Exploration
A simple pendulum consists of a mass, m, hanging from a string of length, L, and fixed at a pivot point, P. When displaced from equilibrium and to an initial angle (amplitude, θ) and released, the motion will be regular and repeat. This is an example of periodic motion.
Objective
Exploration
In the Magnetic Minesweeper Lab, you will recreate the classic computer game Minesweeper in real life! Using PocketLab’s magnetometer, you will try to discover hidden mines and mark their locations on a grid. You can do this lab with two people to create a Minesweeper competition. One partner hides mines in different grid locations while the other partner tries to locate the mines to not get blown up!
Objective
The disciplinary core idea behind this standard is PS2.B: Types of Interactions. It specifically looks at electric and magnetic forces and how they can be attractive or repulsive, and how the size of the force can depend on the magnitudes of the charges, currents, or magnetic strengths involved. The strength can also depend on the distances between the interacting forces.
Exploration
Until the late 1800’s, electricity and magnetism were regarded as separate forces. A number of scientists, including Michael Faraday and James Clerk Maxwell, made important discoveries which led to our current understanding of electricity and magnetism. The interaction between positive and negative charges is, in fact, one force, the electromagnetic force, which results in both electrical currents and magnetic fields.
Exploration
When an object is in free fall, the only force acting on the object is gravity. In general terms, an object moving upward is not considered “falling,” however, if gravity is the only force acting on the object (air resistance being negligible) then the object is in fact in a state of free fall. The projectile motion of an object is the trajectory of an object in free fall near Earth’s surface after being thrown or launched in the air. The curved path of the projectile is under the effect of gravity only after being launched.
Exploration
The law of conservation of energy states that the total energy of an isolated system remains constant. Over time, all energy is conserved. It is neither created nor destroyed-instead it transfers from one form to another. When shaking a jar of sand, what happens to the temperature of the sand? Explore how this relates to the law of conservation of energy.
Objective
Does a falling object have potential energy or kinetic energy or both? In other potential energy experiments, we demonstrated the Law of Conservation of Energy: energy can neither be created nor destroyed, but instead, energy transfers from one form to another. In this investigation, we will take a look at the role of gravity in energy transfer.
The law of conservation of energy tells us that energy can neither be created nor destroyed. Instead, it changes from one form of energy to another. Potential energy is energy that is stored in an object. Potential energy can transfer into other forms of energy, like kinetic energy. Kinetic energy is energy in an object because of its motion.
Exploration
What is velocity? Velocity is often defined as speed with direction and speed is often defined as how fast or slow an object is traveling. But what exactly does being fast or slow mean? How can we represent an object’s velocity with an equation, graph, or other model? What is acceleration?
Exploration Part 1
Previously you learned that the net force acting on an object is related to the object’s motion. The net force determines whether the velocity of an object will change. This is described in Newton’s First Law of Motion:
“An object at rest will remain at rest or an object in motion will remain in uniform motion unless acted upon by an outside force”.
