How many of these items do you already have? We’ve tried to keep it simple for you by making the majority of the items things most people have within reach (both physically and budget-wise), and even have broken down the materials by experiment category so you can decide if those are ones you want to do.
Here’s an easy way to decide which materials to get: look over the list, and if the group of materials seems to difficult to obtain, just skip it for now and go onto the next group within the unit. Most items are obtainable from the grocery store, hardware store, and online! You do not need to do ALL the experiments – just pick the ones you want to do!
Shopping List for Unit 5: Kinetic & Potential Energy Click here for Shopping List for Unit 5.
NOTE: Radio Shack part numbers have been replaced. Click here for full chart.
Ramp Races
Several small balls of different weights (golf ball, racket ball, ping pong ball, marble etc.)
Good size container or mixing bowl
Flour or corn starch or any kind of light powder
Pie tin or other shallow container
Tape measure or yard stick
Optional: Spring scale or kitchen scale
Roller Coasters & Bobsleds
3 pieces ¾” pipe insulation (non-adhesive, black foam)
20 marbles
1 roll masking tape
Aluminum foil
Scissors
Gift wrap tube or clear fluorescent-lamp tube
Stopwatch, yardstick
Catapult
6 rubber bands
2 plastic spoons
9 tongue-depressor popsicle sticks
14 regular-size popsicle sticks
Hot glue gun and glue sticks
wooden clothespin
straw
wood skewer or dowel
Marshmallows, wadded up paper sheets or aluminum foil balls
Pendulums
Yardstick
A washer or a weight of some kind
Stopwatch
4 index cards (any size)
10 Thumb tacks (or brass fasteners)
Big, heavy hex nut
10’ string or yarn
6 strong donut-shaped ring magnets
P-Shooter
Mechanical pencil (cheap kind)
2 thin rubber bands
Razor (get adult help)
Additional Items for Advanced Students:
Baking potato (raw)
Protractor
Straw
String
Rock or key (to use as weight)
Stopwatch
Acrylic tubing (approx 1/2” diameter)
¼” wood dowel (should fit inside acrylic tube)
Washer (make sure that the inner diameter of washer smaller than outer diameter of acrylic tube, so the washer cannot slide up the tube)