Physics Quest Worksheets!
Practice problems are so much more fun if they’re worked into stories!
Also, physics is meant for analyzing real-world situations. Solving problems with actual context to them builds a better sense of what the concepts actually mean.
Each of the worksheets includes over 15 pages of practice problems, with an answer key.
The way a physics worksheet looks aesthetically deeply impacts how students react to it.
Basic 1-D Kinematics
This is a worksheet I made for my students to practice basic 1-D kinematics.
Students are asked to solve for distance travelled, speed, and time for constant velocity or constant acceleration situations. (The worksheet starts with constant velocity and then builds up to constant acceleration and free fall at the end.)
The word problems are all organized into a single fun fantasy story.
Problems utilize the three basic kinematics equations (the three shown on the scroll :) )
Question Types Included:
Solving for velocity, when given distance and time
Solving for distance, if given velocity and time
Solving for time, if given velocity and distance
Solving for distance in constant acceleration problems
Solving for final or initial velocity in constant acceleration problems
Solving for time in constant acceleration problems
Answer key is included. As are dragons!
Momentum
This worksheet includes all the classic momentum questions:
Calculating Total Momentum
Calculating Change in Momentum
Elastic Collisions
Inelastic Collisions
Calculating Final Velocity
Impulse
The questions are the classic AP Physics 1 style questions, the only difference here is that together they are organized into a single illustrated story.
A complete answer key is also included.
Energy
Help a tiny robot in his quest to regain his memories!
This worksheet includes practice problems on these topics:
Identifying Types of Energies:
Kinetic
Gravitational Potential
Thermal
Sound
Nuclear
Electrical
Chemical
Describing Energy Changes in a Scenario (e.g., Potential to Kinetic)
Converting between Joules, calories, and Calories
Calculating Energy:
Gravitational Potential
Kinetic
Using Energy Conservation to solve for height
And here’s what’s in the worksheet:
19 pages of content
26 total word problems
Answer Key Included
Traditional Physics Worksheets
One thing I’ve noticed over the years is that how a physics worksheet looks really impacts how students feel about it.
Physics worksheets are hard to make, because they require diagrams, or they try to depict physical situations in text. Students not only have to work with the concepts, but they have to decipher the diagrams and translate the descriptions to images. I’ve watched a lot of students get intimidated and struggle to solve problems, simply because the diagrams look complicated or confusing.
Now, breaking down complex or confusing information is an important skill, like trying to decipher IRS forms. But we usually learn new skills best when we’re learning one at a time. Having engaging and beautiful physics worksheets means students can focus on the actual physics concepts.
Not only that, but there’s a lot of research that even after students have taken physics classes, their fundamental understanding of the real world doesn’t actually change. It’s like sometimes in physics classes we’re teaching some arcane set of rituals rather than an actual understanding of the real world. Getting students to re-examine their beliefs and correct their misconceptions is incredibly hard. (I mean, it’s hard for all of us!)
The first step is grounding a discussion of a concept in a real-world situation. That’s the thinking behind these worksheets. Yes, they look silly and I joke around in them a lot, and that’s intentional. Physics has this reputation for being a subject that only geniuses can understand, and it intimidates and stresses out many extremely bright, capable, and creative students.
In these worksheets, I’ve had them professionally illustrated so that they not only look beautiful and fun and entertaining, which decreases stress and increases engagement and motivation, but I’m grounding the practice problems in real-world scenarios in order to have the best chance possible for students to see real uses behind these concepts.
Physics should be fun. It makes for a better and more effective learning experience for everyone.
Free Body Diagrams 1
Free body diagrams! The basics, plus all the classic misconceptions! Cute drawings! An answer key!
I developed this worksheet for my students who are taking AP Physics 1 who are just learning about forces and Newton's Laws. Because it's qualitative and not quantitative, it would also work well for middle school students who are just learning about forces in a conceptual way, too.
Circular Motion
I made this worksheet for my students studying circular motion:
linear vs rotational speed
centripetal acceleration
finding linear speed from period and vice versa
centripetal force
This worksheet includes 40 practice problems, plus an answer key. I have them grouped by type, so you can either have your students do one section at a time, or a few problems from each section. (I always aim to have more practice available than they need.)
The illustrations are fun, but I included everything a typical AP Physics 1 class covers:
friction for cars making turns
apparent weight at the top and bottom of a circular path
situations where the centripetal force is supplied by tension, gravity, the normal force, or friction
I also included a section of conceptual questions, which I find help give students a sense of what circular motion actually feels like.
I also included the classic trick questions, like "if you tie a weight to a string and swing it around, but suddenly the string breaks, what path will the weight take?"
Stuck on a problem? Want to review the concepts first?
Try the Stick Figure Physics Tutorials or keep to the stories with Fairy Tale Physics. You can find these in the Books section.
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