Guiding+Activity-+N.+McCowan

=Guiding Activity=

Nicky McCowan

**Demonstrate forms of energy being changed and transferred ** Building Background Ask some exploratory questions with demonstration Reinforce the concept of potential and kinetic energy by doing a cup-crushing demo. - Place a cup on the floor and hold a small weight or baseball, 6 inches above the paper cup. - Drop the ball and point out that the ball starts out with potential energy and converts to kinetic energy - Repeat for a height of 12 inches and 36 inches (use some sort of tube or pipe to direct the weight so it stays on course!). - Ask the students to predict the behavior - Now use a bowling ball, or heavier weight. - This is a good time to refresh (or introduce, if you did not get to it during the human power activity) the concept of acceleration due to gravity. Use the traditional “Newton experiment” with a baseball and a piece of crumpled paper - Have 2 students come to front of room, give one the ball and the other the paper (tightly crumpled). Ask the class which one will fall to the floor faster when dropped? Why? (They both should hit the floor at the same time – the acceleration due to gravity is constant.) Extension Activities: Move It! Resources: Evans, R. (2012, March 17). //Lesson:move it!//. Retrieved from http://www.teachengineering.org/view_lesson.php?url=collection/duk_/lessons/duk_consenergy_rde_less/duk_consenergy_rde_less.xml
 * 1) If I drop a bowling ball and a golf ball from the same height, which will have more potential energy? (the bowling ball) What about kinetic energy? (the bowling ball)
 * 2) If I drop 2 golf balls from different heights which will have more PE? (the higher one)
 * 3) If I drop one golf ball, and throw the other one down from the same height, which has more KE? (the thrown one)