Stunt Barbie - A Laboratory Practicum Combining Constant Velocity and Constant Acceleration

Abstract

In preparing to teach the advanced physics course at my high school, I found it useful to work through the end-of-chapter problems in the book1 used by the advanced class. A problem on motion in one dimension involved a stunt woman in free fall from a tree limb onto a horse running beneath her.2 The problem presents a connected learning opportunity for students because it requires the use of the constant velocity model xf = v*t + xi and the constant acceleration model yf = ½* g* t2 + vyi* t + yi (where g = 9.8 m/s/s) to solve it. I named the stunt woman Barbie and created an activity titled “Stunt Barbie.”