Grade 5 Science: Forces and Structures
Free Grade 5 Science unit on Forces and Structures: 10 lessons in order, starting with Contact forces. Includes practice questions and answer keys.
10 lessons in this unit
Contact forces
Learn that contact forces act when objects touch, such as push, pull, friction, tension, air resistance and water resistance, measure forces in newtons with a spring balance, and draw force arrows.
Lesson 2Non-contact forces
Learn that some forces act without touching, namely gravity, magnetism and static electricity, investigate magnets and charged balloons safely, and compare their strengths and ranges.
Lesson 3Gravity
Learn that gravity pulls objects toward Earth’s centre, that weight is the pull of gravity measured in newtons while mass is amount of matter, and that gravity varies on other worlds.
Lesson 4Friction
Learn that friction is a contact force that opposes motion, that it depends on surfaces and force pressing together, produces heat, and can be increased or reduced for useful purposes.
Lesson 5Balanced and unbalanced forces
Learn that balanced forces leave motion unchanged while unbalanced forces change it, draw force diagrams, and link the idea to a tug of war, a floating boat and a pushed trolley.
Lesson 6Forces acting on structures
Learn the forces that act on structures, compression, tension, shear, bending and torsion, identify them in bridges, towers and chairs, and see how loads travel to the ground.
Lesson 7Strength and stability
Learn how shape, base width, centre of gravity and bracing affect strength and stability, test paper columns and towers, and rank designs using fair comparison.
Lesson 8Structural materials
Learn the properties that suit materials to structures such as strength, stiffness, toughness, density and durability, compare timber, steel, concrete, bamboo and composites, and weigh cost and environment.
Lesson 9Testing structures
Learn how engineers test structures with load tests, wind tests and vibration tests on models, record data, find failure points and judge safety margins.
Lesson 10Engineering improvements
Learn how test data lead to redesign, compare two designs on cost, strength and use of materials, make improvements and present the evidence for why the new design is better.