and the different jobs they do to help us build in this original video from KET.

Let's Build Something Interactive

Children learn about the types of machines on a construction site and the different jobs they do to help us build in this original interactive from KET.

Levers: Raising the Moai on Easter Island

In this video segment adapted from NOVA, a team of archaeologists and engineers explores different uses of the lever by recreating the engineering feats of the ancient Easter Island peoples.

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Lift and Drag

In this interactive activity from NOVA, learn about the aerodynamic forces of lift and drag and how critical they are to the operation of all sorts of devices.

Mass vs. Weight: Accelerating Mass

Astronauts on the International Space Station demonstrate Newton’s Second Law of Motion in this video from NASA's Teaching From Space initiative.

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Mass vs. Weight: Air Powered Mass

In this video from NASA's Teaching From Space initiative, astronauts on board the International Space Station conduct an experiment using an air gun to exert a consistent force on two difference masses -- an empty water bag and a full water bag.

Mass vs. Weight: Introduction

Two astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) describe mass and weight and the differences between the two in this video from NASA’s Teaching From Space initiative.

Mass vs. Weight: Stretching Mass

In this video from NASA's Teaching From Space series, an astronaut on board the International Space Station demonstrates weightlessness by comparing two water bags - one full and one empty - tethered to a line by stretchable bands.

Microgravity

In this video from DragonflyTV, Tiana and Sammy measure, record, and analyze the results of a "drop box" test to find out how everyday items behave in microgravity.

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More on Galileo's Big Mistake

Even great scientists make mistakes! This illustrated essay from the NOVA Web site looks at Galileo's theory of the tides, which, while well thought out, was wrong.

Newton's Laws of Motion

In this video from KQED's QUEST, scientist Paul Doherty shows how Newton's three laws of motion affect all movement in the universe.

Newton's Third Law of Motion: Astronauts in Outer Space

In this video segment adapted from NOVA, NASA learns hard lessons from the first American attempt to do work while "walking" in space. The video also explores Newton's third law of motion.

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The Physics of Baseball

In this video adapted from QUEST, discover that some of the rules of physics and baseball are one and the same.

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Physics of Basketball

Learn more about the physics of basketball in this video from Science Friday.

Potential and Kinetic Energy: Spool Racer

In this video segment adapted from ZOOM, learn how the potential energy in a wound-up rubber band powers a spool racer.

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Predicting the Angle of a Bouncing Ball

In this Cyberchase video segment, the CyberSquad is trapped in an icy cave. In order to escape, they must use the principles of a bouncing ball to transport a key from one side of the icy cave to the other.

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Projectile Motion

In this interactive simulation adapted from University of Colorado’s Physics Education Technology project, learn about projectile motion by firing various objects from a virtual cannon into the air. Experiment with the settings and try to hit a target.

Robofly

Featuring slow-motion footage of insects in flight, this video adapted from NOVA explores the engineering challenge of designing a robotic aerial vehicle that flies like a bug.

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Rolling Ball Incline

In this video adapted from the Encyclopedia of Physics Demonstrations, learn how plotting the changes in an object's position on a graph can provide information about the object's motion.

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Segway Technology: What's Newton Got to Do with It?

What do the laws of physics have to do with engineering? Find out in this video segment featuring inventor Dean Kamen and his inventions, the IBOT and the Segway.

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Thank Goodness for Gravity

In this video adapted from the Lexington, KY Public Library, a young boy learns about Earth’s rotation from a librarian, a pendulum, and Leon Foucault.

Think Like Einstein

This interactive activity from the NOVA Web site challenges you to think like Einstein and understand how time travel might be possible.

To Survive at High Velocity

This video segment adapted from NOVA looks at speed, velocity, and centripetal force on the racetrack.

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Transforming the Future of Flight

In this video segment adapted from NASA, learn how engineers are transforming the future of flight by designing airplanes based on principles found in nature.

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Vehicle Stopping Distance

How far will your car travel once you decide you need to stop? This video adapted from KET’s Street Skills explains the biology and physics involved in individual reaction time and provides cautionary information for young drivers.

Virtual Balloon Cars

This interactive activity from ZOOM lets you experiment with a virtual balloon car of your own making. Find out which design elements make the car go faster and farther.

Virtual Car: Velocity and Acceleration

Take control of a virtual car and learn how vectors are used to represent velocity and acceleration in this interactive activity developed for Teachers' Domain.

Virtual Pendulum

This interactive activity from ZOOM offers a chance to experiment with a virtual pendulum and to see how it can be influenced by a variety of factors.

Waterslides

Join Valerie and Margie as they devise ways to measure how fast and how "wild" two waterslides are in this video from DragonflyTV.

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What Is a Wave?

This interactive activity adapted from Dr. Dan Russell, Kettering University, and the University of Utah's ASPIRE Lab provides an overview of the characteristics and properties of various types of waves, including light waves, sound waves, and water waves.