COLUMBIA, S.C. — This week's science lesson is all about Newton's first law of motion and how it relates to football. Given that the Super Bowl is just a few days away, it's a great opportunity to sneak a little science lesson into watching the game with your kids.
So first, what does Newton's first law of motion say? The first law says that an object in motion will stay in motion and an object at rest will stay at rest unless acted upon by an external, unbalanced force.
To further explain this concept, I enlisted the help of my friend Cecily. We made paper footballs and also had a little competition.
If you don't have a real football at home, simply fold a piece of paper into a triangle to create a paper football. We then used pipe cleaners to create a field goal and taped it to the table.
Cecily and I talked about how the football will not just go through the goal on it's own, we need to throw it in! We then proceeded to see who could make the most field goals and tried it from different distances as well. It's also important to point out that it takes more force the farther away you are then when you are very close to the field goal.
Another unbalanced force you see a lot when watching football is whenever someone gets tackled. It stops them from running in the direction they were moving.
There are many more examples of unbalanced forces that you will see when watching the big game! See how many you and your kids can point out.