Predicting Swing Motion

The images show two different positions of a child on a swing. The patterns of a swing in motion in various situations can be observed and measured. Patterns of motion can be predictable and can change with varying velocity, friction, size, speed, and directions. 

Driving Question

• How can the motion of a swinging object be predicted?

Probing Questions

• How can we determine how slow or how fast the child can swing on the swing?
• What forces are acting on the child to create the movement on the swing?
• If the swing was at rest, how might you change this?

Classroom Suggestions

Students could:

• Reenact this on their playground using different types of force to get their swings to move. They could also explore different weights of children in the swing, different people pushing, and lengths of swings. 
• Explore things that might change the swing such as friction, velocity and momentum, Experiment with those differences and see what changes.
• Find other real-life applications for observing objects in motion. For example, seat belts in a car, car tires, a ball being rolled back and forth, children on a see-saw, a grocery cart being pushed through a parking lot in the summer versus winter in Iowa (snow on the ground). Make observations about the predictable patterns.

Relevant Related Resources

How Can You Win a Tug-of-War Against a Bunch of Adults? | Mystery Science: In this lesson, students will see that by learning to think about forces like pushes and pulls they can accomplish extraordinary things! In the activity, Hopper Popper, students make a folded piece of cardboard jump high in the air, propelled by the pulling force of a rubber band. They discuss the forces involved in making this “Hopper Popper” jump.
How Can You Go Faster Down a Slide? | Mystery Science: In this lesson, students will learn about friction (the force that slows you down on a playground slide). In the activity, The Great Slide Challenge, students work in groups of four to test which materials have the most friction and which materials have the least friction. Each group makes a model of a slide using a stack of books and a piece of cardboard, and makes "sliders" out of different materials.
Predicting Future Motion | The Wonder of Science: Instructional resources, assessments, lesson, plans and videos for this standard