Gravity Exploration Worksheet
The more ____________ a planet has, the stronger it’s ______________________ force
will be. How strong gravity is on a planet is called its gravitational constant.
Earth has a gravitational constant of 9.8 N/kg. (Remember: Things on Earth fall at a rate
of 9.8 m/s/s2).
What would happen to YOUR WEIGHT if you could travel through the solar
system? Let’s figure it out by filling out the chart below.
Location
My Weight on
Earth
Multiply
Gravity
Constant
Sun
X
28.0
Mercury
X
0.38
Venus
X
0.86
The Moon
X
0.17
Mars
X
0.38
Jupiter
X
2.87
Saturn
X
1.32
Uranus
X
0.93
Neptune
X
1.23
My Weight at
this location
1. Where did you weigh the MOST? _______________ On which PLANET did you
weigh the most? _________________ Why did you weigh more at these places?
__________________________________________________________________________________
2. Where did you weigh the LEAST? _________________ Why? ____________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
3. At which location did you weigh the CLOSEST to what you weigh on Earth?
____________________________ What can you say about the MASS of this place
compared to Earth?____________________________________________________________
Now let’s see how strong you would FEEL at these locations. Measure the
distance that 5 people can jump and then find the average distance.
Jump 1
___________ +
Jump 2
___________ +
Jump 3
___________ +
Jump 4
___________ +
Jump 5
___________ =
TOTAL:
___________
Location
Sun
Mercury
Venus
The Moon
Mars
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
Average Jump
on Earth
➗ 5 = _________________
Divide
➗
➗
➗
➗
➗
➗
➗
➗
➗
Gravity
Constant
Jump at this
location
28.0
0.38
0.86
0.17
0.38
2.87
1.32
0.93
1.23
1. At which location would you FEEL like you were super strong? ______________
2. Why would you feel so strong here? ___________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
3. On which PLANET would you FEEL THE WEAKEST? _________________________
4. Why would you feel so weak here? ___________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
Uranus
Earth
Neptune
Look at the pictures above and also look back at the chart.
1. Which of these planets has the most mass? _______________________ How do
you know? ______________________________________________________________________
2. Which planet has the least mass? ____________________________ How do you
know? ___________________________________________________________________________
3. Which planets take up about the same amount of space? __________________
____________________ Does the volume (amount of space it takes up) of a planet
automatically tell you how much gravity a planet will have __________________
4. Which other location in your chart has a mass that is close to the mass of
Uranus? ____________________ What do you know about the SIZE of this place
compared to Uranus? _________________________ What can you say about the
masses of these two places? __________________________________________________
Mercury Mars
Venus
Earth
5. Using information from the chart and from this picture, ________________ has
more mass because ___________________________________________________. Where
would you FEEL like you were stronger? _______________________________ Why?
__________________________________________________________________________________