Vocabulary
What is Speed?
How fast an object moves.
What is the difference between velocity and force?
Velocity describes speed with direction, while force is a push or pull that causes a change in motion
How does an object’s mass affect its velocity when the same force is applied?
Greater mass results in a smaller change in velocity for the same force
In a collision, how do the forces exerted on the objects compare in strength and direction?
The forces are equal in strength but push in opposite directions
What determines the direction in which an object’s velocity changes when a force is applied?
The direction of the force determines how the velocity will change
What is Force
A push or pull that can change the motion of an object
If a constant force is applied to an object, what happens to its velocity?
Its velocity changes; it accelerates in the direction of the force.
What happens to an object’s velocity if its mass doubles but the force applied stays the same?
The object’s acceleration, and therefore the rate of change in velocity decrease
Why does a more massive object experience a smaller change in velocity during a collision?
Because its greater mass resists acceleration more, following Newton’s Second Law
Why did the asteroid-collecting pod move differently compared to other pods, even though the thrusters exerted the same strength force?
The pod was more massive, so the same force caused a smaller change in velocity
What is mass
The amount of matter that makes up an object
What happens to an object’s velocity if no net force is acting on it?
The velocity remains constant; the object is either at rest or in uniform motion.
Why do lighter objects change velocity more easily than heavier objects when the same force is applied?
Lighter objects have less mass, so they require less force to change their motion
When the pod collided with the space station, which object experienced a greater change in velocity, and why?
The pod experienced a greater change in velocity because it has less mass than the space station
After the pod collided with the space station, why did the pod move much faster than the space station?
The pod is less massive, so the same force caused a greater change in velocity.
What is velocity?
speed in a particular direction
How does doubling the force on an object affect its velocity, assuming mass stays the same?
It causes a greater acceleration, increasing the rate of change of velocity.
How does friction affect the velocity of an object?
Friction slows the object down by opposing its motion.
What evidence do students gather in the simulation to explain the velocity difference between the pod and the space station after the collision?
The simulation shows that forces in collisions are equal and opposite, but the smaller mass of the pod results in a greater velocity change compared to the larger mass of the space station
If a thruster on the pod fired too weakly, what might have happened during the docking attempt?
The pod could have collided with the space station and bounced off in the opposite direction.
What is matter?
Anything that has mass and takes up space.
A ball rolling across a floor slows down and stops. Explain why, in terms of force and velocity.
Friction acts as an unbalanced force opposing the ball’s motion, causing its velocity to decrease to zero
A soccer ball and a bowling ball are kicked with the same force. Why does the soccer ball accelerate more than the bowling ball?
The soccer ball has less mass, so it experiences greater acceleration/velocity
How does the concept of equal and opposite forces in a collision help the USA decide if they can retrieve the pod?
Understanding that the pod is moving much faster than the space station due to its smaller mass helps the USA predict its velocity and determine the resources needed for retrieval.
When two objects collide, why do they experience equal and opposite forces, even if their velocities change by different amounts?
According to Newton’s Third Law, the forces are equal in strength and opposite in direction, but the velocity changes depend on the objects’ masses.