Stressing Over Pencil Pressure
Use pencil push-tests to learn the difference between force and pressure and explore how safety features protect human bodies in a crash.
Key Questions
- How can magicians lay on a bed of sharp nails unharmed?
- How are force, pressure, and stress relevant in engineering strong and safe vehicles?
Student Directions
- View the Introduction video.
- Download and print the Student Activity Sheet.
- Do the activity and begin answering the analysis questions.
- View the Conclusion video and finish answering the analysis questions.
- View the video segment of "When Physics Meets Biology" to help review the science concept(s).
Force: a push or pull that can cause a mass to accelerate, measured in Newtons (N)
Pressure: the amount of force applied over a given surface area; P = F/A.
Stress: the average internal force applied per unit of crosssectional area of a material; σ = stress = F/A
Stress Test: applying pressure to stress a material until it fails
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About
Use pencil push-tests to learn the difference between force and pressure and explore how safety features protect human bodies in a crash.
Key Questions
- How can magicians lay on a bed of sharp nails unharmed?
- How are force, pressure, and stress relevant in engineering strong and safe vehicles?
Students
Student Directions
- View the Introduction video.
- Download and print the Student Activity Sheet.
- Do the activity and begin answering the analysis questions.
- View the Conclusion video and finish answering the analysis questions.
- View the video segment of "When Physics Meets Biology" to help review the science concept(s).
Vocabulary
Force: a push or pull that can cause a mass to accelerate, measured in Newtons (N)
Pressure: the amount of force applied over a given surface area; P = F/A.
Stress: the average internal force applied per unit of crosssectional area of a material; σ = stress = F/A
Stress test: applying pressure to stress a material until it fails
Teachers
Please log in to your teacher account to access the Teacher area.