Acceleration Isn’t Only Speeding Up

Lesson Summary

This lesson introduces students to the concept of net force and how a net force causes a change in motion. It also introduces students to contemporary research on laser cooling. Upon completion of this lesson, students will be able to:

• predict how an object’s motion will change by comparing the direction of net force to the direction of initial motion; and

• use proportional reasoning to understand how relationships between force, mass and acceleration manifest in the real life example of laser cooling.

Image from Harvard Professor John Doyle’s physics group.  Shown here with permission.

Standards

Science and Engineering Practices:

MA Science and Technology/Engineering (2016):

NGSS (2013):

Common Core Math/Language Arts Standards:

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