Higher:
Is able to design a fair test which explores the effect of surface area on water resistance
Middle:
Understand how different surface areas can cause different levels of resistance
Lower:
Can explain how water can cause resistance to motion
Lesson Recap Starter: Think back to the last lesson. What is the difference between gravity and air resistance?
Lesson Starter: Discuss why this ocean turtle is well suited for swimming through the water.
Children could explain what the turtle has which makes it well adapted.
Presentation - Starter Slide
Run through the presentation on water resistance and friction, exploring ideas and questions about the effect of water resistance and water drag on moving and living things.
Talk Partners - Pupils to explain the properties the five objects on the slide have which make them good swimmers and able to counter the effects of water resistance
Key Concept:
During this unit, each lesson contains a key concept question housed in the '30 Second Challenge' slide. To help children master this content so the knowledge moves from their short term memory to their long term memory, at the beginning of the follow on lesson the question from the previous lesson is revisited.
The questions covered during this unit include:
What are the highlights of the life and work of Sir Isaac Newton?
What is the difference between gravity and air resistance?
What's the difference between water resistance and friction?
Explain how a lever and a pulley can make it easier to complete a task. Use an example to explain your answer.
When riding a bike up a hill, how do gears work to make pedalling easier?
Why do certain objects sink or float and what does density have to do with it?
Presentation
Expert Film: Dr Rhian Waller is an Associate Professor of Marine Biology at the University of Maine. Rhian looks at the design of a flipper and describes how it can be used to help a diver propel themselves through the water.
How we deliver the Gatsby Benchmarks:
2 - Learning from career and labour market information: Pop along to Developing Experts career’s zone to find out about jobs in your area.
4 - Linking curriculum learning to careers: This unit showcases careers that relate to forces. Access our 360° virtual work tours.
7 - Encounters with Further and Higher Education: Pop along to Developing Experts career’s zone to find out about training providers in your area.
Presentation - Expert Film
Friction Ramps
Friction Ramps
Metre stick
A short ramp
Different materials; foil, felt, film, sandpaper, bubble wrap.
a weight
Handout
Ask pupils to record their findings on the Handout provided.
Quiz
With their talk partners, the children are to go through the quiz at the end of the presentation and answer the questions.
Handout
Quiz in presentation
Can children make the connection between the surface area of an object and the amount of drag it generates?
Can children explain why certain shapes move through the water more quickly than others?
Quizzes available in pupil zone.
Unit Knowledge Organiser and Test available in unit documents area.
Water resistance happens when...
A vehicle designed to travel through water is designed so that...
Friction occurs when...
A surface has more friction if...
The Science Behind the Science
Water resistance is a type of force that attempts to slow things that are moving in water. It is pretty much air resistance but minus the air and plus the water. It is also known as drag and is a type of friction. So next time you go swimming, remember that there is a type of friction acting between the water particles in the pool and the skin on your body. Penguins have to battle with this every day.
Penguins are really good swimmers and they seem to always push through the water with so much ease. They are designed to do this. They have a streamlined shape, flippers, are slim and can cut through the water with their bullet shaped body with very little resistance. The friction still acts between the water and their bodies and slows them down. Their flippers are great for this and help to steer them and drag the water to one side.
Friction is pretty much resistance. It is the resistance to motion when one object rubs against another object. Friction works in the opposite direction to motion and acts against it. For example, if you drag a chair across the room, it starts to slow down because of friction. It begins to lose energy as it moves. It turns from a type of energy known as kinetic energy to something known as heat energy. Have you ever rubbed your hands together in the Winter? We do this to keep warm. This is because we generate friction and that friction turns into heat. Friction also helps us to stay balanced. Without it, we wouldn’t be steady.
It is pretty easy to carry out experiments that help to show friction. For example, you could get three different flat objects with different types of surfaces. Put them onto one end of a tray and slowly lift the tray. Whichever object begins to slide first will have the least amount of friction. Both the roughness of the surface and the force between the two objects will influence the level of friction in this experiment.
Describe the effects of simple forces that involve contact (air and water resistance, friction), and others that act at a distance (magnetic forces, including those between like and unlike magnetic poles; and gravity).
Forces, electricity and waves - Forces - By investigating floating and sinking of objects in water, I can apply my understanding of buoyancy to solve a practical challenge. SCN 2-08b Forces, electricity and waves - Forces - Through experimentation, I can explain floating and sinking in terms of the relative densities of different materials. SCN 4-08b
Forces and Energy: the study of energy, its origin, storage and transfer and the work it can do; the study of forces; the application of scientific understanding through inventions and machines.
Carrying out comparative fair tests
Using test results to make predictions to set up further comparative and fair tests
Grade 6 - Motion and Measurement of Distances.
Grade 4 - Physical Science - Forces and Energy - Forces - Changing Motion - Friction affects motion