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Listed under:  Technologies  >  Machinery
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Stomp Rocket Design Challenge

This resource provides a scaffold for students to complete a design challenge. The design challenge requires students to create a stomp rocket that can travel to a chosen planet in the solar system. The design challenge can also be used to investigate forces and energy. It can be delivered over a number of lessons, or it ...

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Physics of video games lesson

In this lesson students build a simple Pong game in Scratch and consider the physics involved in the game play. They then apply their understanding of force and motion to design their own video game concept. The resource includes links to downloadable lesson plan, websites, videos, apps and an assessment rubric. The lesson ...

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Sphero slalom lesson

In this lesson students explore slalom sports and how competitors maximise speed when completing a course. Students research different slalom sports and then share their findings with the class. Students investigate the impact of distance and friction on time to complete a course through digital and unplugged activities. ...

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Cranky Contraptions

This activity invites students to make Cranky Contraptions, kinetic sculptures that animate a character or scene when a handle is turned. These automata are powered by a simple crank slider mechanism which provides the basic motion. Everyday materials around can be repurposed into these contraptions. The activity includes ...

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Balancing Sculptures

This activity invites students to explore balance and stability by designing and building whimsical kinetic sculptures that tilt, slide, and suspend everyday objects and ordinary materials into surprising arrangements. Students explore stability, centres of gravity, balanced forces and symmetry through this hands-on, tactile ...

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Whimsical Whirligigs

This activity invites students to design and make Whimsical Whirligigs, kinetic contraptions that can be powered by wind, crank, or motor. Students can create wind-powered paper creatures or machines with moving parts. A The activity includes a list of tools and materials required, assembly instructions, inspiration and ...

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Cardboard Automata

This activity invites students to explore simple mechanical elements such as cams, levers, and linkages, while creating a moving sculpture. This activity is simple to start but may become more and more complex as students become familiar with possible motions and imagine ways to artistically decorate their contraption. ...

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Experimentals: Examples of Bernoulli's theorem

Have you ever wondered how a yacht sails into the wind? Watch as the Experimentals team works through practical demonstrations of Bernoulli's theorem. You're in for a few surprises as you learn how gases and liquids change their behavior as they begin to flow.

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Catalyst: The physics of a slinky drop

Imagine holding a slinky by the top end, with the bottom end dangling in mid-air. What do you think would happen when you let it go? Explore the physics of two equal and opposing forces working on an object in this awesome experiment!

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Elliot and the Surfing Scientist: Balancing an aluminium can: centre of gravity

Be astounded as you watch Ruben the Surfing Scientist make an aluminium soft drink can balance at 45 degrees and rotate in a circle, as if by magic. Learn about the science behind this trick.

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Experimentals: Do different things fall faster?

Want to find out what happens when you drop a watermelon and an apple from the top of a building? In this clip, Bernie Hobbs and Ruben Meerman, investigate whether the mass of an object influences how fast it falls. Bernie and Ruben ride the 'Giant Drop' at Dreamworld, drop a watermelon and apple from an eighth floor balcony, ...

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Can We Help?: Effects of g-force on the human body

Peter Rowsthorn visits the Australian International Air Show to answer the question, 'What effect does g-force have on the human body?' Join Pete in the cockpit of a light plane for some aerobatics with pilot David Pilkington. G-force expert Dr David Newman explains the science as Pete endures up to 6 g in the aircraft.

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Anatomy of a raindrop

The water cycle is the circulation of water on, in and above Earth and it involves a number of stages and changes of state. This clip describes the water cycle and also how modern technology has contributed to our understanding of the shape of raindrops and its relationship to precipitation. Discover how raindrop shape ...

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reSolve: Modelling Motion - Year 7

This sequence of seven lessons challenges students to use simple equipment to predict, observe and represent motion. They create a series of graphs to represent motion and construct instruments to measure forces in one and then two dimensions. They interpret these representations to develop concepts of force and motion. ...

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Introduction 'Technology' in AgriBusiness (Animation)

This is a video about how Australian farmers embrace technology. Using animation, photographs and commentary with occasional puns and jokes by a primary-school--aged boy, it sets the scene of the overall impact of technology, describes why Australian farmers have always been innovative; provides a definition of technology; ...

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Catalyst: Do heavier things fall faster?

Will a medicine ball or a basketball hit the ground first when dropped at the same time from the same height? In this clip, Catalyst's Dr Derek Muller investigates what influences the speed at which objects fall. Derek challenges some people in a market to make a prediction and explain their thinking, before he finally ...

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Ramping it up, Egyptian pyramid style

How did the ancient Egyptians move and lift huge stones during construction of the pyramids? Secondary student Angus Atkinson designed an experiment to find out how the lives of pyramid workers could have been made easier. See how as you watch this video, which he entered in the 2013 Sleek Geeks Eureka Science Schools Prize.

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Friction: Friend or foe?

What part does the force of friction play in our everyday lives? Friction can be an advantage (friend) or a problem (foe). Join interviewer Doug Traction and professors Static, Slide, Rolling and Fluid at the National Tribology Research Centre as they have forceful fun investigating friction. This video won a prize in the ...

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Experimentals: Building with different shapes

Did you know that the shape of an object can affect its strength? Watch as Ruben Meerman tests two columns of different shapes to see which can carry the greater load. Consider how engineers might use this information to build tall structures.

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Elliot and the Surfing Scientist: Make a lava lamp model using oil and water

Imagine making your very own lava lamp using materials from your kitchen and bathroom. Watch the Surfing Scientist team show you how it can be done, then try and figure out why it works.