Hundreds of thousands of youth across the United States, and some globally, are conducting the world's largest, youth-led science experiment as part of 4-H National Youth Science Day (4-H NYSD) , which launched today in communities across the nation. The "Motion Commotion" experiment was designed by Oregon State University Cooperative Extension in partnership with Vernier Software & Technology and challenges youth to explore the physical and human factors of motion in distracted driving.
Youth conducted the two-part "Motion Commotion" experiment using every day materials - including a toy car, modeling clay, ruler, calculator and cell phone - to explore physics in the real-world. In the first phase, youth constructed a simulated runway to analyze the speed, momentum and kinetic energy of a car in motion, and explored the science behind the car's collisions. In the second phase, they led an experiment that uses the same physics principles to demonstrate the consequences of distracted driving.
