NEW AQA GCSE (2016) Physics - Resultant Forces

This lesson is designed for the NEW AQA Physics GCSE, particularly the ‘Forces in Action’ SoW.

For more lessons designed to meet specification points for the NEW AQA Trilogy specifications for Biology, Chemistry and Physics please see my shop: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/SWiftScience

This lesson begins with an introduction to force diagrams, students are given some information about how arrows can show the direction and size of forces acting upon an object. Students will then need to add force arrows to a diagram of a brick falling, this task can then be checked against the answer provided.

Students are now shown a ‘Tug of war’ diagram, students are asked to ‘Think > Pair > Share’ their ideas about which side would win and why. After a short class discussion, students are now introduced to the idea of balanced and unbalanced forces, using ‘tug of war’ images as examples. Students are then given some information outlining how the motion of an object is affected by balanced/unbalanced forces acting upon it.

Students will now complete a forces circuit to consider the type and size of forces acting upon different objects in the circus, students will need to identify the type/size of the forces and decide whether they are balanced or unbalanced. This task can be self-assessed once it is complete.

Students will now be introduced to the definition of resultant forces, and will be shown some examples of how to calculate resultant force using ‘tug of war’ examples again.

Students will now complete a couple of tasks to assess their knowledge of what they have learned so far on resultant forces, both tasks can be self-assessed using the mark scheme provided in the PowerPoint presentation.

Lastly, students are shown how to draw ‘Free-body Force Diagrams’, an example is given before students are asked to draw their own onces using the two scenarios provided. The work can be marked and corrected using the mark scheme provided.

The plenary task requires students to write a Whatsapp message to summarise what they have learned this lesson.

All resources are included at the end of the presentation. Thanks for looking, if you have any questions please let me know in the comments section and any feedback would be appreciated :)