Explore the Common Forces of Friction, Buoyancy and Gravity

When exploring forces with our students, the forces of friction, buoyancy and gravity are often addressed. 

• Friction is a contact force that opposes motion when two objects come into contact.
• Buoyancy is a contact force that makes an object rise upwards in water.
• Gravity is a noncontact force that pulls smaller objects towards larger objects.

Do your students know what each of these forces does? Can they identify these forces at work in the world around them? Time to find out!

This forces worksheet has been designed to teach your students about the common forces of friction, buoyancy and gravity. It contains two separate activities:

1. Students cut out the sentences describing different forces at work, then glue them into the correct column of the table provided.
2. Students draw a picture to represent forces at work as described in various sentences.

This worksheet downloads as a black-and-white PDF or an editable Google Slide. Answers are also included to make marking fast and painless!

Further Explore Common Forces

This forces worksheet provides a great introduction to how the forces of friction, gravity and buoyancy affect common objects. Why not take your students’ learning further by creating a class display about these three common forces? Here’s how you might go about doing this:

1. Assign one force to each student – either friction, buoyancy or gravity.
2. Have your students write a sentence that describes this force in action in the real world. Make sure the students know that they cannot repeat one of the sentences already included on the worksheet.
3. Have your students draw a picture or diagram that illustrates their sentence. Encourage them to include force arrows and labels to demonstrate their understanding of how the force is interacting with the object or objects featured.
4. Use your students’ work to create a class display on friction, buoyancy and gravity. What a great way to showcase your students’ learning!

Download This Worksheet on Common Forces

As mentioned above, this worksheet on types of forces downloads as either an easy-print PDF or an editable Google Slides version. Use the Download button to access your preferred file format. (Note: You will be prompted to make a copy of the Google Slides template on your personal drive before accessing it.)

As the worksheet contains an answer sheet, we suggest printing one copy of the resource, then removing the answer sheet before making copies for your students.

Save Planning Time with More Forces Activities

We understand how time-pressed you are, and we are here to help. Click below for more great teacher-created resources to use when teaching your students all about forces!

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