The specification

Forces
 Knowledge objective Skill objectives (when Key vocabulary
Investigate the relevant) 1. Acceleration
relationship between Understand directly 2. Relationship
mass, force and proportional and inversely
acceleration. proportional relationships 3. Resultant force

Common misconceptions students may have:

That inversely proportional relationships are straight lines – i.e. Just appositive
Objectives

direction to directly proportional relationships.

What are your three most important questions to check that students have met the
objectives above?
Key Question 1: State the equation linking resultant force, mass and acceleration. State the units of each.
Expected answer:
Resultant force = mass x acceleration
N = kg x m/s2

Key Question 2: Sketch two graphs to show (i) the relationship between acceleration and resultant force and
(ii) the relationship between acceleration and mass. Which relationship is directly proportional and which
relationship is inversely proportional?
Expected answer: See slide 10

Key Question 3: Explain which has a higher inertia – a bus or a car?

Expected answer. Inertia of an object is its tendency to stay at rest or at uniform motion. A bus has a bigger
inertia than a car because it has a larger mass and so it is harder to change its velocity.
 Episode Key Question Resource
Do Now
Re-cap prior knowledge on acceleration, speed and force.
Students can then read out their paragraphs to help assess prior
knowledge.

Hook
Man versus plane – who will win the race? This can lead to a
discussion about the difference between speed and
acceleration.
Lesson Guide

Introduce (I) 2,

Introduce the concept of a relationship in physics. Students use

the graphs to help them to make a prediction.

Check for understanding and respond

Do this just before the practical to make sure students are aware
of what they are investigating.

Build (We) 1,2, Core practical

Demonstrate the use of the trolley and light gates. Students then
complete the core practical.

Introduce (I)
Review the relationships that students found and then introduce
equation: F = m x a

Apply (You) 3 Select questions from

worksheet
Students complete questions from textbook

Exit ticket – prove it!

 P10.1 Force and Acceleration
Quick Quiz
1. What is the equation to calculate density
2. What are the units for:
• Energy
• Work done
• Weight
3. How many electrons in the outer shell of
Calcium
4. How many neutrons in Beryllium
5. Define Osmosis
 P10.1 Force and Acceleration
Use the words force, acceleration
and speed in a paragraph to show
Do Now

you understand what they mean.

1: Force and 2: Weight and 3: Forces and 4. Momentum (HT) 5: Conservation

acceleration terminal velocity braking of momentum
(PHY)
6: Impact forces 7: Safety first 8. Forces and 9. Forces and
(PHY) (PHY) elasticity (CP) elasticity part 2
 Man versus plane. Who will win
and why?!
Hook

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P66ISniQCqY
 Relationships
Introduce (I)

What is the relationship between

acceleration of an object and (i) its
mass and (ii) the resultant force?

Today we are going to investigate. But

first let’s think about what the
relationship could be.
 y = kx y = k/x

Number of Time to paint

Number of apples Cost (£) Value for k
people fence (hours) Value for k
0 0
1 10
Introduce (I)

1 0.5
2 5
2 1
4 2.5
3 1.5
8 1.25
4 2
5 2.5
6 3 12

time to paint fence

10
7 3.5
8
8 4 6

(Hrs)
9 4.5 4
10 5 2
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

The relationship between the number of apples number of people

and the cost (£)

6

5
Cost of apples (£)

3
What do you
2

1
notice about
0
the value of k?
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Number of apples
 Two types of proportionality
Proportionality
Introduce (I)

Directly proportional Inversely proportional

y = kx y = k/x

y∝x y ∝ 1/x
 Let’s make a prediction
A. A. Which
acceleration relationship

acceleration
do you think
Introduce (I)

will be
correct?
mass force
B. B.
acceleration

acceleration
mass force
C. C.
acceleration

acceleration

mass force
 Time to investigate
Demonstrate
practical
Build (We)
 Time to investigate
Investigation one: find the relationship
between the effect of changing the
Build (We)

resultant force on the acceleration of

an object

Investigation two: find the relationship

between the effect of changing the
mass on the acceleration of an object
 Acceleration - required
practical
• Set up the equipment as shown.
• Ideally, the string from the trolley to the
pulley will be horizontal.
• Put the trolley on a ramp and incline
slightly.
• You will need to use retort stands and
clamps to position the pulley and light
gate.
• You need to release the trolley from the
same position each time and catch it Place the trolley on a ramp
before it hits the pulley. Incline the ramp using 1-2
• The string should be short enough that 100g masses so that you
the masses don’t hit the floor when you
catch the trolley. Mimic zero resistance.
 Data Logger Settings
• Choose the Timer ‘App’ on home page
• Select Acceleration (press next)
• Select Stop at a (press next)
• Select Double Interrupt (press next)
• Set segment width as 30mm (press next)
• Set units as 2 decimal places (press next)
• Acceleration at a will be auto selected
Press Finish
Click on Display ‘tab’ and select ‘show table’
Press play before you start releasing the trolley
Press stop when all results collected.
 Experiments
1 2
• Place 8 x 10g masses on the
holder and a 20g mass in the
trolley (ie total of 100g)
• Measure and record the
acceleration.
• Remove 10g from the holder
and add it to the trolley and
re-measure the acceleration.
• Repeat until all masses have
been transferred.
• Place a 50g mass on the
mass holder and ensure that
there are no masses on the
trolley.
• Measure and record the
acceleration.
• Add 10g to the trolley and re-
measure the acceleration.
• Repeat until at least five
masses have been added.

Notes:
Force = mass of holder in kg x 10N/kg
Total mass = mass in the trolley + mass of holder in kg.
 Results Experiment 1
Mass on Force Acceleration (m/s2)
holder(g) (N) 1 2 Av
50 0.5 2.35 2.32
40 0.4 1.85 1.85
30 0.3 1.40 1.45
20 0.2 1.04 0.98
10 0.1 0.54 0.55

Plot a graph of Force vs Acceleration

 Graph Experiment 1
0.60

0.50
Acceleration (m/s2)

0.40

0.30

0.20

0.10

0.00
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6

Force (N)
 Results Experiment 2
Mass on Mass in Acceleration (m/s2)
holder (g) trolley (g) 1 2 Av
50 0
50 10
50 20
50 30
50 40
50 50

Plot a graph of Mass vs Acceleration

 Results – Experiment 2

Mass in trolley Mass on

(g) holder (g) Total mass (kg) Acceleration (m/s²)

10 50 0.6 4.09

20 50 0.7 3.33

30 50 0.8 2.69

40 50 0.9 2.14

50 50 1.0 1.67
 Experiment 2 Graph
Acceleration (m/s²)
4.50
4.00
3.50
Acceleration (m/s²)

3.00
2.50
2.00
1.50
1.00
0.50
0.00
0.11 0.12 0.13 0.14 0.15
Mass on trolley (kg)
 Experiment 2 with improved scaling
Chart Title
4.5

3.5
Acceleration (m/s²)

2.5

1.5
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45

Mass on trolley (kg)

 Were you correct?

Return to your predictions. Were you

Build (We)

correct?
 The relationships
a∝F
Introduce (I)

a ∝ 1/m

So we can say that: a ∝ F/m

Which is the same as saying
F=mxa
 P10.1 Practice
Apply (You)
 P10.1 Answers
2a16 N [1] 3bi 600 N [1]
2b 40 kg [1] 3bii 3000 N – 600 N [1]
2c 12 m/s2 [1] = 2400 N [1]
2d2.4 N [1] 4a total mass greater
2e 25,000 kg [1] in 2nd case force
3a 1500 kg × 2 m/s2 same [1] so
acceleration is less [1]
= 3000 N [1]
4b F = 0.60
m = 0.48(m + 0.5) [1]
gives m = 2.0 kg [1]
 Prove it!
1. State the equation linking resultant force, mass and
acceleration. State the units of each.
Exit Ticket

2. Sketch two graphs to show (i) the relationship between

progression

acceleration and resultant force and (ii) the relationship

between acceleration and mass. Which relationship is
directly proportional and which relationship is inversely
proportional?

3. Explain which has a higher inertia – a bus or a car?

 Results Experiment 1
Mass on Force Acceleration (m/s2)
holder(g) (N) 1 2 Av
50 0.5
40 0.4
30 0.3
20 0.2
10 0.1

Plot a graph of Force vs Acceleration

 Results Experiment 2
Mass on Mass in Acceleration (m/s2)
holder (g) trolley (g) 1 2 Av
50 0
50 10
50 20
50 30
50 40
50 50
Plot a graph of Mass in trolley vs Acceleration