Multimedia Resources for the Classroom and Professional Development.
 

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Subtopic: Gravity

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Resource Grade Level Media Type

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.

3-8
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QuickTime Video

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.

6-12 HTML Document

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.

3-12 Real Audio

Atmospheric Pressure
Did you know that air has weight? This illustrated essay from the NOVA Web site explores conditions that affect air density and atmospheric pressure.

6-12 HTML Document

Birth of a Supernova, Type Ia
In this interactive activity from NOVA Online, learn about a type of exploding star — a Type Ia supernova — that is so bright that astronomers can measure the distance to the galaxy in which it resides, and even learn which elements make up the star.

6-12 Flash Interactive

Birth of a Supernova, Type II
In this interactive activity from NOVA Online, learn about a type of exploding star — a Type II supernova — that is so large it has a mass 10 times greater than the mass of our Sun.

6-12 Flash Interactive

Center of Gravity: Pencil Balance
Watch the ZOOM cast learn about center of gravity by trying to balance a pencil on their fingers and noses.

3-8
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QuickTime Video

Construct an Aqueduct
Think like an engineer and build an aqueduct in this interactive activity from the NOVA Web site.

3-12 Shockwave Interactive

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.

K-8 QuickTime Video

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.

3-8
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QuickTime Video

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.

3-8
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QuickTime Video

Demolition Woman
Find out how controlled explosions are used to demolish multi-story buildings in this interview from the NOVA Web site.

6-12 HTML Document

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.

3-12
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Flash Interactive

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.

3-8
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QuickTime Video

Free-Falling and "Weightlessness"
Discover the difference between free-falling and weightlessness in this interactive activity from the NOVA Web site.

6-12 Shockwave Interactive

Funny Boat
In this video segment adapted from FETCH!™, contestants are challenged to use materials from a garbage dump to build a boat that floats, can be steered, and is propelled by something other than oars.

3-8 QuickTime Video

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

6-12 Lesson Plan

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

6-12 Flash Interactive

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.

6-12 HTML Document

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.

6-12
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QuickTime Video

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.

6-12
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QuickTime Video

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.

6-12 QuickTime Video

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.

6-12 HTML Document

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.

3-5 Lesson Plan

Gravity and the Expanding Universe
This video segment, adapted from NOVA, traces the evolving history of theories about gravity and a force that may oppose it, and the impact of both on our expanding universe.

6-12 QuickTime Video

Gravity on Earth and in Space
This collection of images compares the effects of gravity on Earth and in space.

K-8
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Flash Image

History of the Universe
This interactive timeline from the NOVA Web site recaps the theoretical origin and formation of the universe, and forecasts its eventual fate.

6-12 Shockwave Interactive

Hoover Dam
This 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.

3-12
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QuickTime 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.

6-12
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QuickTime 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.

3-8
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QuickTime Video

Investigating Kinetic and Potential Energy
Students use media resources and an in-class investigation to explore the types of energy within different types of systems. They also use the formulas for kinetic and potential energy to examine the path of a projectile.

9-12 Lesson Plan

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.

Collection Developed by: KQED Public Television

4-12 QuickTime Video

The Leaning Tower: Where It Stands Today
Will the Leaning Tower of Pisa give way to gravity? In this interview from the NOVA Web site, engineer John Burland relates the difficult job of saving the tower.

6-12 HTML Document

Masses and Springs
In this interactive simulation adapted from the University of Colorado's Physics Education Technology project, hang various masses from different springs and see the kinetic, potential, and thermal energy of each spring system. You can even slow time or move your demonstration to another planet.

6-12
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Flash Interactive

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.

6-8 QuickTime Video

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.

6-12 HTML Document

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.

3-12
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QuickTime Video

Pantheon Dome
This video segment adapted from Building Big: "Domes" illustrates how the design of the Pantheon Dome emerged out of another form, the arch.

3-12
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QuickTime Video

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.

6-12
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Flash Interactive

Raising an Obelisk: An Engineering Puzzle
This video segment adapted from NOVA follows two teams as they each test a different engineering design in an effort to explain how ancient Egyptians raised a giant stone obelisk.

3-12
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QuickTime Video

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.

6-12
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QuickTime Video

String Theory: A New Picture of Gravity
This video segment from NOVA describes the general theory of relativity and the theory of electromagnetism.

6-12 QuickTime Video

String Theory: A Strange New World
This video segment from NOVA chronicles Einstein's quest to unify the forces of electromagnetism and gravity.

6-12 QuickTime Video

String Theory: Newton's Embarrassing Secret
This video segment from NOVA chronicles Newton's theory of gravity and Einstein's discovery that contradicted it.

6-12 QuickTime Video

Trash Bag Kites
In this video from Curious George, children fly kites they have made from trash bags and explore the forces of pushes, pulls, and gravity.

K-2 QuickTime Video

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.

3-8 Shockwave Interactive

What Is "Weightlessness"?
This video segment, adapted from ZOOM, shows how dropping a cup of water can both demonstrate gravity and create "weightlessness" here on Earth.

K-8
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QuickTime Video

Your Weight on Other Worlds
This interactive resource from the Exploratorium calculates your weight on other bodies in our solar system and offers an explanation of mass and weight and the relationship between gravity, mass, and distance.

6-12 HTML Interactive