New and Revised Gizmos

Over the past few weeks we have updated and released several Gizmos. Here is a list:

New Gizmos

Pulley Lab: Explore the dynamics of pulleys in this new Gizmo, our first on simple machines.

Orbital Motion - Kepler's Laws: Adjust the starting velocity and position of a planet, release it and see what happens! Special features of this Gizmo will allow students to discover each of Kepler's Laws.

Doppler Shift Advanced: This Gizmo, which complements Doppler Shift, has a quantitative focus. Students use the data they gather to write equations for wave frequency in front of and behind a moving source, or for a stationary source and a moving observer.

Updated Gizmos

Freefall Laboratory : We have added new objects, a free-body diagram to show forces, and a variety of manual settings to accomodate a wide variety of experimentation. The Exploration Guide now allows students to calculate the final velocity for objects falling in a vacuum from a known height.

Air Track: We have updated the graphics and interface of this classic Gizmo, and added an exploration guide and assessment questions. Students can discover conservation of momentum and energy for elastic and inelastic collisions.

Limiting Reactants: We have updated the layout and curriculum materials for one of our most visually stunning Gizmos. Not only is this a great Gizmo for teaching about limiting reactants, but it is an exceptional depiction of a chemical reaction as well.

Inclined Plane - Sliding: Our old Inclined Plane Gizmo is in the process of being replaced by a series of Gizmos. In this Gizmo, the focus is on energy conversions for sliding objects. Future related Gizmos will focus on rolling objects, vector diagrams, and simple machines.