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A force is a push or a pull. When you kick a ball, you push it. When you open a drawer, you pull it.

A force always comes from something else: your hand, your foot, the wind, or a magnet. A magnet can pull a paper clip towards it!

A ball lying on the grass stays still. It will not start to move by itself. Something has to push it or pull it.

Forces can make things start to move, go faster, go slower or stop.

Experiment: Big push, small push

1. Put a piece of tape on the floor as the start line.
2. Give the car a small, gentle push from the start line. Put a piece of tape where it stops.
3. Now give the car a bigger push. Mark where it stops with another piece of tape.
4. Which push made the car go further?
5. Try a push from the side while the car is moving. What happens to its direction?

Push	Where did the car stop? (hand spans from the start)
Small push
Big push
Push from the side

Questions

1. Draw yourself doing a push and a pull. Label each one.

   🍎

2. Will a ball start to roll all by itself?

   yes / no

3. Which push made the car go further: the small push or the big push? Why?

Sources for every fact on this sheet: echoesof.science/school/forces-and-motion/sources/

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