Free Fall Tower
Recreate Galileo's famous experiment by dropping objects off the Tower of Pisa. You can drop ping pong balls, golf balls, soccer balls or watermelons. Objects can be dropped in air or no air, with or without a parachute. The speed of each object is shown on a speedometer and a graph.
Launch GizmoFree Fall Tower
Recreate Galileo's famous experiment by dropping objects off the Tower of Pisa. You can drop ping pong balls, golf balls, soccer balls or watermelons. Objects can be dropped in air or no air, with or without a parachute. The speed of each object is shown on a speedometer and a graph.
5 Minute Preview
Use for 5 minutes a day.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
- Compare how quickly different objects fall in air.
- Discover that in a vacuum, all objects fall at the same rate.
- Observe that objects accelerate as they fall.
- Interpret a graph of speed vs. time.
- Explore and compare the effects of air resistance on each test object.
- Find the terminal velocity of objects falling through air, with or without a parachute.
VOCABULARY:
- accelerate, air resistance, free fall, gravity, terminal velocity, vacuum
LESSON MATERIALS:
FROM OUR COMMUNITY
User Submitted Lesson Materials (showing 5 of 7):
Google Doc of Student Exploration Sheet
In the file, click on the link to make a copy of the Google Doc of the Student Exploration Sheet.
Best For:
3rd Grade, 4th Grade, 5th Grade Science
EL STEM Lesson Free Fall Tower
The lesson incorporates the Free Fall Tower Gizmo as a STEM resource to investigate the force of gravity ... (more)on objects having a different mass.
Best For:
Middle School Physical Science
Free Fall Tower Teacher Guide -French
This is the French translation of the Teacher Guide.
Best For:
3rd Grade, 4th Grade, 5th Grade Science
Free Fall Tower Student Exploration Sheet-French
This is the French translation of the Student Exploration Sheet.
Best For:
3rd Grade, 4th Grade, 5th Grade Science
Free Fall Tower Vocabulary Sheet-French
This is the French translation of the Vocabulary Sheet.
Best For:
3rd Grade, 4th Grade, 5th Grade Science
Show Remaining Lesson Materials (2)
User Recommendations (showing 5 of 6):
Especially excellent for kinematic graphing of falling bodies!
Recommended for: PhysicsGizmo User from Virginia
I used this to prove to my skeptics about acceleration due to gravity. Loved it for alternative students.
Recommended for: Earth/Space ScienceGizmo User from Louisiana
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