Newton’s Second Law Activity: Hands-On Lab

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Answers the question “What effect does MASS have on the FORCE needed to move an object?” Have fun with Newton’s Second Law with this 2-part hands-on investigation!

Materials Needed:

• physics carts (or similar with wheels that can be pulled)
• fishing weights (or any other weights)
• 1N spring scales
• balance or digital scale
• rulers
• marbles
• plastic or paper cups
• pennies
• elastics

Procedure:

1. Students vary the weight of a cart or toy car and measure the force needed to move it by using a spring scale, then graph the data on the graph provided.
2. Students use a simple ramp contraption (made from a ruler) to measure how far a rolling marble can push a cup with different numbers of pennies in it, then generate a graph from their data.
3. Students write a paragraph to discuss the relationship between the MASS of an object and the FORCE it takes to move the object.

Teacher Notes:

• Includes suggested answer key.
• Please note: this Newton’s second law activity is not editable.
• Related NGSS Standards:MS-PS2-2, MS-PS2-1, MS-PS3-1
• NGSS Science & Engineering Practices: Planning and carrying out investigations; Analyzing and interpreting data; Using mathematics and computational thinking
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Related Standards:

• NGSS MS-PS2-1: Apply Newton’s Third Law to design a solution to a problem involving the motion of two colliding objects.
• NGSS MS-PS2-2: Plan an investigation to provide evidence of the effects of balanced and unbalanced forces on the motion of an object.
• NGSS MS-PS3-1: Construct and interpret graphical displays of data to describe the relationships of kinetic energy to the mass and speed of an object.