Forces — Year 5 Science

Year 5 forces: what pupils learn

Year 5 returns to forces with new, more abstract ideas: gravity, air resistance, water resistance and friction, and the simple machines that make a smaller force do a bigger job.

By the end of Year 5, the National Curriculum expects pupils to:

• explain that unsupported objects fall towards the Earth because of the force of gravity acting between the Earth and the falling object
• identify the effects of air resistance, water resistance and friction, that act between moving surfaces
• recognise that some mechanisms, including levers, pulleys and gears, allow a smaller force to have a greater effect

Key vocabulary

gravity, Earth, air resistance, water resistance, friction, mechanism, lever, pulley, gear, upthrust

How it builds

Year 5 builds on Year 3’s forces and magnets, where pupils first met the idea of a push or pull. At secondary school, pupils go on to measure forces in newtons and calculate speed, distance and time.

Frequently asked questions

Why do a feather and a hammer fall at different speeds?
Gravity pulls them down at the same rate, but air resistance pushes back much more on the feather’s large surface area, slowing it down more than the hammer.

What is friction, and is it ever useful?
Friction is a force that resists movement between two surfaces in contact. It can slow things down unhelpfully, but it is also essential: it is what lets shoes grip the floor and brakes stop a bicycle.

How does a pulley make lifting easier?
A pulley changes the direction of a force, or spreads the load across more rope, so a person can lift a heavy object using less force than lifting it straight up by hand.

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