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ScienceHistoryArt

Newton's Cradle Timeline

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Grades 6-890-120 minSource: Creative Dad Company

Students build a working Newton's cradle to test how momentum is conserved. Then they make a timeline that connects their result to the physicists whose ideas made it possible.

Budget levels

Amazon prices checked Oct 9-10, 2026 and may change

Materials links go to Amazon. Prices are estimates and may change. As an Amazon Associate, Creative Dad Company earns from qualifying purchases.

Quick Start

Digital downloads only.

$0 to buy. Printing noted separately.

Student time: one class period, one day.

Teacher prep / build-ahead: separate from student time.

Scale it

The default plan is one class period on a single day.

Scale back: Fit it into a shorter period, use fewer effects, or run a demo instead of a build.

Scale up: Add one extra effect, or spread the share-out across another day.

Ambiance video

Ambiance video coming soon from Creative Dad Studio

  • Ruler or meter stickBorrow or school hasuse what you have
  • school device with slow-motion videoBorrow or school hasuse what you have
  • graph paperBorrow or school hasuse what you have

Full Experience

Required materials for the class.

$0 per class (class of about 30, 6 groups).

Student time: one day.

Teacher prep / build-ahead: separate from student time.

Scale it

The default plan is one school day.

Scale back: Fit the build into one period with fewer effects.

Scale up: Spread the work across days, or add more effects.

Total Transformation

The bigger kit, with every optional item included.

$0 per class (class of about 30, 6 groups).

Student time: one day (one session, one-day event).

Teacher prep / build-ahead: separate from student time.

Scale it

The default plan is one session, a one-day event.

Scale back: Shorten the event, or run a demo for a smaller audience.

Scale up: Spread the build and the event across days, or invite a bigger audience.

Materials

Equal-size balls (for example steel or marbles); String; Rigid frame material; Poster paper; Ruler or meter stick; school device with slow-motion video; graph paper

Materials links go to Amazon. Prices are estimates and may change.

As an Amazon Associate, Creative Dad Company earns from qualifying purchases.

  • Marbles bag

    Equal-size balls (for example steel or marbles)

    Shop

  • String

    String

    No link

  • Rigid frame material

    Rigid frame material

    No link

  • Poster board

    Poster paper

    Shop

Steps

  1. Predict what happens when one or two balls are released, and how high the far ball will swing compared to the release height.
  2. Build the frame and hang the balls at equal lengths so they just touch.
  3. Tape a ruler behind the cradle. Release one ball from a marked height and use slow-motion video to record the swing-out height of the far ball for the first 10 swings.
  4. Repeat from two other release heights and record the data in a table. Note the click sound and feel the balls for warmth after a long run.
  5. Graph swing height versus swing number and describe how the motion slows down.
  6. Write a claim-evidence-reasoning argument: when a ball speeds up or slows down, its kinetic energy changes, so energy must be transferred to or from it. Use your height data to show where the energy went (the next ball, sound, heat, air).
  7. Make the timeline poster from Galileo through Huygens and Newton and add your argument and graph as the newest entry, then present it.

Standards mapped

  • NGSS · MS-PS3-5

    Construct, use, and present arguments to support the claim that when the kinetic energy of an object changes, energy is transferred to or from the object.