Physics for Third Graders

We have finished out first quarter of 3rd grade, which means we have finished up the health section of science for the year and have moved on to "real science".

This year we are using Noeo Science Physics 1.

 

This is our type of schooling...good books, notebooking and experiments.  It's very hands on and the kids love it. (So do I)  We do tend to be pretty science geeky around here, so once we get started on a subject we generally go all out.

 

Today, after reading the first 2 pages of the book Forces and Motion, the kids did their note booking page,

 

This led to watching Bill Nye the Science Guy on Youtube...not just about forces and motion but we also watched gravity.  (we do get sucked into more and more and more in the science department.

 

We then found some experiments to do.  (I said we really get into science....today it lasted about 2 hours-after only reading 2 pages from the first book)

 

The law of inertia, Isaac Newton’s First Law of Motion, states that an object tends to stay at rest or in straight line motion if no outside force acts upon that object. It can also be described as the resistance of any object to change in its motion. Using inertia, we can drop a penny into a cup without touching it.

 

Next we removed a coin from the bottom of a pile of coins without disturbing the coins on top.

From Steve Spangler:

How Does It Work?

The key to safely removing a coin from from the bottom of a stack comes from friction and inertia. Inertia comes from Newton's first law of motion, stating that an object in motion (or at rest) tends to stay in motion (or at rest). This means that the balanced coins wants to stay in their stacked position, in the spot they are stacked. However, when you attempt to remove the bottom coin, you apply an outside force that causes the stack of coins to topple over.

This is where friction becomes a factor. There is friction between the bottom coin and stack above it. There is so much friction that the bottom coin brings the next coin with it, that coin drags the next coin, and so on.  To overcome the amount of friction, you swing the knife at the bottom of the stack. This process is fast-moving, but there is plenty of force to remove the bottom coin. The amount of force applied to the coin is enough that the friction isn’t allowed to tip the tower over. Instead, the tower drops, almost perfectly, into the spot that it was before.