Week 3: April 20-24

Learning Goal:

I can describe how different forces will affect the motion of an object.

Estimated Time for The Week:

60-75 minutes

Type of Lesson: Physical Science:

Balanced and Unbalanced Forces

Materials:

• Ball
• Toy car
• Pencil
• Paper
• 4 colors of either colored pencils
• Crayons
• Markers

Learn & Practice:

For the Google Slides to click-through the below directions, click here! (It includes pictures for the steps below.)

1. What is force? Any push or pull on an object.
2. How does force affect an object?
   • Direction
   • Strength
   • Friction
   • Gravity
   • Balanced Force
   • Unbalanced Force
3. Direction: An object will move in the direction it is pushed or pulled. Try this now:
   • If you push your ball to the left, what direction does the ball move?
   • If you push your ball to the right, what direction does the ball move?
4. Strength: The amount of force applied to an object. Try this now:
   • When you give the toy car a strong push, how far does it travel?
   • When you give the toy car a small push, how far does it travel?
   • How do strong forces compare to weak forces?
   • Which made the car travel farther?
   • What caused the car to slow down?
5. Friction: a force that slows the movement of an object. The more friction a surface has, the quicker an object slows down. Try this now:
   • Pick two different surfaces. Make sure one is smooth and one rough.
   • Push your toy car with the same amount of force on each surface.
   • Which surface allows your car to travel the farthest?
6. Gravity: The force which tries to pull two objects toward each other.
   • When an object is in the air, the object’s gravity pulls on the Earth.
   • However, Earth’s gravity is much stronger, so the object moves toward the Earth.
7. Does force always mean the object moves?
   • When forces act in opposite directions, but equal in strength this is known as balanced force. Try this now:
   • With the help of your partner, push on the ball gently in opposite directions.
8. When two forces are not in opposite directions, or equal in strength the object is put in motion. This is known as unbalanced force.
   • Motion: The process of an object moving or being moved
   • Review the vocabulary words:
     • Force
     • Balanced Force
     • Unbalanced Force
     • Motion
     • Strength
     • Gravity
9. Practice:
   • Let’s investigate using your partner’s help. For this, you will create an observation chart.
     • 1) Title your chart: Force Observations
     • 2) Create a rectangular array that is 2 squares high, and 3 squares wide
     • 3) Create a colorful key to identify two forces, predicted motion, and actual motion.
   • Plan with your partner six ways to put force on a ball. Predict how you think the ball will move.
   • After each way, record how the ball actually reacted.
   • *Hint* Use a large arrow to show a stronger force. Use a small arrow to show a weaker force.
10. Challenge:
    • Gravity is a constant force downward. If a ball is resting on a flat surface, why doesn’t the ball move?
    • Find a creative way to explain to your parent, sibling, family member, or teacher why the ball doesn’t move even though gravity is constantly pushing down on the ball.
11. Looking for something more challenging? Extend this lesson by going to Nearpod and entering this code: WMPKB

Learning Goal:

I can use only one piece of paper to construct the longest chain possible.

Estimated Time for The Week:

20-30 minutes

Type of Lesson:

Engineering and Math

Materials:

• 3 pieces of copy paper
• Scissors
• Tape or glue
• Ruler or tape measure

Learn & Practice:

1. Before you cut your paper, decide if you are going to cut your paper horizontally or vertically. Also, decide how wide you want your strips of paper to be.
2. Using a pencil and a straight-edge, mark your lines that you want to cut on one piece of paper.
3. Cut your paper from edge to edge.
4. Take a strip of paper and glue or tape it to form a circle. This will become your chain link.
5. Take another strip of paper, slide it through the first circle and glue or tape to form the next circle (link).
6. Repeat with all remaining strips of paper to construct your chain.
7. Once your chain is complete, use your ruler or tape measure to measure the length of your paper chain. Record the length of your first chain to compare to the next two chains.
8. Repeat steps 2-7 to create two more paper chains with the remaining pieces of paper.
   • How can you change the way you cut your paper to create a longer chain?
   • What would you change?
   • How do the links change?
9. Compare the lengths of the three paper chains.
   • Which was the longest?
   • Why do you think it was longer than the other two chains?
   • How big were the links in your chain?
   • How long were the strips of paper?
   • How wide were the strips of paper?
   • Is there anything else besides the length or width of the strips that you could change to make your chain longer?

FUN FACT: The longest paper chain ever recorded was 2,556 feet and 5.5 inches long! It took just less than 12 hours to complete!

Optional Extension Activity: Challenge a member of your family to a contest to see who can create the longest chain.