Pushes and pulls

What will happen here?

Title: Pushing and pulling

A push or a pull is a force. Forces can make things move, change their speed, or change their shape. We cannot see a force but we can see its effects.

Look at this toy car. It isn’t going anywhere. But what happens if we give it a push? It moved. That’s because we applied a force.

This time, let’s give it a big push.

A heavier car will need a bigger push to make it move as far as a lighter toy car.

The balloon is light so it only needs a small push force to make it move.

We can use a force like pushing or pulling to change direction. The direction an object moves depends on the direction of the push.

We can use forces to change the shape of an object. We can use pulling forces to stretch and pushing forces to squash.

What happens if you drop something? It falls down because its weight acts as a force pulling it down.

What if we drop it from higher up?

If something falls from a greater height, it reaches a faster speed. The higher we drop the ball from, the bigger impact we see. As well as a splash, the bucket moves, too.

Although we can’t see a force, we can describe what we see happening to an object. Is it being pushed, pulled, or twisted. Does it change speed? Does it change direction? Does it change shape when you stretch, squash, or twist it?

What objects can you apply force to?