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The equivalence principle comes to school—falling objects and other middle school investigations

Pendrill, Ann-Marie LU orcid ; Ekström, Peter and Hansson, Lena (2014) In Physics Education 49(4). p.425-430
Abstract
Comparing two objects falling together is a small-scale version of Galileo’s classical experiment, demonstrating the equivalence between gravitational and inertial mass. We present here investigations by a group of ten-year-olds, who used iPads to record the drops. The movie recordings were essential in the follow-up discussions, enabling the students to compare the different situations and to discern situations where air resistance was essential and where it could be neglected. By considering a number of familiar situations

and simple investigations that can be performed, e.g., on a playground,students may come closer to an appreciation of the deep significance of the non-influence of mass on motion under gravity.
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
categories
Higher Education
in
Physics Education
volume
49
issue
4
pages
425 - 430
publisher
IOP Publishing
external identifiers
  • scopus:84905023420
ISSN
1361-6552
DOI
10.1088/0031-9120/49/4/425
project
NRCF (National Resource Center for Physics Education)
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
a72c4d1c-13e8-4bb2-8413-07747090040a (old id 5049490)
alternative location
http://iopscience.iop.org/0031-9120/49/4/425/
date added to LUP
2016-04-04 08:21:37
date last changed
2022-01-29 03:21:24
@article{a72c4d1c-13e8-4bb2-8413-07747090040a,
  abstract     = {{Comparing two objects falling together is a small-scale version of Galileo’s classical experiment, demonstrating the equivalence between gravitational and inertial mass. We present here investigations by a group of ten-year-olds, who used iPads to record the drops. The movie recordings were essential in the follow-up discussions, enabling the students to compare the different situations and to discern situations where air resistance was essential and where it could be neglected. By considering a number of familiar situations<br/><br>
and simple investigations that can be performed, e.g., on a playground,students may come closer to an appreciation of the deep significance of the non-influence of mass on motion under gravity.}},
  author       = {{Pendrill, Ann-Marie and Ekström, Peter and Hansson, Lena}},
  issn         = {{1361-6552}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{4}},
  pages        = {{425--430}},
  publisher    = {{IOP Publishing}},
  series       = {{Physics Education}},
  title        = {{The equivalence principle comes to school—falling objects and other middle school investigations}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/5176727/5049492.pdf}},
  doi          = {{10.1088/0031-9120/49/4/425}},
  volume       = {{49}},
  year         = {{2014}},
}