CENCO® AP Physics Lab 1.06: Exploring Circular Motion to Make Pigs Fly

Design and conduct an experiment that analyzes the motion of a conical pendulum.

Introducing the new CENCO AP Physics lab series!

Ideal for AP Physics 1 and 2, AP Physics C, IB DP Physics, and advanced/honors physics courses, each of the 35 experiments is aligned with the revised College Board AP curriculum. These innovative labs go way beyond traditional exercises, turning real-world scenarios into true guided-inquiry investigations. Students are given a goal, but the investigation is driven by their ideas. As they draw conclusions, students report their results using the Claim-Evidence-Reasoning model. The teacher guides and student manuals are authored and reviewed by AP Physics teachers with decades of combined experience, so you can trust the setups to be successful in your classroom. All labs come complete with instructions and materials for one lab group of 2 to 4 students. For your convenience, labs are packaged to allow you to purchase only what is required for each experiment.

'I’ll love physics when pigs fly!' In this two-part experiment, students first explore what factors affect an object moving in a circular path. Then, they must find a reliable way to determine the angle of the conical pendulum formed by a silly and engaging toy. Students design the experiment and use the Claim-Evidence-Reasoning model to justify their claims. They practice valuable AP exam skills drawing Free Body Diagrams. They might even have a little fun in the process.