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High School Physics

Prepare your students for real-world problem solving and open-ended lab experiments. Experienced educators and curriculum specialists have developed each of these lessons, and we have tested them in real classrooms. PocketLab physics lessons cover introductory and advanced topics from one-dimensional motion to electricity and magnetism to simple harmonic motion. Browse all the high school and AP-level physics lessons below or use the filters to search for specific content.

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Simple Harmonic Motion Demonstration Machine

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Submitted by Rich on Thu, 05/09/2019 - 14:52

Introduction

In a well-known 1938 book entitled "Demonstration Experiments in Physics", editor Richard Sutton describes a device that produces simple harmonic motion (SHM) mechanically.  With today's tremendous growth in the 3D printing industry, such a device can now be easily constructed for classroom demonstrations of SHM.  Couple this device with PocketLab Voyager and you can obtain real-time graphs describing the motion.

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Moment of Inertia / Mass Contrasted

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Submitted by Rich on Mon, 04/22/2019 - 15:32

Introduction to Moment of Inertia

There are numerous analogies when comparing linear and rotational motion.  At the heart of these comparisons lie the concepts of mass on one hand and moment of inertia on the other.  In addition to being a property of any physical object, mass is a measure of the resistance of an object to acceleration when a net force has been applied to the object.  Newton's Second Law of Motion expresses this in the fa

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The "Speeder Upper" - Translational and Rotational Motion Study

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Submitted by Rich on Wed, 04/17/2019 - 19:08

What's a "Speeder Upper"?

As shown in Figure 1, a "Speeder Upper" is a pair of disks that are connected by a short rod of much smaller radius.  The NSTA science ruler gives you a feel for the dimensions of the Speeder Upper.  The disks are 0.5" thick and 2.5" in diameter and are connected by a short 5/16" diameter wood dowel rod.  The 3D printer stl file for the disks is provided with this lesson in the event that you want to make a Speeder Upper for use in your physics classroom.

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Moment of Inertia Challenge

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Submitted by Rich on Sat, 02/23/2019 - 22:18

Introduction to the Moment of Inertia Challenge

We are going to assume that you have studied the concepts of moment of inertia and physical pendulums in your physics class.  With that in mind, we present a "Moment of Inertia Challenge" for you in this lab.  As you know, moment of inertia depends not only on the mass of an object, but also on how the mass is distributed, as well as the specific axis upon which it rotates.  It is of particular interest to compare the moments of inertia of two objects with the same mass but having the mass dist

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Moment of Inertia vs. Mass

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Submitted by Rich on Sun, 02/17/2019 - 21:06

Introduction to Moment of Inertia

There are numerous analogies when comparing linear and rotational motion.  At the heart of these comparisons lie the concepts of mass on one hand and moment of inertia on the other.  In addition to being a property of any physical object, mass is a measure of the resistance of an object to acceleration when a net force has been applied to the object.  Newton's Second Law of Motion expresses this in the familiar equation F = ma.  By analogy, the moment of inertia of any rigid obj

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Physical Pendulum: Finding Moment of Inertia

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Submitted by Rich on Tue, 02/12/2019 - 18:22

Introduction to the Physical Pendulum

Mount any rigid body such that it can swing in a vertical plane about an axis passing through the body.  You have constructed what is known as a physical pendulum.  The video below shows an example of such a pendulum.  In this video, a rigid circular body is swinging about an axis very close to the edge of the circle.  The circle was cut from a piece of cardboard.  PocketLab Voyager is resting at the bottom of a ring stand directly below the pivot point of the pendulum.  A tiny magnet has been attached to the bottom of the ci

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How to teach NGSS MS-PS2-2: Newton's Second Law

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Submitted by PocketLab on Fri, 02/08/2019 - 18:43

Using a Half-Atwood Machine for Newton's Second Law

The Half-Atwood Machine consists of a cart and a weight connected by a string. It can be a perfect tool for tackling NGSS MS-PS2-2, which is centered around planning an investigation into Newton’s Second Law. Specifically, the standard says: 

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. 

Newton’s Third Law Experiment with Crash Cushions

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Submitted by PocketLab on Wed, 02/06/2019 - 18:44

Engineering Crash Cushions to Learn Newton's Third Law

Newton's Third Law Example

Car crashes are a dangerous example of Newton's Third Law. The car exerts a large force on the wall and the wall then exerts a large force back onto the car. Civil engineers are always trying to think of new ways to make highways safer. Building crash cushions along highways that reduce the impact force of the collision will, according to Newton's Third Law, also reduce force experienced by the passengers of the car. This can save lives.

Hysteresis with Rubber Bands

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Submitted by Rich on Wed, 02/06/2019 - 17:49

Introduction to Hysteresis

Hysteresis can be defined as a lag time in the response of a system to forces placed on the system.  The response of the system depends not only on the present magnitude of the force but also on the previous history of the system.  From the point of view of mathematics, the response to the force is a double-valued function.  This means that one value applies when the force is increasing, while another value applies when the force is decreasing.  A graphical plot of force and re

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Rotational Motion: Moment of Inertia

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Submitted by Rich on Thu, 01/24/2019 - 20:05

Rotational Motion and Moment of Inertia Lab Setup

Figure 1 shows a ramp and three distinctly different objects that you will release from rest at the top.  Each object will roll downward to the end of the ramp without slipping, resulting in rotational motion.  The roll of Gorilla tape has a shape known as an annular cylinder.  The can of jellied cranberry sauce is a solid cylinder.  The cardboard tube, in contrast to the can, is hollow.  All three of these objects will rotate about their central cylinder axis while rolling down the ramp.  Each of these three objects has a

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