Central Forces on an Airtable

Highlights of the activity

1. This kinesthetic activity is designed to help students visualize possible graphs of the potential energy for central force motion.
2. Students observe the motion of a puck tethered to the center of an air table and then generate a graph (of their choice) of the potential energy of the puck.
3. The whole class wrap-up discussion addresses the different graphs students generated and the canonical graphs used by professional physicists.

Reasons to spend class time on the activity

This activity is a good way to get students started thinking about the potential energy of a system subject to central forces. In addition, this activity provides a good opportunity to review and apply what they have learned about the properties of central forces.

Reflections

• Reflections from the original implementation.

• Reflections from "official" adapters/adopters.

• Reflections from the general public.

Instructor's Guide

• Wiki version