Subtopic: Objects in Motion

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

What Is a Wave?
This interactive activity adapted from 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.