Concept featured in film: Forces

DVD: Chapter 5: 0:14:35 - 0:18:27

Play Flickclip Here (Quicktime)

Summary of clip: This scene begins with Harry talking to his racecar, telling it to take care of Cole. Next we see the racetrack with the cars on the starting line preparing for the race. Finally we see the cars racing on the track, taking corners at high speeds due to the banked curves.

Connection of flickclip to the concept: This is a good clip to illustrate frictional and centripetal forces. Students should be able to understand why curves are banked

Suggestions to Teachers:

1. Suggested questions for students when viewing the clip:

a. What direction is the centripetal force when the driver takes a curve?

b. What affects whether or not the driver will make it around the curve?

c. Why are curves banked?

d. How does friction help cars "take" curves?

2. Students should be able to construct force diagrams to help explain their answers.