The Physics of Soccer Kicks

My daughters have started playing soccer this fall. For the first time in my life I have a real interest in watching the game. Before yesterday's practice there were some high school students on the field who were making some long kicks which amazed my youngest daughter who wanted to know how they did it. While a bit too complex for a five-year-old, TED-Ed does have a nice physics lesson about soccer kicks. 

Football Physics: The "Impossible" Free Kick is a TED-Ed lesson that illustrates and explains how soccer players make the ball curve when they kick it on a free kick or a corner kick. The video also explains how the forces that make a soccer ball curve can also make a thrown baseball curve. The video also answers the question of whether or not it would be possible to make a ball boomerang back to you. The video is embedded below. The full lesson can be seen here.

How to Create PDFs in Google Classroom

Last weekend a reader reached out to me to ask if I could create a video about the relatively new option to create PDFs in Google Classroom. I was happy to oblige. 

In this new video I demonstrate how to use the Google Classroom mobile apps to create PDFs from scratch. As I demonstrate in the video, you can use the app to draw on a PDF or type on a PDF. The drawing option could be a great one for students to use in a mathematics class as they can easily sketch to show their work on solving a math problem.

On a related note you may be interested in How to Create Virtual Math Manipulatives in Google Classroom and How to Add Audio to Google Forms, Docs, Classroom, Slides, and Gmail.