Students investigate different balls' abilities to bounce and represent the data they collect graphically.

In this structured inquiry activity students will work in groups/ teams to build a balloon rocket of their own design. The rocket will race in one dimension and require that they apply their knowledge of position, time, and velocity.

Students follow the steps of the engineering design process as they design and construct balloons for aerial surveillance. After their first attempts to create balloons, they are given the associated Estimating Buoyancy lesson to learn about volume, buoyancy and density to help them iterate more successful balloon designs.Applying their newfound knowledge, the young engineers build and test balloons that fly carrying small flip cameras that capture aerial images of their school. Students use the aerial footage to draw maps and estimate areas.

This activity is a scientific investigation focusing on inquiry after using the Foss Water Kit. The students will pose a question, create a procedure and produce a poster showing their findings.

In this optics activity, learners discover that when they rotate a special black and white pattern called a Benham's Disk, it produces the illusion of colored rings. Learners experiment with the speed of rotation and direction of rotation to observe varying patterns. Use this activity to explain to learners how our eyes detect color and how different color receptors in the eye respond at different rates.

In this dilemma case study, the executives of a popular restaurant chain must decide whether to use irradiated meat, in this case, beef, to protect its customers from the bacteria, E. coli. Students learn about food irradiation and discuss issues related to food safety and the public's acceptance of new food technologies. As developed, the case could be used in a variety of introductory science courses in chemistry, physics, biology, environmental science, and agricultural science.

Demonstrate Bernoulli's Principle using balloons and and pop cans. Real world concept of lift can be applied to an airplane demonstration.

_„ƒThis is the way the world ends / Not with a bang but a whimper.' (T.S. Eliot) But how about the way the world begins? Was this the biggest bang of all? This unit will introduce you to the theory of the Big Bang and will present the three main lines of experimental evidence that support this theory.

In this optics activity, learners explore why the sky is blue and the sunset is red, using a simple setup comprising a transparent plastic box, water, and powdered milk. Learners use a flashlight to shine a beam of light through the container. Learners look at the beam from the side of the container and then from the end of the tank, and compare the colors that they see. Learners also examine a narrower beam of light. Use this activity to introduce learners to the light spectrum, wavelengths, frequency, scattering, and how all this effects what we see in the sky at different times of the day.

Students are introduced to the challenge question, which revolves around proving that a cabinet x-ray system can produce bone mineral density images. Students work independently to generate ideas from the questions provided, then share with partners and then with the class as part of the Multiple Perspectives phase of this unit. Then, as part of the associated activity, students explore multiple websites to gather information about bone mineral density and answer worksheet questions, followed by a quiz on the material covered in the articles.

Students revisit the mathematics required to find bone mineral density, to which they were introduced in lesson 2 of this unit. They learn the equation to find intensity, Beer's law, and how to use it. Then they complete a sheet of practice problems that use the equation.

Students examine an image produced by a cabinet x-ray system to determine if it is a quality bone mineral density image. They write in their journals about what they need to know to be able to make this judgment. Students learn about what bone mineral density is, how a BMD image can be obtained, and how it is related to the x-ray field. Students examine the process used to obtain a BMD image and how this process is related to mathematics, primarily through logarithmic functions. They study the relationship between logarithms and exponents, the properties of logarithms, common and natural logarithms, solving exponential equations and Beer's law.

In this optics activity, learners examine how polarized light can reveal stress patterns in clear plastic. Learners place a fork between two pieces of polarizing material and induce stress by squeezing the tines together. Learners will observe the colored stress pattern in the image of the plastic that is projected onto a screen using an overhead projector. Learners rotate one of the polarizing filters to explore which orientations give the most dramatic color effects. This activity can be related to bones, as bones develop stress patterns from the loads imposed upon them every day.

This activity s a student project to construct and test the load bearing capacity of a scale model bridge from toothpicks.

In this activity, learners observe as soap bubbles float on a cushion of carbon dioxide gas. Learners blow bubbles into an aquarium filled with a slab of dry ice. Learners will be amazed as the bubbles hover on the denser layer of carbon dioxide gas, then begin to expand and sink before freezing on the dry ice. Use this activity to discuss sublimation, density, and osmosis as well as principles of buoyancy, semipermeability, and interference.

This activity is a lab project where students observe what happens when you try to mix oil and water. It can also be used to work with density.

This classroom activity where students physically show where the forces are in an arch.

This lesson helps students develop spatial visualization skills and geometric understanding by exploring the different nets that can be folded into a cube. The lesson is placed in the context of a young woman who is trying to build a jewelry box. The lesson provides an activity sheet, a link to a helpful applet (Cube Nets, cataloged separately), questions for students and teachers, and ideas for assessment and extensions.

Students construct electromagnets and determine that the more winds of wire coil around the core will increase the strength of the electromagnet.

 Calculus-Based Physics is an introductory physics textbook designed for use in the two-semester introductory physics course typically taken by science and engineering students.