Flying apples, flour, and racing in circles

Newton's second law is best summed up with the formula F=ma or force equals mass times acceleration.  It seems like it should take a lot of math to explain newton's 2nd law.  But in fact, it takes a marshmallow and a golf ball. :)  Let me explain.

Gravity is always our go-to force to study, since we can easily see it in every day situations.  When the apple falls onto the knife, it de-celerates because of the addition of friction, which changes the downward force until it finally comes to a stop.  This demo left the kids a bit confused, so we looked into something a bit more fun . . . and messy. :)

We filled a container with flour (sand would have been less messy, but I didn't have any on hand). Hulk held up a golf ball, and Goblin held a marshmallow.  Then, they dropped them into the flour. 

Then we measured how deep the holes made by each object went into the pan.  Since they had different masses (golf balls are much heavier than marshmallows), we can see the difference in force at which they hit the ground based on the difference in the impacts (the depth of the hole they made).

Since the boys were covered in flour, I made them go outside to shake it all off, which I think was everyone's favorite part of school for the day. Science should always be a little bit messy and a lot of fun.

--Little Miss Crazy