Dynamics Interactive with xAPI for SLS
Open in new tab 🔗 This simulation allows students to explore the relationship between force, mass, and motion. By allowing students to add multiple force vectors (such as...
IP3 03 Dynamics
Misconception: Skydiver goes up when parachute opens
When a parachute opens, many people think the parachutist suddenly shoots upward. This is not what really happens. The parachutist is always moving downward, but the parachute...
A dynamics problem - apparent weight
This is a problem posed by a student today: A boy of mass 40 kg is standing on a weighing machine inside a lift which is moving upwards. At a certain moment, the speed of the lift...
Bouncing ball with energy loss
Open in new tab 🔗 This simulation offers a clear and interactive way to explore the motion of a ball bouncing on the ground, highlighting how displacement, velocity, and...
Simulation of Projectile Motion with Air Resistance
Open in new tab 🔗 This simulation offers a hands-on and dynamic way to explore the physics of projectile motion with and without air resistance. By adjusting parameters such as...
Interactive System Schema Generator
I built this web app to help students draw system schemas, having blogged about this before . It is also available and optimised for download for SLS . Basic Instructions To add...
Use of System Schema to Visualise Action-Reaction Pairs
It is a common misconception for students to assume that when a book is placed on a table, its weight and the normal contact force acting on it are action-reaction pairs because...
Unequal masses attached to rod in free fall
Came across a question recently that many students answered incorrectly. Close to the surface of the Earth the gravitational field strength is uniform. A pair of unequal masses...
Man in Elevator
I just took the elevator in my apartment building with the PhyPhox mobile app and recorded the acceleration in the z-direction as the lift went down and up. This was done in the...
Newton's 2nd Law Applet
For a full-screen view, click here . <iframe scrolling="no" title="Dynamics Problem"...
Newton's 2nd Law Questions
Here are the steps to solving a problem involving Newton's 2nd law. Step 1: Draw a free body diagram - where possible, sketch a free body diagram to represent: the body isolated...
Free-Body Diagrams in Two-Body Motion
Students are often confused about the forces in drawing free-body diagrams, especially so when they have to consider the different parts of multiple bodies in motion....
Newton's 3rd Law
Activity 1: Propeller Cart (Predict, Observe and Explain) Activity 2: Untied Balloon A balloon is filled with air and released with its mouth downwards. Explain why it moves...
Newton's 2nd Law Experiment using Motion Sensor
For my students: To download the file and video for analysis using Tracker, right-click the file here... To verify the equation F = ma, where F is the resultant force on an...
Elevator Physics
In a recent IP3 class on Newton's 2nd Law, the students were presented the "Elevator Problem" based on the THINK Cycle approach - a version of inquiry-based learning that was...
3 Common Dynamics Mistakes
After going through the topic of Dynamics in the A-level syllabus recently, it strikes me that there are several common mistakes or misconceptions that students whom I have taught...