Illustrating Different Types of Forces

The are a wide range of forces in many everyday situations that students might not be aware of. Using a spider map, students will identify and illustrate a range of different types of forces. You can make this activity easier or more challenging by changing the number of rows. Stretch your most advanced students by giving them a contextual constraint, for example, all of their examples of forces need to be found in football. Students should be encouraged to define the type of force in their storyboard alongside each example, but this is not a needed requirement.

Alternatively, print out the example storyboard and cut it up. Students can then match the force type with the visualization.

Types of Forces

• Lift
• Friction
• Drag
• Electrostatic force
• Magnetic force
• Weight
• Thrust
• Upthrust
• Tension
• Spring force
• Normal force
• Applied force

Student Instructions

Demonstrate your understanding of forces by identifying where forces occur in real world contexts.

1. Click "Start Assignment".
2. Think of a real world situation for each of the force types.
3. Illustrate the situation using a combination of scenes, characters, and items.
• Alternatively, use Photos for Class to give examples of the situation.
4. Add force arrows to represent the forces.