IB DP Physics lesson pack on air resistance and terminal speed for Topic A.1 Kinematics, SL and HL, first assessment 2025: what drag does to a projectile. Qualitative throughout, as the guide asks: trajectory, range, maximum height, time of flight, velocity, acceleration and the terminal speed a falling body settles at. Editable worksheet, 37-slide lesson deck, teacher key, worked solutions and a questions-only assessment, supplied as self-contained HTML plus colour and black-and-white PDF.

What students learn

• Every projectile problem before this one behaves as though the air is not there. This pack names what was left out. Fluid resistance (drag) is the force a gas or a liquid exerts on a body moving through it.
• A three-stage force diagram takes a falling body from release (drag zero, acceleration g) to terminal speed (drag equal to weight, acceleration zero).
• Projectiles: the real path is set against the dashed no-drag parabola.

IB skills (Tool 3: Mathematics):

• Appreciate when an effect can be neglected (taught).
• Sketch graphs with labelled but unscaled axes (practised).
• Draw and label vectors (practised).

What included:

• Student Worksheet - 12 pages
• Teacher Key - 20 pages
• Worked Solutions
• Assessment
• Lesson deck - 37 slides

Forces and free-body diagrams are not taught yet so this takes a qualitative approach. Worksheet and deck open in any modern browser with nothing to install, and the worksheet is fully editable. SI units, IB notation and IB command terms throughout. Suitable for grades 11-12 (ages 16-19) as a lesson, cover lesson, homework or revision.