The FlinnPREP Inquiry Lab for AP® Physics 1: Measuring g: Exploring Free-Fall Inquiry investigates acceleration due to gravity.
Includes access to exclusive FlinnPREP™ digital content to combine the benefits of classroom, laboratory and digital learning. Each blended learning lab solution includes prelab videos about concepts, techniques and procedures, summary videos that relate the experiment to the AP® exam, built-in student lab safety training with assessments, and standards-based, tested inquiry labs with real sample data. FlinnPREP™ Inquiry Lab Solutions are adaptable to you and how you teach with multiple ways to access and run your AP labs.
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AP Physics 1, Big Idea 3, Investigation 1
Many years ago, Galileo answered the question, “Do heavy objects reach the ground faster than lighter objects when dropped from the same height?” This advanced-inquiry laboratory allows students to investigate the same question.The lab begins with an introductory activity in which students solve for the acceleration due to gravity, g, by dropping small steel balls a known distance and measuring their free-fall times. The guided-inquiry and design activity encourages students to use their experimental design skills to refine the procedure presented in the introductory activity to minimize experimental error. For example, students may opt to use motion detectors or drop the balls from higher points to reduce timing error. Increase the wow factor of this lab by dropping items from bleachers or other very high places. Additional opportunities for inquiry are possible as students may attach handmade parachutes or drop coffee filters to assess how wind resistance, or drag, affects free-fall speed.
Complete for 24 students working in pairs. Motion detectors and a picket fence are optional and available separately. All materials are reusable.
FLINNprep is just one of the powerful learning pathways accessed via PAVO, Flinn’s award-winning gateway to standards-aligned digital science content paired with hands-on learning.
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HS-PS2-2. Use mathematical representations to support the claim that the total momentum of a system of objects is conserved when there is no net force on the system.
HS-PS2-4. Use mathematical representations of Newton’s Law of Gravitation and Coulomb’s Law to describe and predict the gravitational and electrostatic forces between objects.