On this page: General Resources | Simple Machines | Heat | Experiments
general resources
📖 Energy Makes Things Happen by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley. “You get energy every time you eat. You transfer energy to other things every time you play baseball. In this book, you can find out all the ways you and everyone on earth need energy to make things happen.” This is another clearly written, informative title in the Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out series. – Preschool • Elementary
📖 Forces Make Things Move by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley. This Stage 2 Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out book teaches young kids the basics of forces. – Preschool • Elementary
📖 Gravity Is a Mystery by Franklyn Branley. “Nobody can say exactly what it is, but gravity is there, pulling on everything, all the time. With the help of an adventurous scientist and his fun-loving dog, you can read and find out about this mysterious force.” – Preschool • Elementary
📖 Gravity by Jason Chin. Here is a whimsical first introduction to gravity from the always-captivating author and illustrator Jason Chin. The illustrations are phenomenal and the text is sparse, though the back material provides a little more information. – Preschool • Elementary
▶️ Eureka! physics videos – Unit 1. Eureka! is a series of short animated physics videos first broadcast in 1980. Watch it at the website linked above. Unit 1, Force & Energy, covers inertia, mass, speed, acceleration, gravity, weight & mass, work, and potential & kinetic energy. – Elementary • Middle
▶️ All of the energy in the universe is… from TED-Ed. “The energy in the universe never increases or decreases—but it does move around a lot. Energy can be potential (like a stretched-out rubber band waiting to snap) or kinetic (like the molecules that vibrate within any substance). And though we can't exactly see it, every time we cook dinner or shiver on a cold night, we know it's there.” – Middle • High
✏️ Force and motion from PhET. ”Explore the forces at work when pulling against a cart, and pushing a refrigerator, crate, or person. Create an applied force and see how it makes objects move. Change friction and see how it affects the motion of objects.” – All
✏️ Friction from PhET. ”Move the Chemistry book and observe what happens.” – All
✏️ Pendulum lab from PhET. ”Play with one or two pendulums and discover how the period of a simple pendulum depends on the length of the string, the mass of the pendulum bob, the strength of gravity, and the amplitude of the swing. Observe the energy in the system in real-time, and vary the amount of friction. Measure the period using the stopwatch or period timer. Use the pendulum to find the value of g on Planet X. Notice the anharmonic behavior at large amplitude.” – Middle • High
✏️ Gravity force lab from PhET. “Visualize the gravitational force that two objects exert on each other. Adjust properties of the objects to see how changing the properties affects the gravitational attraction” – All
✏️ Energy skate park from PhET. “Learn about conservation of energy with a skater gal! Explore different tracks and view the kinetic energy, potential energy and friction as she moves. Build your own tracks, ramps, and jumps for the skater.” – All
✏️ Masses and Springs from PhET. “Hang masses from springs and discover how they stretch and oscillate. Compare two mass-spring systems, and experiment with spring constant. Transport the lab to different planets, slow down time, and observe the velocity and acceleration throughout the oscillation.” – All
✏️ Projectile Motion from PhET. “Blast a car out of a cannon, and challenge yourself to hit a target! Learn about projectile motion by firing various objects. Set parameters such as angle, initial speed, and mass. Explore vector representations, and add air resistance to investigate the factors that influence drag.” – All
simple machines
📖 Simple Machines by DJ Ward. This Stage 2 Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out title does a good job of introducing simple machines to the early elementary crowd. Ward connects these simple machines to tools that kids see every day—How does a soda can lid act as a lever? How do your window blinds act as a pulley? Also along these lines, see David Adler’s Simple Machines. – Preschool • Elementary
📖 How Do You Lift a Lion? by Robert E. Wells. This fun little book introduces levers, pulleys, and wheels by explaining how they could be used to accomplish some fairly daunting tasks (see title). Great for younger children. – Preschool • Elementary
▶️ Eureka! physics videos – Unit 2. The Eureka! series of animated physics videos is best watched on the Animated Science Player (linked). Unit 2 covers Simple Machines: inclined plane, lever, screw, wheel, pulley, and friction. – Elementary • Middle
▶️ The mighty mathematics of the lever from TED-Ed. “Archimedes once said “Give me a place to stand, and I shall move the Earth.” While the idea of a person moving such a huge mass on their own might sound impossible, chances are you’ve seen this idea in action at your local playground. Andy Peterson and Zack Patterson use the seesaw to illustrate the amazing implications and uses of the lever.” – All
heat
▶️ Eureka! physics videos – Units 3–5. This series of animated physics videos is best watched on the Animated Science Player (linked). Unit 3 covers Heat & Temperature, Unit 4 covers Conduction of Heat, and Unit 5 covers Convection of Heat. – Elementary • Middle
▶️ Getting Hot from Beautiful Chemistry. ”In this film, we show 5 exothermic processes captured with a normal and a thermal camera, including the dissolving of sodium hydroxide, the dilution of concentrated sulfuric acid, the hydration reaction between concentrated sulfuric acid and paper, the neutralization reaction between hydrochloric acid and sodium hydroxide, and the reaction between sodium metal and water.” – All
▶️ Getting Cold from Beautiful Chemistry. ”This short film documents five spontaneous endothermic processes with the help of a high-resolution thermal imaging camera.” – All
✏️ Energy forms and changes from PhET. ”Explore how heating and cooling iron, brick, water, and olive oil adds or removes energy. See how energy is transferred between objects. Build your own system, with energy sources, changers, and users. Track and visualize how energy flows and changes through your system.” – All
experiments
🖐️ Experiment with Forces & Energy. Chatterton’s Awesome Science Experiments for Kids has many projects to supplement a study of Forces & Energy. Check out “Wind-powered car,” “Windmill challenge,” Balloon-powered car,” “Paddleboat,” “Zipline challenge,” “Spinning top,” “Spin art," "Falling orange," “Craft stick,” "Heavy as a piece of paper," and “Pulley system.” – Elementary
🖐️ Experiment with Force & Heat. Colón’s Awesome Physics Experiments for Every Kid includes a section on Force (Chapter 2) and another on Heat (Chapter 8). – Elementary
🖐️ Explore Forces & Energy. Van Cleave’s Physics for Every Kid has many simple projects that can nicely supplement a study of Forces & Energy. Experiment with Gravity (Unit IV), Balance (Unit V), Flight (Unit VI), Simple Machines (Unit VII), Inertia (Unit VIII), Motion (Unit IX), and Heat (Unit XI).
🖐️ Experiment with Forces & Energy. On Spangler’s website, you’ll find several relevant experiments. Try Coin tower for a lesson in inertia and friction, Popsicle stick chain reaction for a memorable demonstration of the conversion of potential to kinetic energy, and Balloon-powered race car to explore forces and motion. – All
