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Lesson Title: Bernoulli’s Cans
Sunshine State Standards:
o (S.C.C. 2.3.3 &4) The student understands that unbalanced forces will cause
changes in the speed or direction of an object's motion.
o (S.C.B. 2.3.1,2&3) Students understands that energy is a property of many
substances and is associated with mechanical motion. And that energy is
transferred in many ways.
Background In 1738, a Swiss mathematician Daniel Bernoulli studied the relationship
between the pressure and velocity of a fluid. The Bernoulli Principle states that as the
speed of a moving fluid increases, the pressure within the fluid decreases.
Objective: The goal of this lesson is to help students understand -
o how unbalanced forces work
o how energy is transferred
o how objects move when a net force is applied.
Time: One- 55 Minute class period.
Materials: (per 2 student group) 2 empty soft drink cans, 25 non-bendable straws, flat
table top.
Lesson/Procedures:
Engage:
o Demonstrate the action of forces by placing “weighted” bird on finger tip and
ask students for explanations as to what is holding the bird up.
o Add small additional weights to either wing and ask students to predict what
would happen.
o Discuss balanced, unbalanced and net forces and forces acting on an object
to keep it floating.
o Discuss what net forces allow an object to move.
Explore:
o Have students place 23 straws on the table parallel to each other, about 1 cm
apart.
o Then students place the cans upright on the rack of straws. The cans should
be able to roll freely back and forth.
o The cans should be approximately 5 cm apart.
o Using the straw, blow air between the cans.
o Students make guided observations
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