This series is a visual treasure trove of demonstrations, animations, and explanations of all things motion! To an extent we are all familiar with motion because we all move and we see movement everywhere, but a detailed knowledge of motion has allowed us to build the wonderful modern world that we live in.
A.P. and college students and adults
Approx. 25 minutes each
Program descriptions:
Speed
Presenter Spiro Liacos introduces viewers to the concept that speed is a measure of how far something travels in a given amount of time, looks at how speed varies in a sprint, explains the concept of velocity, and demonstrates a number of ways of measuring an object’s speed.
Relative Motion
We introduce viewers to the concept that the movement of an object is always relative to something else. We call it “sunrise” but does the sun really rise? Can we stand still and move around from place to place at the same time? If a car is moving forwards, can it also be moving backwards at the same time? And can we throw a single ball towards the left and towards the right at the same time? The answers to all these questions will be answered and along the way we will gain a much deeper understanding of velocity and acceleration!
Graphing Motion
In a 100-metre sprint, when do athletes reach their highest speed? When do they accelerate at the highest rate and at what point, if any, do they stop accelerating? We look at how graphs can help us better understand the motion of athletes and of cars and other things.
Graphing Free Fall
We continue looking at graphs but pay particular attention to how graphs help us to understand the motion of objects that are either falling straight down or which have been launched vertically upwards into the air.