Forces can be a subject that science teachers find difficult to teach, particularly if physics is not their specialism. Steve Hearn from the Institute of Physics visits a group of physics non-specialists from the London Borough of Barnet to offer up ideas on how to approach this subject. Steve starts his introduction to forces with a bazooka, a home-made, partially evacuated tube, which fires missiles at a target. He explores how the bazooka works and what forces are acting on the missile. Steve also introduces a bubble investigation where air bubbles are released in glycerol and rise up a small container. David Crossley, on a Teach First scheme, tries out this investigation with a year 7 group. The teachers and the pupils make their predictions with some surprising results.

Video Series: KS3/4 Science
Release Date 2005