Motion Magic Reading Passage
Grade 2 Physical Science
Motion Magic with Isaac Newton
Read & Learn
Who Was Isaac Newton?
Long ago, a curious scientist named Sir Isaac Newton loved to watch how things moved. He watched apples drop from trees, balls roll across grass, and water splash in puddles. He asked big questions: Why do things start moving? Why do they stop? Isaac figured out three special rules that explain motion. Today, we call them Newton's Three Laws of Motion!
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Rule 1: Things Love to Keep Doing What They Are Doing.
A soccer ball resting on the grass will sit still until you kick it. Once kicked, it would zoom forever if grass and air did not slow it down. Still things stay still, and moving things keep moving, unless a push or pull acts on them!
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Rule 2: Heavy Things Need a Bigger Push.
Pushing an empty plastic wagon is easy, and it speeds up quickly. But if that wagon is packed with heavy stones, you must push with much more power to make it speed up. Heavier things need more push to move!
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Rule 3: For Every Action, There Is an Opposite Reaction.
When you push against something, it pushes right back on you! When you drop a bouncy rubber ball onto the floor, the ball pushes against the floor, and the floor pushes the ball right back up into the air.
Science Words to Know
Force
A push or a pull that can make an object start moving, speed up, slow down, or stop.
Energy
The power to do work or cause change. Energy makes things warm up, light up, or move!
Potential Energy
Stored energy waiting to be used. Example: A toy car held at the top of a ramp before rolling down.
Kinetic Energy
The energy of moving things. Example: The toy car zooming down the ramp fast.
Motion Magic Reading Passage • Science Grade 2 Page 1 of 2
Show What You Know!
Comprehension Check
Name:
Date:
Directions: Fill in the circle next to the best answer for questions 1–3. Write your answer for question 4.
1. According to Newton's First Law, what will a resting soccer ball do if nobody kicks or touches it?
It will stay still right where it is.
It will roll away in a circle on its own.
It will pop up into the sky by itself.
2. Newton's Second Law says that a wagon filled with heavy rocks needs:
A smaller push than an empty wagon.
A bigger push to speed up than an empty wagon.
No push at all to zoom down the sidewalk.
3. What happens when you bounce a rubber ball against the floor (Newton's Third Law)?
The ball sticks flat to the ground and turns into water.
The floor pushes back on the ball, bouncing it back up.
The ball loses all its color immediately.
4. Think about a roller coaster or a toy car. What is the difference between potential energy and kinetic energy?
Write 1–2 sentences explaining which one is stored energy and which one is moving energy.
Motion Magic Reading Passage • Science Grade 2 Page 2 of 2
