Summary
Phil builds a self-propelled racer from a spool and a wound-up elastic, storing energy that unwinds to drive it forward. A neat look at how stored energy becomes motion. ~22 min, free on the official Science Max YouTube channel.
Viewer safety
All ages
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Teaching resources
Discussion questions
Discussion
Wind it up and let it go — Phil's spool racer turns stored energy into a speedy ride.
- Where is the energy stored before the racer moves?
- What happens to that energy when the elastic unwinds?
- How could you make the racer travel farther?
- What other toys wind up to store energy?
Quick work-a-long
Vocabulary: spool, elastic, stored energy, wind, motion.
Try it: Wind up a wind-up toy (or twist a rubber-band propeller) and let it go. Describe how the stored energy turned into movement.