LAB
Newton’s Laws of Motion
NAME: ____________________ DATE: ____________________ PERIOD: __________________
In this laboratory activity, students will investigate Newton’s three laws of motion.
SAFETY NOTES:
• This room is crowded so please be courteous when moving about. • Do not open the petri dish. If the dish does come open, tell the teacher as the small metal bearings could cause a slip and fall hazard.
I have been told of the safety concerns and the proper safety equipment to use.
___________________________________
initials
Materials:
String Soda straw Balloon Tape Perti dish with metal bearings Beaker 3X5″ card Penny
GOALS:
③ Students will explore Newton’s three laws of motion with hands on activities ③ Practice good lab safety.
③ Support TEKS 1A, 2B, 2C, 2D, 4A & 4B
Procedure:
Part A Newton’s First Law
1. Place a playing card on top of an empty beaker.
2. Place a penny on top of the card.
3. Flick the card sideways rapidly with your finger.
4. What happens to the card?
5. What happens to the penny?
Newton’s first law says that an object at rest tends to remain at rest, while an object in motion tends to remain in motion – unless acted upon by some outside force.
6. What “outside” force was applied to the card?
7. Explain what happened to the penny, based on Newton’s first law:
8. What force acted on the penny to cause it to fall into the beaker? Part B Newton’s Second Law
1. Obtain a petri dish containing small beads of different masses. 2. With the petri dish lying on the lab table, slide it back and forth rapidly. Note the motion of the beads.
3. Is your hand supplying about the same amount of force to all of the beads in the petri dish?
4. Are all of the beads moving at the same speed?
5. Which are moving faster (on the average), the smaller beads or the larger ones?
6. Which beads, therefore, are harder to accelerate?
Newton’s second law says that acceleration is equal to the net force acting on the object divided by the mass of the object:
a = F/m
Therefore, if force stays the same, mass and acceleration are “inversely proportional. In other words, as the mass of an object or particle goes up, its acceleration goes down (and vice versa).
7. Explain the motion of the beads in the petri dish using Newton’s second law.
Part C Newton’s Third Law
1. Obtain a 25 foot piece of string or twine and pass one end through a plastic straw. Have two students take an end of the string and spread as far apart as they can.
2. Blow up a balloon, but do not tie off the end. Tape the balloon to the bottom of the straw:
3. Release the balloon.
4. What happens to the balloon?
Newton’s third Law says that for every action force, there is an equal, but opposite, reaction force.
9. What “equal but opposite” force was applied to the balloon?
10. Explain what happened to the balloon, based on Newton’s third law:
Conclude and Apply:
1. What is Newton’s first law?
2. What is Newton’s second law?
3. What is Newton’s third law?
NOTE I couldn’t upload the picture, since its an adobe file
