Physical Science Unit Resources
Energy
Energy and Matter Potential Energy
Heat Energy Transfer Kinetic Energy
Forces and Interactions
Newton’s First and Second Law of Motion Gravity
Newton’s Third Law of Motion Electric and Magnetic Forces
Waves and Electromagnetic Radiation
Waves
Digital and Analog Signals
Structure and Properties of Matter
Atoms, Elements & the Periodic Table Motion of Molecules
Synthetic Materials Changes in Molecule Motion
Chemical Reactions
Evidence of a Chemical Change Thermal Energy Project
Conservation of Mass
Potential Energy Mini Unit Resources
Students begin by identifying all of the types of energy they used today and classifying this energy as potential or kinetic. Then, students break down the energy changes that occur in a bouncing ball and collect data about how drop height affects bounce height. Students create an excellent graph of their data with TAILS (Title, Axes, Intervals, Labels, Scale) and use their graph to answer the question How does gravitational potential energy affect the total energy in the bouncing ball system? Finally, students use pendulums to figure out how the total amount of potential energy in a system changes!