Difficulty 1: Vocabulary
You are required to choose two of the choices and complete
the activity for the following vocabulary words:
Sir Isaac Newton, Galileo, Weightlessness, Free Fall, Law of
Gravitation, Inertia, Centripetal Force, Centripetal Acceleration,
Weight, Mass
Choices
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Frayer Model
Crossword Puzzle
Alphabet picture book
Flash Cards
Traditional Definitions and sentences
Vocabulary foldable
Difficulty 2: Mass vs. Weight
Part 1: What is the scientific difference between weight and
mass? Explain in your own words using scientific terminology.
Part 2: Read the article “How Much Do I Weigh?” then
complete the chart from the second page also titled “How
Much Do I Weigh?” on your own paper. After you’ve
completed both of the parts answer the following questions:
1. On which planet were you the heaviest?
2. Which planet would you like to live if weight was the
only factor?
Difficulty 3: Writing Prompt
Read the article below. As you read the passage
1. List all words that you didn’t know how to
pronounce or what they meant.
2. Get a dictionary and look up the meanings of the
words from your list.
3. Answer the following questions in two to three
paragraphs. Remember to use the RACE model:
a. Why is muscle and bone atrophy detrimental
to the body of the astronauts when they return
home?
b. If bone and muscle atrophy is such trouble for
astronauts, are trips to the space station really
worth it? Why? Why not?
4. Pretend you are an astronaut by creating a
pamphlet warning future astronauts about:
a. the risk of bone and muscle atrophy when they
go into space
b. Which precautions they should take before
they leave for their space trip.
Gravity Hurts: So Good!
August 2, 2001: Gravity hurts: you can feel it hoisting a loaded backpack or pushing a bike up a
hill. But lack of gravity hurts, too: when astronauts return from long-term stints in space, they
sometimes need to be carried away in stretchers.
Gravity is not just a force, it's also a signal -- a signal that tells the body how to act. For one
thing, it tells muscles and bones how strong they must be. In zero-G, muscles atrophy quickly,
because the body perceives it does not need them. The muscles used to fight gravity --like those
in the calves and spine, which maintains posture--, can lose around 20 percent of their mass if
you don't use them. Muscle mass can vanish at a rate as high as 5% a week.
Astronaut Bill Shepherd prepares for a long stay on the International Space Station with musclebuilding exercises on Earth. For bones, the loss can be even more extreme. Bones in space
atrophy at a rate of about 1% a month and models suggest that the total loss could reach 40 to 60
percent.
Blood feels gravity, too. On Earth, blood pools in the feet. When people stand, the blood
pressure in their feet can be high -- about 200 mmHg (millimeters of mercury). In the brain,
though, it's only 60 to 80 mmHg. In space, where the familiar pull of gravity is missing, the
head-to-toe gradient vanishes. Blood pressure equalizes and becomes about 100 mmHg
throughout the body. That's why astronauts can look odd: their faces, filled with fluid, puff up,
and their legs, which can lose about a liter of fluid each, thin out.
But that shift in blood pressure also sends a signal. Our bodies expect a blood pressure gradient.
Higher blood pressure in the head raises an alarm: The body has too much blood! Within two to
three days of weightlessness, astronauts can lose as much as 22 percent of their blood volume as
a result of that errant message. This change affects the heart, too. "If you have less blood,"
explains Dr. Victor Schneider, research medical officer for NASA headquarters, "then your heart
doesn't need to pump as hard. It's going to atrophy."
The question is, do such losses matter?
Perhaps not if you plan to stay in space forever. But eventually astronauts return to Earth -- and
the human body has to readjust to the relentless pull of gravity. Most space adaptations appear to
be reversible, but the rebuilding process is not necessarily an easy one.
"Each of the parameters have their own normal recovery time," says Schneider. Blood volume,
for example, is typically restored within a few days. "Astronauts get thirsty when they come
back," Schneider explains, "because their body says, you don't have enough blood in your blood
vessels, and that causes the messengers to say, drink more. Also, the body doesn't urinate as
much."
Muscle, too, can be recouped. Most comes back "within a month or so, "although it might take
longer to recover completely.”We normally say that it takes a day of recovery on Earth for each
day that somebody's in space," says Schneider.
Bone recovery, though, has proven problematic. For a three to six month space flight, says
Schneider, it might require two to three years to regain lost bone if it's going to come back, and
some studies have suggested that it doesn't. "You really have to exercise a lot, says
Schneider.”You really have to work at it."
According to Dr. Alan Hargens, recently of NASA Ames and now a professor of orthopedics at
the University of California San Diego medical school, it is important to keep astronauts in good
physical condition. "You want the crew members to function normally when they come back to
Earth and not have to lie around for long periods of rehabilitation," he says.
And Earth isn't the only planet that astronauts might visit. One day humans will journey to Mars
a six-month trip in zero-G before they disembark on a planet with 38% of Earth's gravity. "We'll
have to maintain those astronauts at a fairly high level of fitness," explains Hargens. "When they
get to Mars, there won't be anyone to help them if they get into trouble." They will need to be
able to handle everything themselves.
Exercise is the key. But exercising in space differs from exercising on Earth. Here, gravity's pull
automatically provides a resistive force that maintains muscles and bones. "In space even if you
do the same amount of work that you were doing down here on Earth, you miss that gravity
component," says Schneider.
Various devices have been developed to mimic the help that gravity provides. One Russian
experiment provides resistance by strapping jogging cosmonauts to a treadmill with bungee
cords. But that particular combination has not yet proven effective in preventing bone loss -perhaps because it cannot provide sufficient loads. "The straps are so uncomfortable that the
cosmonauts can only exercise at 60 to 70 per cent of their body weight, says Hargens.
There's also IRED, a NASA-developed Interim Resistive Exercise Device. IRED consists of
canisters that can provide more than 300 pounds of resistance for a variety of exercises. IRED's
effectiveness is still being monitored, says Schneider.
Cosmonaut Yury Usachev wears a harness while conducting resistance exercises on board the
International Space Station.
Yet another promising device attempts to mimic gravity even more closely. Hargens and his
colleagues are developing a Lower Body Negative Pressure (LBNP) device, a chamber that
contains a treadmill, and that relies, says Hargens, on the suction of an ordinary vacuum cleaner.
"We've found," he says "that we can provide body weight by applying negative pressure over the
lower body."
The device, explains Hargens, prevents much of the loss of cardiovascular function and of
muscle. It also seems to be effective in reducing some indices of bone loss. One reason is that the
LBNP allows astronauts to exercise with an effective body weight between 100% and 120% of
what they would feel on Earth. Another is that -- unlike any previous exercise device -- it
restores the blood pressure gradient, increasing blood pressure to the legs.
There's growing evidence, Hargens says, that the body's systems interact with each other. For
example, "you can't just put high loads on the bone and then expect it to recover if you're not
taking care of the blood flow to that bone as well."
Scientists aren't yet sure how gravity "signals" the body to keep bones and muscles strong. "We
know that, somehow, gravity is converted from a mechanical signal to a chemical signal -- and
we know a lot about these chemical signals," says Schneider. The mechanical signals, though,
remain a mystery.
Solving these problems, says Schneider, could lead to better therapies for people who aren't
using gravity properly here on Earth. Aging is the perfect example. Zero-G living mimics closely
the effects of old age. Like astronauts, the elderly fight gravity less. They're more sedentary,
which triggers the loop of muscle atrophy, bone atrophy, and lower blood volume.
If researchers can identify the signals that generate strong muscles and bones, it might be
possible "to get new pills and do exercises" that would trigger those signals here on Earth.
"We've just begun to do research looking at the changes that can happen to humans," says
Schneider. "There are so many wonderful questions."
And the answers? They're waiting for us up there in space, where the absence of weight reminds
us that gravitation isn't all bad. Sometimes it's a struggle, our daily contest with gravity, but now
we know the struggle is good!
Difficulty 4: Book and Movie Trailer
Read the novel Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo
13 by Jim Lovell and Jeffrey Kluger or watch the movie
Apollo 13 by Ron Howard. The book may be rented from
any of local public libraries branches or purchased online
via Amazon. The movie can be purchased from YouTube
for your viewing pleasure for mire $2.99 at the following
link (http://youtu.be/rCK3tBK6IRA) Depending on which
of the two choices you choose you will be responsible for
creating a Book or Movie Trailer about what you’ve read
or watched!
Difficulty 5: Egg Drop Project
Intro: Balanced and unbalanced forces play a key role in
everyday life. They have everything to do with how an
object moves against the force of gravity or the lack
thereof of movement. Balanced Forces are forces on an
object that are equal in size and opposite in direction and
do not change the motion of the object. Unbalanced
Force is when unequal forces are applied in opposite
directions the object will move in the direction of the
greater force.
Project: In efforts to demonstrate unbalanced forces you
are to construct the well built, structurally sound box to
safely assist an egg to the ground when it’s dropped from
the height on the top of a chair.
Lab Activity Instructions:
Students will design and construct an egg protective device in a group of 2 or alone. They are to
bring in one raw egg on the day of the egg drop and limited materials to choose from. The
students will need a blue print, a list of materials to use to construct their boxes, actual
constructed box, and one raw uncracked egg in the box on drop day.
Materials:
These are suggested materials you may choose from:
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Cardboard
5 elastic bands
8 popsicle sticks,
1 meter of tape
2 sheets of construction paper
plastic bag
10 straws
Styrofoam cup
poster board
6 cotton pads
Q-tips
1 pair of socks
toilet paper
30cm string
10cm wires
spaghetti
2 balloons
1 paper plate
5 pieces of tissue paper
2 sheets of plastic wrap
2 sheets of aluminum foil
Other needed materials:
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glue
scissors
rulers
pencil
Procedure
Phase 1: The Design
When you are designing this apparatus, there are a few things that you need to keep in mind.
This device must be protective. The raw egg inside must not even crack at the first drop.
Phase Two: Testing
Request practice runs at the drop site to make sure that your apparatus will withstand these tests.
The project takes much trial and error and it is highly doubtful that you will succeed in your
design on the first trial. You will most likely have to modify your
current design or start completely over and design a new apparatus.
Phase Three: Actual Drop
You will need to provide your own Raw egg on drop day. The student should bring a small
repair kit for their apparatus, i.e. tape, scissors, and left-over materials provided etc. Be fully
prepared and bring all items on drop date.