Forces and Mechanisms

This project teaches children about the forces of gravity, air resistance, water resistance and friction, with children exploring their effects. They learn about mechanisms, their uses and how they allow a smaller effort to have a greater effect.

Investigating weight and Mass

We carried out an investigation to find out what the mass and the weight of objects around the classroom.  We used a forcemeter which measure weight in Newtons and Mass in g.  We learnt that as the mass of the object increased, so did the weight.

Friction

We investigated how friction affects vehicles travelling on different surfaces.  We tested different surfaces and times how long the vehicles took to travel down the ramp.  The slower the vehicle, the more friction!  We noticed that rough surfaces had more friction.

Investigating Air Resistance

We learnt that air resistance is a force that slows objects down.  It also works more on a larger surface area than a smaller surface area.  We used two identical pieces of paper to show this.  One was scrunched up and one was left flat.  We found that the scrunched up piece dropped to the floor quicker because it had less air resistance acting on it.

We then worked in teams to carry out a comparative test to find out which parachutes encountered more air resistance.  

Investigating Water Resistance

In teams, we were set the challenge to create a shape from plasticine that would sink to the bottom of a container the fastest.  Of course, we knew we needed to make our investigations fair, so we all had the same amount of plasticine.  In our teams, we investigated different shapes, timing them to see which was the quickest to sink.  Once we had decided on our fastest shape the competition commenced!   Each group battled with each other to see whose shape sunk the quickest.  In the final, a video and a photo finish was needed to decide the winner!  We learnt that the smaller the surface area the less water resistance the shape encountered and therefore it sank the quickest!