Air Resistance and Terminal Velocity

The Air Resistance and Terminal Velocity Toolkit provides teachers with standards-based resources for designing lesson plans and units that pertain to concepts of and relationships associated with the concept of air resistance and its application to skydiving and terminal velocity. The variety of resources described in this teacher Toolkit provide the tools a teacher needs to create a collection of engaging, multi-media lessons that involve the use of Newton's laws and force concepts to explain the phenomenon of falling through air. The topic of skydiving is one that is intrinsically interesting to most students and thus makes for a series of interesting lessons. The Toolkit is supported by Lesson 3 of the Newton's Laws Chapter at The Physics Classroom Tutorial.


Each toolkit can be viewed in three different ways.

  1. Terminal Velocity - HTML Version of Complete Toolkit

    The HTML version of the complete toolkit contains all the resources with full descriptions and links to their location on the web. The complete toolkit also includes learning objectives and references the pertinent standards addressed by the resources.
     

  2. Terminal Velocity - PDF Version of Complete Toolkit

    The PDF version of the complete toolkit contains all the resources with full descriptions in a printer-friendly format. Learning objectives and relevant standards are also included in the PDF Version of the complete toolkit.
     

  3. Terminal Velocity - Toolkit To Go

    The Toolkit To Go is a 2-page PDF document that provides an abbreviated version of the complete toolkit. It contains as much information as could fit on two pages. Toolkits to Go can be photo-copied back-to-back, hole-punched, and filed in a teacher's folder or three-ring binder for future reference.