Physics Tug of War
Students learn about Newton's second law of motion: force = mass x acceleration. In other words, a heavy object requires a greater force to move than a lighter object. In a tug-of-war experimental setup using paperclips, rubber bands and text books, they collect data and make calculations, seeing that the force required to move a book is proportional to the weight of the book. They relate their conclusions to how engineers use their understanding of this relationship to determine how much force is needed to move airplanes.
A tug of war depicts the distribution of force.Copyright 2005 David Goehring, Flickr (CC BY 2.0) https://www.flickr.com/photos/carbonnyc/37085152 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
Engineers apply their understanding of Newton's laws of motion when designing objects that move. Newton's second law states that the force required to move an object is proportional to the mass of that object. So engineers who design airplanes apply this relationship, knowing that the heavier the airplane, the more force it requires to move. Further, they also consider that to create a larger force requires more fuel, which is more expensive and releases more pollutants into the environment.
After this activity, students should be able to:
- Explain that the force needed to accelerate an object is proportional to its mass and weight.
- Explain how Newton's second law of motion applies to airplanes.
- Generate conclusions based on experimental data.