If you build it carefully, this crazy contraption demonstrates one of the basic laws of nature.

Explore the forces at work when you try to push a filing cabinet. Create an applied force and see the resulting friction force and total force acting on the cabinet. Charts show the forces, position, velocity, and acceleration vs. time. View a Free Body Diagram of all the forces (including gravitational and normal forces).

Hands on Physics is a co-production of Blue Ridge PBS ECHO and Virtual Virginia. The episodes were all recorded in the demonstration physics lab at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg.

This demo uses a scale and an elevator ride up and down - demonstrating Newton's Laws with unbalanced forces.
VA SOL PH. 3a, 3b

Students use metersticks and spring scales to analyze the force required to pull and lift two different masses. Analysis questions then direct students to think about a force exerted through a displacement, and the companion document can then be used to spark classroom discussion. This is not meant to be an all-inclusive document; further discussion will be required to properly introduce Work and Energy.

Can you avoid the boulder field and land safely, just before your fuel runs out, as Neil Armstrong did in 1969? Our version of this classic video game accurately simulates the real motion of the lunar lander with the correct mass, thrust, fuel consumption rate, and lunar gravity. The real lunar lander is very hard to control.

A realistic mass and spring laboratory. Hang masses from springs and adjust the spring stiffness and damping. You can even slow time. Transport the lab to different planets. A chart shows the kinetic, potential, and thermal energy for each spring.