image courtesy www.slapt.org

The annual Bowling Ball Grand Prix helps Rutland High School physics students begin to understand how forces acting upon an object affects the motion of that object. Students must navigate a bowling ball through a course using only the bristles of a broom. Having a large mass and a smooth surface, bowling balls tend to travel in a straight line and at a constant speed. Trying to change a bowling ball’s motion requires quite a bit of planning because it is so resistant to change. We call this resistance to a change in motion inertia.

From this activity, we can easily develop Newton’s 1st Law, which tells us that an object in motion will stay in motion unless that object is acted upon by an outside force.

Prior to competing in the Bowling Ball Grand Prix, students complete an activity where they are challenged to move the bowling balls with their broom in various paths (click here to see assessment)