6: Investigations into Forces
Unbalanced Forces
Have a look at the following videos to start thinking about unbalanced forces and how they act:
- Billiard Balls in Slow Motion (Colenso, 2006) https://youtu.be/pZqkaJDaz2A?t=32s
- Planes taking off and landing (Gung Ho Vids, 2014) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpOBwbwg7-s
- Human Universe: Episode 4: worlds biggest vacuum chamber (British Broadcasting Corporation, 2014) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E43-CfukEgs
Try answering these questions to see if you understand how unbalanced forces act in different situations:
(Veritasium, 2011)
Mass and Weight
It’s easy to mix up these two terms so remember that
- Mass is a measure of how much matter an object has.
- Weight is a measure of how strongly gravity pulls on that matter.
(Redden, 2014)
(Veritasium, 2011)
How will your weight change on another planet?
Use the Exploratorium weight calculator to work out how much you would weigh on other planets and moons by clicking the image above.
Test Yourself!
Teachers: A 3 Lesson Sequence with practical tasks, links and forms included for teaching forces (split into smaller files)
off the planet 