IB DP Physics hands-on practical on Newton’s second law (F = ma) for Topic A.2 Forces and momentum, SL and HL, first assessment 2025: a trolley lab. The law is tested at fixed mass, then at fixed force. Editable worksheet, 67-slide lesson deck, teacher key, worked solutions and a questions-only assessment, supplied as self-contained HTML plus colour and black-and-white PDF.
What students learn
- Friction paid for, not ignored: the runway is tilted until a pushed trolley coasts.
- Acceleration against force gives the mass as 1/gradient, checked against a balance.
- Acceleration against mass curves; against 1/M it straightens, and its gradient returns the force.
- Extreme lines are pivoted until every uncertainty bar is caught, and the intercept tests the compensation.
IB skills (Tools 1 to 3 and Inquiry 1 to 3):
- Measuring mass and force (taught).
- Reducing friction to control a variable (taught).
- Designing and explaining a valid methodology (taught).
- Interpreting qualitative and quantitative data (taught).
- Identifying and explaining patterns, trends and relationships (taught).
- Lines of maximum and minimum gradient, and the uncertainty in a gradient and an intercept (practised).
- Linearizing graphs, only where appropriate (practised).
- Using spreadsheets to manipulate data (practised).
- Justifying the removal of an outlier (practised).
- Assessing accuracy, precision, reliability and validity, and weaknesses and limitations (practised).
What’s included:
- Student Worksheet - 25 pages
- Teacher Key - 39 pages
- Worked Solutions - 24 pages
- Assessment - 18 pages
- Lesson deck - 67 slides
Seventeen questions carry 155 marks, and the teacher key has model readings for all 30 runs. Four of the eight figures carry answer layers stripped from the student copy, not hidden. The bench work fills a 100-minute double period: the teacher notes set Questions 2 to 9 as pre-lab homework and Questions 10 to 17 as the write-up. It is a skills practical and declares no IB understanding: it tests the law the companion lesson teaches, with a Nature of Science note on laws from uncertain measurements. Worksheet and deck open in any browser with nothing to install, and the worksheet is fully editable. SI units, IB notation and IB command terms throughout. Suitable for grades 11-12 (ages 16-19).
Related resources:
- Newton’s Second Law: F = ma, the lesson that teaches the law
- Uncertainties on a Graph, the skill pack behind the extreme lines
- Designing the Investigation, the skill pack behind the method
- Measuring the Acceleration of Free Fall, the kinematics practical (free)
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