Coin Flick

SCIENCE CONCEPT:

Aerodynamics is the study of the forces acting on an object due to air, or some other fluid, moving past it. Aerodynamic forces act upon airplanes, sailboats, and other objects moving through the air, thereby affecting the motion of those objects. Engineers must use aerodynamic principles when designing all airplanes. Man has dreamed of flight for thousands of years. He has watched birds fly and imagined the possibilities of being free from the earth's surface. Unravelling the mysteries of flight began in 1665 when Sir Isaac Newton, an English scientist, first began his investigations into motion and gravitation.

STUDENT OBJECTIVE:

The student will explore the Third Law of Newton which states that to every action there must be a reaction. Because motion is paramount in flight, every aspect of the Laws of Motion discovered by Newton bear on the reality of flight for man.

OVERVIEW:

The student will use rulers, coins and modeling clay to experiment with Newton's Third Law. There are variations to this experiment which will be explained under the Steps to Follow section.

PREPARATION TIME:

Variable

LESSON TIME:

25 - 35 minutes.

TEACHER PREP:

Gather materials for the experiment: you will need 2 rulers, a selection of coins, at least 6 having the same value, and double-sided tape or modeling clay.

WORDS TO KNOW:

action and reaction

push

pull

motion

gravitation

TEACHER TEXT:

Newton eventually concluded there was a force in the universe that makes every pair of objects attract each other. The strength of this force between objects depends upon two factors: 1) the amount of matter in the two objects and 2) the distance between the objects. Matter is defined as the stuff of which everything is composed. Thus, the earth's pull on a large rock is greater than its pull on a small rock because the large rock has more matter. The pull of the earth on any object is called its weight.

Newton realized that mathematics was the language of science, and he formulated these universal laws of motion and gravitation mathematically. They describe how objects move when they are acted upon by forces. Newton's Third Law states that if an object is pushed or pulled, it will push or pull to an equal extent in the opposite direction. For example, if a bulldozer pushes against a wall, the wall will exert an equal and opposite force on the bulldozer.

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Last modified: Tue Mar 24 16:30:07 PST 1998