Principal Sponsors
Makes grants to address the most serious social and environmental problems facing society, where risk capital, responsibly invested, may make a difference over time.
National Science Foundation
An independent federal agency created by Congress in 1950 to promote the progress of science.
King Saud University seeks to become a leader in educational and technological innovation, scientific discovery and creativity through fostering an atmosphere of intellectual inspiration and partnership for the prosperity of society.
The O'Donnell Foundation is devoted to building model programs to enhance the quality of education.
Ramp: Forces and Motion
Explore forces and motion as you push household objects up and down a ramp. Lower and raise the ramp to see how the angle of inclination affects the parallel forces. Graphs show forces, energy and work.
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Teaching Resources
Main Topics
- Force
- Position
- Velocity
- Acceleration
Sample Learning Goals
- Predict, qualitatively, how an external force will affect the speed and direction of an object's motion.
- Explain the effects with the help of a free body diagram.
- Use free body diagrams to draw position, velocity, acceleration and force graphs and vice versa.
- Explain how the graphs relate to one another.
- Given a scenario or a graph, sketch all four graphs.
Tips for Teachers
The teacher's guide (pdf) contains tips created by the PhET team.
Teaching Ideas
| Title | Authors | Level | Type | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Ramp Middle School Inquiry
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Ariel Paul, Courtney Fadley | MS | Lab | 1/31/12 |
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Ramp: Forces and Motion Investigation
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Bruce Palmquist | UG-Intro HS |
Lab | 3/25/11 |
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Ramp lab
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Nathan Upchurch | HS | CQs | 12/22/10 |
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Algebra-based Physics Semester one lessons, clicker questions, and schedule in pdf (Inquiry Based)
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Trish Loeblein | UG-Intro HS |
HW Lab CQs Demo |
8/13/11 |
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Ramp Activity 2: Calculating Net force on an incline (Inquiry Based)
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Trish Loeblein | UG-Intro HS |
Lab CQs |
12/21/10 |
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Ramp Activity 1: Using free body diagrams for motion on an incline (Inquiry Based)
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Trish Loeblein | HS UG-Intro |
Lab CQs |
6/14/11 |
You can submit your own ideas and activities.
Translated Versions:
Software Requirements
| Windows | Macintosh | Linux |
|---|---|---|
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Microsoft Windows
XP/Vista/7 Sun Java 1.5.0_15 or later |
OS 10.5 or later
Sun Java 1.5.0_19 or later |
Sun Java 1.5.0_15 or later |
Credits
| Design Team | Third-party Libraries | Thanks To |
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