Lesson 8: Collisions 8
Duration of Days: 1
Lesson Objective
1. Students will create a scientific model to show how a compressed spring stores energy and transfers it to other objects using contact forces.
2. Explain the rules of force and motion: a bigger push makes an object speed up more, but a heavier object needs a much bigger push to speed up than a lighter object.
3. Explain what potential energy is and how it can be stored in a system by stretching, squeezing, or rearranging its parts (like a compressed spring).
4. Trace how energy moves from one part of a system to another whenever objects push or pull against each other.
Where did the energy in our launcher system come from, and after the collisions where did it go?
collision
force
kinetic energy
damage
contact force
deform
line of best fit
elastic limit
breaking point
Independent variable
dependent variable
peak force
free body diagram
concussion
axon
stored (potential) energy
air resistance
friction
MS-PS2-1
MS-PS2-2
MS-PS3-1
MS-LS1-8
MS-ETS1-2
MS-ETS1-3
Description:
Students will use a cart-launcher system to explore how energy is stored and put into motion. By squishing springs and launching carts, students will build models that track "hidden" potential energy as it transforms into a physical push (contact force) that transfers kinetic energy to a moving cart and a target box.
Purpose:
Students will discover how energy changes forms, learning that energy can be stored up in squeezed objects before it is released to make something move. Understanding this relationship between stored energy and forces helps students see how everyday mechanisms workâfrom the simple click of a ballpoint pen to the complex deployment of life-saving car airbags.
DOK 3
For English Language Learners (ELL) & Emerging Readers: Provide a color-coded "Energy Flow Chart" template where students use green to color code "Kinetic Energy" (energy of motion) and blue to color code "Potential Energy" (stored energy) on their models.
For Students Needing Extra Support (Scaffolding): Provide a physical or digital card-sorting activity with arrows to help them sequence the chain reaction (Squeezed Spring- Stored Energy- Pushing Force- Moving Cart) before they draw their final models.
For Kinesthetic & Tactile Learners: Allow students to manipulate physical springs or rubber bands at their desks, giving them a tactile sense of how a material "resists" a shape change and holds onto energy the harder it is squeezed.
Formative Assessments