What a Drag
Students explore friction and drag and the energy associated with bothCopyright https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnout#/media/File:DTM_car_mercedes2006_burnOut.jpg
Students learn about friction and drag — two different forces that convert energy of motion to heat. Both forces can act on a moving object and decrease its velocity. Students learn examples of friction and drag, and suggest ways to reduce the impact of these forces. The equation that governs common frictional forces is introduced, and during a hands-on activity, students experimentally measure a coefficient of friction.
If you take a car built before 1970 and place it next to a car built today, they look incredibly different. The older cars tend to be boxy with abrupt edges; newer cars are designed with rounded corners, edges and smooth curves. Mechanical and aerospace engineers have designed vehicles to be more aerodynamic to reduce drag force, and thus improve gas mileage.
After this lesson, students should be able to:
- Recognize the different types of friction: static friction, kinetic friction, and drag
- Understand how friction and drag work
- Learn how to calculate friction and drag
- Give examples of friction and drag