Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Physics: Crash!

This week we continued our studies of motion through 2 mini-experiments.  The first one was an investigation of how increasing the slope of a ramp affects a car's speed. We used the same set-up from last week, (toy cars, tracks, and encyclopedias), but for the grand finale we threw in some action figures, blocks at the bottom of the ramp to simulate a CRASH, and some optional string for seat belts.  The kids observed the motion of passengers, with and without seat belts, as the cars crashed into barriers,

In the second experiment the kids were challenged to build an air-powered car using a toy car, a straw, a balloon, and some tape.  Both experiments demonstrated Newton's Laws of Motion.  More on than next week.

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