SUBJECTS: Science, Technologies
YEARS: 3–4
Join Winston as he tests which materials slide down a ramp.
Which ones will slip and which ones will grip?
He's testing a wooden block, a stone, a glass bottle and an eraser.
Predict what will happen. Watch to see if your prediction was right.
Things to think about
- 1.Imagine an object on a flat board. What happens to the object if you raise one end of the board to make it into a ramp? Why will the object slide?
- 2.Notice the items lined up on the ramp: a wooden block, a stone, a glass bottle and an eraser made of rubber. Which one will slip first when the board is raised to make a ramp? Which ones slip and which ones grip? In what order?
- 3.Draw a picture to show how the test was carried out. Which materials slid easily? Which material gripped best? Looking at that test, what material would you use for a tyre? Why?
- 4.Make a toy car with wheels made from jar lids that are made of metal. Make your own ramp using a board. Experiment with adding rubber bands stretched around the outside of each lid (its circumference). Do the rubber-band-covered wheels perform differently from the metal wheels?
Acknowledgements
Music by Glyn Lehmann.
Date of broadcast: 30 Apr 2001
Copyright
Metadata © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia Ltd 2012 (except where otherwise indicated). Digital content © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). Video © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). All images copyright their respective owners. Text © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).