Lansing Intermediate students learn about Newton's 2nd Law of Motion using marbles
Fifth grade teacher, Mr. John Riggs, gave his students the opportunity to explore Newton's 2nd Law of Motion through a classroom activity involving marbles on Thursday, December 5th. According to www.physicsclassroom.com, Newton's 2nd Law of Motion says that "the acceleration of an object is dependent upon two variables - the net force acting upon the object and the mass of the object."
"This experiment deals with the velocity of the marble," said Mr. Riggs. "Velocity involves the change in speed or direction of an object. If you change variables, such as speed or direction (or both), you are changing its velocity. When velocity changes this is called acceleration. Students are causing the object to accelerate by changing its velocity. Newton’s second law deals with acceleration. The goal is for students to observe that the greater force that is applied, the greater the acceleration of the object."