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.

Students explore how different materials (sand, gravel, lava rock) with different water contents on different slopes result in landslides of different severity. They measure the severity by how far the landslide debris extends into model houses placed in the flood plain. This activity is a small-scale model of a debris chute currently being used by engineers and scientists to study landslide characteristics. Much of this activity setup is the same as for the Survive That Tsunami activity in Lesson 5 of the Natural Disasters unit.

The application of engineering principles is explored in the creation of mobiles. As students create their own mobiles, they take into consideration the forces of gravity and convection air currents. They learn how an understanding of balancing forces is important in both art and engineering design.

Mechanical energy is the most easily understood form of energy for students. When there is mechanical energy involved, something moves. Mechanical energy is a very important concept to understand. Engineers need to know what happens when something heavy falls from a long distance changing its potential energy into kinetic energy. Automotive engineers need to know what happens when cars crash into each other, and why they can do so much damage, even at low speeds! Our knowledge of mechanical energy is used to help design things like bridges, engines, cars, tools, parachutes, and even buildings! In this lesson, students will learn how the conservation of energy applies to impact situations such as a car crash or a falling object.

Build your own system of heavenly bodies and watch the gravitational ballet. With this orbit simulator, you can set initial positions, velocities, and masses of 2, 3, or 4 bodies, and then see them orbit each other.

Build your own system of heavenly bodies and watch the gravitational ballet. With this orbit simulator, you can set initial positions, velocities, and masses of 2, 3, or 4 bodies, and then see them orbit each other.

In this lab activity students are given five different map views of the continent of Australia: Geology, Gravity Anomaly, Magnetic Anomaly, Digital Elevation, and Satellite Image, and asked to investigate and interpret these different data sets. The primary goal is to introduce students to the potential of geophysical data for regional geologic and tectonic investigations.

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In this lesson designed to enhance literacy skills, an early astronaut's experiences teach students that Newton's third law of motion—for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction—applies both on Earth and 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.

This Ology website focuses on Planet Earth. It includes activities, things to make, quizzes, interviews with working scientists, and more to help kids learn about the Earth.

This humorous OLogy article introduces kids to the Sun. The big star answers 15 questions, including: Your agent told me that you're the biggest star in the universe. Is that true? I know you star types tend to be touchy about age, but how old are you? Actually, I'm curious to know how stars begin. What's your story? Let's turn to a delicate subject. How do stars die? In Hollywood, I meet a lot of people filled with hot air. What gases are inside you?

In this activity, learners build bridges using paper and explore how much weight each bridge design can support. There is an element of surprise, which increases learners' interest in the physics, when they discover just how strong they can make this seemingly flimsy material. This lesson guide includes background information, discussion questions, demonstration ideas and extensions.

Play with one or two pendulums and discover how the period of a simple pendulum depends on the length of the string, the mass of the pendulum bob, and the amplitude of the swing. It's easy to measure the period using the photogate timer. You can vary friction and the strength of gravity. Use the pendulum to find the value of g on planet X. Notice the anharmonic behavior at large amplitude.

Play with one or two pendulums and discover how the period of a simple pendulum depends on the length of the string, the mass of the pendulum bob, and the amplitude of the swing. It's easy to measure the period using the photogate timer. You can vary friction and the strength of gravity. Use the pendulum to find the value of g on planet X. Notice the anharmonic behavior at large amplitude.

For all of the bodies attached to the many great minds that walk the Institute’s halls, in the work that goes on at MIT the body is present as an object of study, but is all but unrecognized as an important dimension of our intelligence and experience. Yet the body is the basis of our experience in the world; it is the very foundation on which cognitive intelligence is built. Using the MIT gymnastics gym as our laboratory, the Physical Intelligence activity will take an innovative, hands-on approach to explore the kinesthetic intelligence of the body as applicable to a wide range of disciplines. Via exercises, activities, readings and discussions designed to excavate our physical experience, we will not only develop balance, agility, flexibility and strength, but a deep appreciation for the inherent unity of mind and body that suggests physical intelligence as a powerful complement to cognitive intelligence.

The CK-12 21st Century Physics FlexBook is a collaborative effort of the Secretaries of Education and Technology and the Department of Education that seeks to elevate the quality of physics instruction across the Commonwealth of Virginia.

This video lesson explores Newton's Third Law of Motion through examination of several real world examples of this law in action, including that of a donkey cart - a site common in the streets of Pakistan. Students will understand that forces act on objects even if the objects appear to be static and that certain conditions - gravity in particular - affect how two objects interact. The time needed to complete this lesson is approximately 50-60 minutes, and students should be familiar with basic mechanics such as Newton's laws, levers, etc. The materials required are a couple of spring balances, a meter rule, tape, pencil, two desks, and some lab weights (few grams each). The types of in-class activities for between the video breaks include active discussions and participation by students in activities related to the Third Law.

Students explore the physics utilized by engineers in designing today's roller coasters, including potential and kinetic energy, friction, and gravity. First, students learn that all true roller coasters are completely driven by the force of gravity and that the conversion between potential and kinetic energy is essential to all roller coasters. Second, they also consider the role of friction in slowing down cars in roller coasters. Finally, they examine the acceleration of roller coaster cars as they travel around the track. During the associated activity, the students design, build, and analyze a roller coaster for marbles out of foam tubing.

Walking up and down the hallways of Davey Lab at Penn State, you can find astronomers searching for and characterizing exoplanets, monitoring supernovae and other exploding stars, and measuring the details of the accelerating expansion of the Universe to determine the nature of dark energy. In Astro 801, we learn that with only the ability to measure the light from these distant, unreachable objects, we can still determine how the Solar System, stars, galaxies, and the Universe formed and evolved since the Big Bang. We are all citizens of the Universe, and in fact, you are made of starstuff. Come learn where the atoms in your body came from, and what will happen to them long after we are gone.

Students continue to explore the story of building a pyramid, learning about the simple machine called a pulley. They learn how a pulley can be used to change the direction of applied forces and move/lift extremely heavy objects, and the powerful mechanical advantages of using a multiple-pulley system. Students perform a simple demonstration to see the mechanical advantage of using a pulley, and they identify modern day engineering applications of pulleys. In a hands-on activity, they see how a pulley can change the direction of a force, the difference between fixed and movable pulleys, and the mechanical advantage gained with multiple / combined pulleys. They also learn the many ways engineers use pulleys for everyday purposes.