Year 5’s Fabulous Forces

Year 5 have made a tremendous start to their Science work, where they have been focussing upon the forces of gravity, air resistance, water resistance and friction. Please read below what we have learnt.

We started by finding out what we knew already about forces and then identified what learning needed to take place. Our investigations began by defining and investigating the effect of gravity on unsupported objects and extended by researching Newton’s law of motion. We did this by looking at the craters created by objects of a different weight. We learnt that gravity is a pull from the centre of the Earth and that no object can completely beat it!

After this, we investigated air resistance by finding out how the size of a parachute affected the speed at which it feel to the ground. We did this on a windy day, as you can see from the photographs. Some children found patterns in data and explained what they indicated. We learnt that the greater an object’s surface area, the more air resistance it would encounter.

The next experiment we completed was to define and investigate the effects of water resistance by dropping a range of shapes into water. We had great fun investigating this and found that the greater the surface area of an object, the more water resistance it would encounter. This is why boats are streamlined.

Finally, the last piece of work we completed was investigating how friction acts between moving surfaces. We did this by pulling a weight over these and measuring the force using a Newton meter. We concluded that the smoother a surface, the less friction there will be. This is why ice is slippy and we have grips on our shoes!

After all this excellent force work, we thought carefully about how we could create a machine to make our lives easier! We looked at how pulleys are used to make smaller forces have a greater effect by creating a mechanism to help Mr Richard’s father load milk bottles on a van!

The Year 5 teachers have all been very impressed with the children’s effort and participation. We look forward to conducting more practical Science work in our next topic on Earth and Space.

Mrs Noble, Miss Bajwa and Mr Richards.

3 responses to “Year 5’s Fabulous Forces”

  1. Sarah says:

    Well Done year 5s. Keep up the good work.

  2. David Waterhouse says:

    Poppy states she very much enjoyed science this half term. She was able to give explanations about gravity and air resistance. She says the experiment where blue tack was dropped into water was her favourite. I gave her a head start with your next topic and taught Poppy the rhyme of remembering the order of the planets. Well done. David (Dad)

  3. Liza Danial says:

    Good job year 5

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