SUBJECTS: Science
YEARS: 3–4
Are you strong enough to pull two sheets of paper apart?
What about two books with the pages intertwined?
Watch this science experiment performed by Ruben Meerman, the Surfing Scientist, and find out how he tests the presence of friction between pieces of paper.
Things to think about
- 1.What is friction? Sometimes it's our friend and sometimes it makes things difficult. Can you think of any everyday examples where there is friction? Think about riding a bike; is there an example on a bike where friction is our friend? What about how friction makes cycling hard?
- 2.What happens when Elliot tries to pull two sheets of paper apart? Watch as Ruben prepares the two books to test friction between the pages. What happens when Elliot tries to pull the books apart? Why are the books tied to a brick? Ruben say the experiment shows the strength of something. What is it?
- 3.Now repeat the experiment from the clip. Don't forget to set it up carefully by preparing the books as shown by Ruben. Try it out on your parents or friends and surprise them with your science knowledge! Take digital photographs and create your own science report.
- 4.Find out more about friction and how it affects our everyday life. Advertise a new range of sports shoe or bicycle tyre. Persuade consumers to buy the product based on how it performs (overcomes or makes use of) friction.
Acknowledgements
Image credit: 'Paper Sheets 3', courtesy Dan Taylr (Flickr).
Production Date: 2008
Copyright
Metadata © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia Ltd 2012 (except where otherwise indicated). Digital content © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). Video © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). All images copyright their respective owners. Text © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).