We now turn our attention away from simply describing how things move as we begin to consider WHY things move the way they do. The “why” of motion is called dynamics, and it’s where the fun really begins. Isaac Newton was a pioneer in the scientific examination of why things move, and his laws of motion form the foundation for our understanding of the topic. He also had tremendous flowy hair and was a solitary individual, considered by some to be simply reclusive and by others to be so egotistical as to be downright cruel. In your abundant free time, it’s worth it to look up his life story.

RESOURCES FOR THIS UNIT:

• Guided Notes
• Lab 1 – Inertial vs Gravitational Mass
• Lab 2 – Determining an Unknown Mass with a Modified Atwood’s Machine, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Systems
• Lab 3 – Friction and Vector Analysis of Forces

Full teacher notes available by request via email to [email protected]
from an official educational institution email address.

HELPFUL WEBSITES

• The following sims from PhET at the University of Colorado at Boulder will help you with concepts from this unit:
  • Forces and Motion Basics
  • Forces and Motion
  • Forces in One-Dimension
  • The Ramp (which incorporates multiple concepts and will be a great help later in the unit)
  • Modified Atwood’s Hyperphysics
  • oPhysics