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NASA’s Vomit Comet

By Janice VanCleave

The Ultimate Roller Coaster I had the opportunity to ride in NASA’s KC-135, which is a specially equipped plane used for testing the effect of weightlessness. The effect that it had on my body can be summed up in the nickname given to the plane, which is “THE VOMIT COMET.” Many find a roller coaster […]

Filed Under: Force and Motion, Physics Tagged With: parabolas, zero gravity

Pencils Bounced Into Cups

By Janice VanCleave

Pencils Bounced into cups

A pencil can be bounced so that it traces out the path of a projectile resulting in the pencil landing in a glass as shown in the video below. In the video, pencils are bounced by dropping them on their eraser end. Depending on how the pencils are dropped, the trajectory path of some of […]

Filed Under: Force and Motion, Physics Tagged With: pencil projectile, projectiles

Spaghatti’s Structural Load

By Janice VanCleave

Spaghetti is used to carry a soda can.

Using Games to Teach Science Process Skills The photo shows two kids transporting an empty soda can using an uncooked piece of spaghetti as a pole to carry the can. The kids are participating in a game taken from the TV game show, “Minute-to-Win” it. The objective of the game is for two people to […]

Filed Under: Force and Motion, Physics

Galileo’s Pendulum Experiment

By Janice VanCleave

 Galileo Investigated Ways to Slow Acceleration Due to Gravity The Italian scientists Galilei Galileo (1564-1642)  ) established experimentally that heavy objects fall at practically the same rate. It was obvious to this scientists that a feather and heavy stone did not fall at the same acceleration. But, heavy objects of different masses appeared to fall […]

Filed Under: Force and Motion, Physics

Newton’s Laws of Motion Explain Spinning Eggs

By Janice VanCleave

A boy is spinning an egg while a girl times the spin. Newton's Laws of Motions are studied; inertia and force.

Newton’s First Law of Motion Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727), an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist, and theologian, is one of the most influential scientist who ever lived. In Newton’s work, the Principia was published on 5 July 1687, Newton stated what he believed to be the three universal laws of motion. It is said […]

Filed Under: Force and Motion, Physics

Standing Wave

By Janice VanCleave

An Example of Superposition of Waves: A Standing Wave

What Is A Standing Wave? A standing wave is the pattern produced in a medium as the result of the repeated interference of two identical waves moving in opposite directions through the medium. All standing wave patterns have nodes and antinodes. The nodes are points of no displacement caused by the destructive interference of the […]

Filed Under: Force and Motion, Physics Tagged With: antinode, constructive interference, destructive interference, displacement, Law of Superposition., node, standing wave

Turkey Wishbone Breaking Tradition

By Janice VanCleave

Wishbone Breaking

Thanksgiving is a US holiday originating from the Pilgrims’ giving thanks to God for supplying the resources they needed to survive the long winter in the new world. Among other customs, the pilgrims brought the tradition of the breaking of the wishbone. The basic rules for this event have not changed. Two people, each holding […]

Filed Under: Force and Motion, Physics

Floating Ball

By Janice VanCleave

Science has a magical appeal for children. While they are entertained by science demonstrations, nothing is as captivating as something they can do themselves. The best TEACHING TIP I have for club directors is to support and encourage children’s inborn gift of curiosity One way is to explore the fun of science TOGETHER. Instead of […]

Filed Under: Force and Motion, Physics

Buoyancy

By Janice VanCleave

Archimedes discovered that fluids, such as air or water, apply an upward force on objects that are partially or totally submerged in the fluids. Such object are said to have buoyancy (the tendency to float when placed in a fluid). The upward force of fluids is called a buoyant force. A buoyant force is equal […]

Filed Under: Force and Motion, Physics Tagged With: Archemedes, buoyancy

Teaching about Gravity using Science Magic

By Janice VanCleave

Using gravity you can cause an unattached rope to seemingly lift a bottle. As with all magic–its a trick. In this trick, gravity is used to pull a ball into place so that it presses so hard against the rope that it cannot move. 1. Ask an adult helper to cut a slit in the […]

Filed Under: Force and Motion, Physics

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Welcome to Janice’s Science Extravaganza!

The spoon hanging from the string vibrates when struck and these vibrations are transmitted through the string and the sound is amplified by the plastic cups. ABOUT ME: Hi, I am Janice VanCleave, author of 50 best-selling science experiment books for children ages 4 through high school. I taught science for 27 years. MORE.....

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