Introduction
MS-PS2-2 Plan an investigation to provide evidence that the change in an object’s motion depends on the sum of the forces on the object and the mass of the object.
Today you'll investigate when objects move, and when they don't and why.
Click on the "Task" Tab above, and complete each of the tasks, and take time to record your thoughts between each of them.
Then complete the project described under the "Evaluation" Tab and share it with your teacher.
If you finish early, you may watch the video under the "Conclusion" tab, and compare it to the Tasks experiment.
Task
Task 1
Watch the video. Take some notes on technique.
Task 2
Now you're going to try to recreate the above trick. We're going to simplify it a bit.
Required materials:
- A sheet of paper
- Two small water bottles.
This science is hard work, so go ahead and drink the water from one of the bottles.
Now put the paper at the edge of the table, so that about 1/2 inch sticks over the edge. Put the full water bottle in the middle of the paper. Now, using what you learned in the video above, try to pull the paper out from under the bottle.
Did it work?
Now try it again, with as many combinations of the following variations as possible:
- Put the bottle at the side of the paper near the center of the table.
- Put the bottle at the side closer to the edge of the table.
- Use the empty bottle
- Pull the paper slowly.
- Pull the paper at a medium speed.
Record the combinations you tried together with the results.
Which variations made the trick harder to do?
Which made it easier?
What happened to the bottle when it was difficult?
Task 3
Oh oh.
What happened here? Was this similar to any of the experimental variations you tried?
Write an explanation.
Task 4
Visit these two pages:
https://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/newtlaws/Lesson-1/Newton-s-First-Law
https://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/newtlaws/Lesson-1/Inertia-and-Mass
Use the lessons to figure out why the tablecloth trick does (or doesn't) work.
Evaluation
Create a presentation (could be a slideshow, a poster, or a video) to explain what you learned about inertia and pulling a tablecloth out from under dishes (or at least about pulling a sheet of paper from under a water bottle).
When you are done, present it to your teacher.
Conclusion
Bonus Time:
If you finish before everyone else, watch the below video, and describe how it compares to the tablecloth trick.