Gravity & Force Experiments

In this movie, Ryan runs two experiments dealing with gravity and force. 

Watch it and then read the experiment write up below!

Going Down Experiment:  Fast or Slow?

Experiment from the book On the Move, page 6.

Question:  Which one hits the ground first, a heavy wooden pirate, or a light plastic pirate?

Prediction:  The heavy wooden pirate will hit the ground first.

Methods:  I dropped the two pirates at the same time and watched them fall.

Results:  They both hit the ground at the same time.

Conclusion:  If you drop a light object and a heavy object, both of them will hit the ground at the same time.

Sources:

Book: Science Starters: On the Move by Wendy Madgwick, 1999, Raintree Steck-Vaughn Publishers, Austin, Texas.

Book: I Fall Down by Vicki Cobb, illustrated by Julia Gorton, 2004, HarperCollins Publishers, New York.

     

DVD: Disney presents Bill Nye the Science Guy: Gravity, 2004, Disney Educational Productions, Elk Grove Village, Illinois.

Ready, Set, Go!  Experiment:  Shove off!

Experiment from the book On the Move, page 9.

Question:  Which truck rolls the farthest, the empty truck or the full truck?

Methods:  I dropped a ball down a tube and made the truck roll.  I measured the spot that the back tire went to.  I filled the truck up with dice, and then sent the ball down the tube again.  And then I measured where the back tire was that time.

Results:  The empty truck rolled the farthest.

Conclusion:  Maybe the full truck has more friction because of the weight of the dice pushing down, so it doesn’t roll as far.

Data:

                                    THE SPOT THE TRUCK ROLLED

        Tube Type                                Empty                     Full           

Toilet paper – five long            11 inches                  6 inches

Toilet paper – five long            11 inches                  6 ¼ inches

Toilet paper – five long            11 inches                  6 inches

Toilet paper – five long on

Linoleum, bumpier floor            4 inches                  1 inch

Paper towel tube                        3 inches                  0 inches

Paper towel – two long            6 ½ inches            2 ¾ inches

Paper towel – two long            7 ½ inches            4 ½ inches

Sources:

Book: Science Starters: On the Move by Wendy Madgwick, 1999, Raintree Steck-Vaughn Publishers, Austin, Texas.

Book: Oscar and the Cricket: A book about Moving and Rolling by Geoff Waring, 2008, Candlewick Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.