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Table of Contents
Gravity is the force by which a planet or other body draws objects toward its center. The force of gravity keeps all of the planets in orbit around the sun.
See the fact file below for more information on the gravity or alternatively, you can download our 24-page Gravity worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.
Key Facts & Information
DISCOVERY OF GRAVITY
- The Ancient Greek and Indian philosophers already observed that objects naturally fall toward the ground.
- In the late 16th century, Galileo dropped balls from the Tower of Pisa. He then rolled balls down inclines. He showed that gravitation accelerates all objects at the same rate regardless of weight.
- Johannes Kepler also proved gravity with his elliptical orbit law, stating that planets orbit the sun in elliptical orbits with the sun at one focus.
- It took real insight from Isaac Newton to develop gravity from a normal occurence of objects falling to a measurable and predictable phenomenon.
- In 1687, Newton published Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, a book that theorizes every object in the universe — from a grain of sand to the largest stars — is being pulled on every other object.
- Newton’s description of gravity was accurate enough to detect the existence of Neptune in the mid-1800s, however the law eventually showed some loopholes.
- The astronomers noticed that Mercury’s orbit was moving more quickly around the sun, contrary to Newton’s theory, a slight difference between his law and the laws of nature.
- This concern was eventually resolved by Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity.
- In the 1960s, American astronomers Vera Rubin and Kent Ford noticed that even if galaxies appear to rotate fast enough to spin off stars, they were not whirling apart, instead proving that gravity kept them together.
- The existence of gravitational waves, or ripples in space time, caused by the acceleration of masses in space was also introduced as early as 2016.
GRAVITY IN THE UNIVERSE
- Gravity is what holds the eight planets in orbit around the sun and what keeps the moons in orbit around Earth and other planets like Jupiter and Saturn.
- Between the Earth and the Moon, the latter’s gravitational pull draw the seas towards it, causing the ocean tides.
- Gravity also creates stars and planets by gathering together the materials from which they are made.
- Gravity pulls on light as proven by Einstein. If a flashlight is shone upwards, the light will grow redder as gravity pulls it. This cannot be seen by the naked eye, but scientists can measure it.
- The pull of of gravity on an object determines its weight.
- The further you move away from an object, the more the gravitational force decreases. This is why astronauts feel weightless and float around in outer space.
- There is gravity on the moon but it is much weaker than that on Earth because it is less massive. The strength of the moon’s gravitational pull is only one sixth of the Earth’s.
- The gravitational pull of objects depends on the objects’ mass and the distance between them.
- Astronauts need rockets to launch them into space. Rockets are needed to escape the gravitational pull of the earth.
- Gravity pulls things together and pulls on all parts of the whole equally. This effect creates the most efficient shape, a sphere.
- The speed of freefall is consistent over the surface of the Earth. This means all objects fall at the same speed. This speed on earth is calculated to be 9.8 m/s.
- Objects such as satellites or spaceships in the Earth’s orbit experience 12% less gravity than objects on the Earth. If there was no gravity, these objects would just float away.
- When astronauts are inside a spacecraft in orbit, they experience weightlessness. The astronauts can float freely because they travel around Earth at the same speed as the spacecraft.
- Gravity can cause health problems such as bone loss, muscle atrophy, and fluid shifts.
- Gravity guides the growth of plants and other vegetation.
- Gravity makes stars burn by squeezing their matter together.
- Gravity is very important in our everyday lives. Without gravity we would fly right into space and beyond. We’d all have to be strapped down to keep in place.
- Anything thrown off will never return because there is no gravity.
Gravity Worksheets
This is a fantastic bundle which includes everything you need to know about the gravity across 24 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use Gravity worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about the gravity which is the force by which a planet or other body draws objects toward its center. The force of gravity keeps all of the planets in orbit around the sun.
Complete List Of Included Worksheets
- The Discoverer
- Let’s Try Gravity!
- Visual Gravity
- Microgravity
- Weight and Gravity
- Speed and Gravity
- The Sun’s Gravity
- Super-gravity
- Anti-gravity?
- Word Gravi-tivity
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Link will appear as Gravity Facts & Worksheets: https://kidskonnect.com - KidsKonnect, August 3, 2020
Use With Any Curriculum
These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.