Bicycle Parts: Wheels and Motion is a Physics Lesson for Kids
Bicycle Parts: Wheels and Motion is a Physics Lesson for Kids
For many kids, riding a bicycle is as commonplace as going to school or chewing some gum. However, for many kids, riding a bicycle is much of the time seen as just another fun activity or an excuse to get in some exercise, too. Most of the time, kids do not think of a bicycle as more than just a fun activity or form of transportation, which is a pity. The parts of a bicycle actually make for quite an effective physics lesson for kids in middle school because of all the scientific principles involved. The wheels of a bicycle and the motion of a bicycle are a great basis for a physics lesson for kids.
When kids are furiously pedaling away on their bicycles, they are likely not thinking about scientific principles such as force. However, force is having an effect on the bicycle, because in physics, force is defined as a type of influence that makes a free body undergo changes in direction, shape or speed. In the case of a bicycle, the effect that the principle of force has on the bicycle is on its speed. A force is capable of making the bicycle move, yet it also has the power to make an object stop moving. When kids are pedaling away on their bicycles, they are using their own muscles to create the force needed to move their bicycles forward. In this way, kids are almost like their own engines for their own bicycles.
In the physics world, velocity is how one measures the direction and the rate of change in an object’s position. In the case of kids and their bicycles, this basically means how fast said kids are going on their bicycles. Essentially, it is how far kids can travel on their bicycles in a certain unit of time. For example, how many miles per hour kids can go if they pedal at a steady rate. Velocity is basically another word for speed.
Momentum is a concept in the physics world that is sort of tied together with velocity. The two, however, are distinct and separate concepts. Momentum is the result that one gets when one multiplies the velocity and the mass of any given object. A vector quantity, momentum is a principle that involves both size as well as direction.
Friction, on the other hand, in its most basic definition is an element that has the power to slow things down, like kids’ bicycles. Another purpose of friction is to prevent one surface from sliding and rubbing on another surface. For instance, if kids were to ride their bicycles along a road that is icy, they would not be sufficient enough friction between the tires of the bicycles and the icy road. As a result, kids who would attempt such a daring feat would not enjoy control of their bicycles in the first place. In all likelihood, they would slide because of a lack of friction.
Friction also affects a bicycle in the different parts of a bicycle. There are things kids can do to lessen the amount of friction in their bicycles. In example, kids can put oil on the gears and the chains of their bicycles if they want their bicycles not to slow down so much. More oil on kids’ bicycles helps one’s gears to turn a lot more easily, which has the advantage of making sure that gears wear out less quickly.
Gravity, in physics, is a natural principle that involves physical bodies attracting each other with a force that is proportional to mass. In the world of kids’ bicycles, kids likely encountered gravity the first time when they fell off of their bicycles because they could not yet master the skill to pedal fast enough. By failing to pedal their bicycles quickly enough, they failed to keep their bicycles moving fast enough to avoid falling down. By eventually learning to pedal the bicycle fast enough, kids produce a force that behaves like an anti-gravity force. In some ways, kids defy gravity when they pedal their bicycles fast enough to avoid gravity from being a factor that makes them fall down.
Kids can learn a lot about physics from bicycles and the many different bicycle parts that exist. Scientific principles such as gravity, velocity, momentum, force and friction are all present when kids ride their bicycles. By looking at bicycles as more than just transportation or a way to have some fun, kids can learn a lot about physics. They just have to look at their bicycles in a more scientific way.