Nature of Physics Take-home Project: Option 2 Due in April
Try to set a controlled experiment- compare an ability (running, jumping, swimming, lifting or something else) to lever size. This could either be natural levers (like legs, arms, feet, etc.) or man-made levers (like different-sized tweezers, board lengths, etc.). Does a longer lever always increase the speed or ease of doing something? Bring in your results.

Websites:
http://www.edheads.org/activities/simple-machines/index.htm –a really cool interactive 'simple machines around the house' game- has a quiz & clearly explains answers

http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~wjh/jumping/problem.htm -has some great illustrations and explanations as to how grasshoppers jump; goes into great detail with diagrams

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5286397399145781458 –a peregrine falcon video clip from the “Animal Olympians” series (that I can't find anywhere other than short video clips!)

http://www.vidyaonline.net/arvindgupta/physicsexperiments.pdf -this has a great list of simple physics experiments, if you'd like to explore more physics concepts at home

http://www.pbrc.hawaii.edu/~petra/animal_olympians.html -this is biologists' lists of animal records for speed and broad jump, with references.

http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/Games/ActionGames/Geogames –fun online kids games to test animal skills (elephant weightlifting, heron javelin, etc.)

http://science.howstuffworks.com/question124.htm -explains a bit more about decibels

Books:
Natural History Museum: Animal Records, by Mark Carwardine. This book goes through each main animal kingdom and describes some of the amazing records held by various animals or animal groups.

Animal Athletes, by Frans Lanting. This book details a dozen or so specific animals and their feats.