Download Directions: Correct the following Myths and Other Misconceptions

Name ___________________________________Date _______________________Hr______________
GRAVITY – HOMEWORK PACKET
PART 1 - EUREKA
EUREKA - Mass
1.
What’s the difference between the two rocks?
2.
What happens with the Styrofoam vs. lead experiment?
3.
To say that one thing is very lazy and the other is a little lazy means what?
4.
A question of inertia is really a question of what?
5.
How do mass and inertia relate?
6.
Does mass depend on volume?
7.
What is measurement is located in France and why is it important?
8. Why is it harder to push the lead cube rather than the Styrofoam?
EUREKA - Weight vs. Mass
9. The story so far…
All masses _____________________________ to a certain extent.
The earth being a very large mass _______________________________________________ which is
called the __________________________.
10. How many Newtons are pulling on the apple, golf balls, and flashlight?
11. What can we use to measure Newtons?
12. What is weight?
13. What is gravitas?
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14. In physics, we measure mass using a balance in what units?
15. How is weight measured?
16. 100 g = _____________ = 1 Newton, so 60 kg = _______________________
17. Why do you weigh less on the moon?
18. Does mass change on the moon? Why?
19. Wherever you go in the universe, what stays the same, and what changes?
EUREKA - Gravity
1.
The story so far …
Force depends both upon ______________________________ and upon ____________
__________________________________.
Since acceleration refers to ___________________________ and since speed can be
measured in ____________________________ , acceleration is measured in ____________
___________________________.
2.
Who was puzzled by things falling down?
3.
What’s happening in the tug of war between the earth and the stem?
4.
What force is pulling everything down?
5. What did Newton realize?
6.
Why does it seem like all things are attracted to the earth?
7. What is happening when the apple, the acrobat, the picture, and so on fall?
8. How much force was there trying to pull the apple from the tree?
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9. What is the approximate rate of acceleration at which things fall?
10. What must you be doing when you hold the apple?
11. What do we call this force needed?
PART 2 - What Are Your Ideas About Gravity?
Which object will hit the ground first in each
picture to the right: an apple or a feather?
Why?
Which end of the axe will hit the ground first if dropped?
This drawing shows an enlarged person
holding a rock. If he threw the rock slightly to
his right, what path would the rock take?
Show what happens to the rock by drawing a
line showing the complete path of the rock,
from the person's hand to where it finally
stops.
Why will the rock fall that way?
What weighs more: a pound of
feathers or a pound of bricks?
Why is the
Earth round?
What path would the rock take if
the person threw it a little harder?
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With enough force, would it be possible for the rock never to hit the Earth? Draw
the path of a rock that never hits the Earth.
Directions: Correct the following Myths and Other Misconceptions about gravity. Explain why each is
wrong.
1. Gravity is down.
2. Weightlessness is because one is in space and space doesn’t have gravity.
3. Black holes suck everything into them.
4. Heavier objects fall faster!
5. Astronauts on the Moon were weightless!
6. Galileo dropped cannonballs from the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
7. Newton discovered gravity because he was hit on the head by an apple.
8. Tides are because of a full moon and they make people act weird.
PART 3 – EXPLORING GRAVITY – Basics of Physics
Pretest Quiz: Answer these questions with your prior knowledge about gravity.
1. Gravity is often defined incorrectly in dictionaries and textbooks. How would you
define gravity?
2. The terms weight and mass are often used to mean the same thing. However, they
are different. Give a definition for each term.
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3. Why would a feather and a hammer dropped at the same height and time on the moon land
together?
4. Why would a feather and hammer dropped at the same height and time on Earth land at different
times?
5. How does weightlessness affect astronauts living in space?
Post Test Quiz: After viewing the movie answer the following questions. You may use
your book to help.
1. Most textbooks and dictionaries define gravity as the pull towards the center of the Earth. Give a
better definition.
2. Weight and mass are not the same thing. Tell how they are different by supplying a definition for
each?
3. Mass is measured with a balance beam. If we mass an object on Earth and then take the object and
balance beam to the moon, the mass would be the same. Why?
4. Astronauts on the moon can bounce around easily. They can jump higher than they could on Earth.
Why?
5. Why are stars, planets, and moons round?
6. On the moon, a hammer and feather released at the same height and at the same time will land at
the same instant. Why doesn't that happen on Earth?
7. Give a definition for the term vacuum.
8. What factors determine the amount of gravitational attraction between two
objects?
9. What is a black hole?
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PART 4 - Universal Law of Gravitation Practice Problems
Use the ULoG to answer the questions below.
1. Suppose that two objects attract each other with a gravitational force of 16 units. If the distance
between the two objects is doubled, what is the new force of attraction between the two objects?
2. Suppose that two objects attract each other with a gravitational force of 16 units. If the distance
between the two objects is reduced in half, then what is the new force of attraction between the two
objects?
3. Suppose that two objects attract each other with a gravitational force of 16 units. If the mass of both
objects was doubled, and if the distance between the objects remained the same, then what would be
the new force of attraction between the two objects?
4. Suppose that two objects attract each other with a gravitational force of 16 units. If the mass of both
objects was doubled, and if the distance between the objects was doubled, then what would be the
new force of attraction between the two objects?
5. Suppose that two objects attract each other with a gravitational force of 16 units. If the mass of both
objects was tripled, and if the distance between the objects was doubled, then what would be the new
force of attraction between the two objects?
6. Suppose that two objects attract each other with a gravitational force of 16 units. If the mass of
object 1 was doubled, and if the distance between the objects was tripled, then what would be the
new force of attraction between the two objects?
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