Forces and Motion

This lesson provides a challenge that incorporates all eight of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) science and engineering practices.  Although this lesson makes use of both Ozobot and Voyager, neither of these is required, as all data have been collected and are supplied.  Students match several geometric shapes with their corresponding angular velocity vs. time data obtained as Voyager/Ozobot travel around the shapes.  Students are also provided with angular momentum data from an unknown geometric shape and asked to sketch the shape from their analysis. 

Ozobot “Evo” (ozobot.com) is a tiny one-inch diameter robot that can be quickly programmed using a Google Blockly dialect known as OzoBlockly (ozoblockly.com).  This lesson combines the ability to program Ozobot to move freely in a straight line with Voyager’s ability to sense the resulting motion through its range finder.  Students compute the slope of the resulting position versus time graph to determine Ozobot’s velocity.

Ozobot “Evo” (ozobot.com) is a tiny one-inch diameter robot that can be quickly programmed to follow lines using a Google Blockly dialect known as OzoBlockly (ozoblockly.com).  This lesson combines the ability to program Ozobot to follow a circle at constant speed with Voyager’s ability to sense the resulting motion through its angular velocity sensor.  The purpose of this project is to show that if speed is kept constant and the same fo

Ozobot “Evo” (ozobot.com) is a tiny one-inch diameter robot that can be quickly programmed using a Google Blockly dialect known as OzoBlockly (ozoblockly.com).  Combining the ability to program Ozobot to rotate precisely as desired with Voyager’s ability to sense the resulting motion through its collection of sensors, the possibility of a seemingly endless variety of STEM projects becomes a reality.

In this experiment a coasting cart on a flat surface gradually slows down and stops due to rolling resistance.  Two very different surfaces are compared—a carpeted floor and a wood floor.  The purpose of this experiment is three-fold:  (1) to determine the force of rolling resistance, (2) to determine the coefficient of rolling resistance between the cart the surface on which it rolls, and (3) to gain a practical understanding of the meaning of this coefficient.  Voyager's range finder is used to collect data.

The effect of mass on the terminal velocity of an object falling in air is commonly done using basket coffee filters.  But how could we study the effect of area on the terminal velocity of a falling object?  One way to do this is to use PocketLab Voyager and its range finder along with a single piece of cardstock as the object to be dropped.  In this lesson, students discover a relationship between area and terminal velocity and compare their results to a common model of air resistance (aka drag).  

Hello All,

I'm an AP Calculus teacher, and I used the attached lab to introduce position vs. time graphs to my students. My school doesn't offer physics after freshmen year and historically students have struggled to translate graphs into the actual motion that they represent. This year, using PocketLab and some magnets, the students were able to create their own position vs. time graphs, and concept mastery has been significantly higher. I'm definitely planning on repeating this lab next year!

The PocketLab is an ideal device for measuring user performance for a variety of exercise equipment.  One example of such equipment is the Skier's Edge, whose company was founded in 1987.  This machine was designed for non-impact lateral conditioning that simulates the experience of downhill skiing.  The photo below shows the skiing machine.  The skier stands on the two black platforms, holding poles and moves the carriage back-and-forth on the curved white tracks.

Ozobot (ozobot.com) is a tiny one inch diameter line-traveling robot that can be used in conjunction with PocketLab to easily study the physics concepts of position, velocity, and acceleration and their time graphs.  PocketLab is simply taped to the top of an Ozobot using double-sided mounting tape.  In other words, Ozobot gives Pocket lab a ride.  The photo below shows this setup, with Ozobot following a 1/4" heavy black line drawn with a chisel tip marking pen.

PocketLab in conjunction with a 33-45-78 RPM turntable is an ideal setup for studying centripetal acceleration.  There are two videos that can be found in the Videos page of this web site.  They show that (1)  keeping radius constant implies that centripetal acceleration is proportional to the square of the velocity, (2) keeping velocity constant while varying the radius implies that centripetal acceleration is inversely proportional to the radius.