What are we
learning about
today?
Gravity
What is it?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mezkHBPLZ4A
Gravity is…

A natural force that
pulls all objects
toward the center of
the earth.
http://www.neok12.com/video/Gravitatio
n/zX64676359061f6b43074555.htm
WHAT IS A FORCE?
A pull or a
push on an
object
It is measured in Newtons (N)
or kg/ m/ s2.
Newton was a Smart Guy

Sir Isaac Newton (1643-1727) an
English scientist and mathematician
famous for his discovery of the law of
gravity also discovered the three laws
of motion
Today these laws are known as
Newton’s Laws of Motion and describe
the motion of all objects on the scale
we experience in our everyday lives.
1st law: An object at rest tends to stay at
rest and an object in motion tends to stay
in motion unless acted upon by an
unbalanced force.
Things will keep moving forever unless it is stopped by a force.
Things will stay stationary (in one place) unless an outside force acts on
it.


If a golf ball was hit in space would it stop?
If a golf ball was hit on Earth, would it to stop?
What causes is to stop?
Earth’s Gravity causes things to stop. The opposing force that
occurs by making contact with another object is called Friction

http://www.sciencechannel.com/games-andinteractives/newtons-laws-of-motion-interactive/

Friction: a force that opposes the motion of
objects that touch as they move past each
other.
Without friction, the world would be a very
different place. In a frictionless world, every
surface would be more slippery than a sheet of
ice.
 Your food would slide off your fork. Walking
would be impossible.
 Cars would slide around
helplessly with their
wheels spinning.

Magic School Bus Clip
Some Examples from Real Life
A soccer ball is sitting at rest. It
takes an unbalanced force of a kick
to change its motion.
Two teams are playing tug of war. They are both
exerting equal force on the rope in opposite
directions. This balanced force results in no
change of motion.
Newton’s First Law is also called
the Law of Inertia
Inertia: the tendency of an object to resist
changes in its state of motion
The First Law states that all objects have
inertia.
***The more mass an object has, the more
inertia it has (and the harder it is to change
its motion).
http://www.nbclearn.com/nhl/cuecard/56615
More Examples from Real Life
A powerful locomotive begins to
pull a long line of boxcars that
were sitting at rest. Since the
boxcars are so massive, they
have a great deal of inertia and it
takes a large force to change
their motion. Once they are
moving, it takes a large force to
stop them.
On your way to school, a bug
flies into your windshield. Since
the bug is so small, it has very
little inertia and exerts a very
small force on your car (so small
that you don’t even feel it).
2nd law: Force equals mass times
acceleration.

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

This equation helps teach us that Gravity
is a force.
Acceleration is how quickly an object is
changing speed
Earth’s gravity has a constant acceleration
downward. All objects accelerate at 9.8
m/s2.
If we all jumped out of a plane we would
fall at 9.8 m/s2. This goes for all other
objects whether large or small.
Which do you think would fall first?

A
bouncy ball
Try It!
Or a marble
http://indianapublicmedia.org/amomentofs
cience/ground-golf-bowling-ball/
They fall at the same rate of speed,
because of Earth’s constant
downward acceleration. But the
marble has more mass (weight)
and so gravity makes it fall harder
and hits the earth with more force!
Gravity has a stronger force on
things with more mass!
It takes force to overcome gravity!
Throw a bean bag in the air
and then…
Throw a basketball in the air.
Which one was harder to throw?
The
basketball would be harder to
throw. You had to use more force
to throw the basketball because it has
more mass (weight)
What does F = ma say?
F = ma basically means that the force of an object
comes from its mass and its acceleration.
Something very massive (high mass)
that’s changing speed very slowly
(low acceleration), like a glacier, can
still have great force.
Something very small (low mass) that’s
changing speed very quickly (high
acceleration), like a bullet, can still
have a great force.
Something very small changing speed
very slowly will have a very weak force.
Using Force = mass x acceleration

Calculate which would land with more
force:




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Object 1 has a mass of 20 grams
Object 2 has a mass of 100 grams
Acceleration is 9.8 m/s2.
Force of Object 1?
Force of Object 2?
http://www.pbs.org/opb/circus/classroom/circus-physics/activityguide-newtons-laws-motion/
3rd Law: For every action there is
an equal and opposite reaction.
~ For every force acting on an object, there
is an equal force acting in the opposite
direction.

Right now, gravity is pulling you down in your
seat, but Newton’s Third Law says your seat is
pushing up against you with equal force. This
is why you are not moving. There is a balanced
force acting on you– gravity pulling down, your
seat pushing up.
http://www.pbs.org/opb/circus/classroom/circusphysics/activity-guide-newtons-laws-motion/
Think about it . . .
What happens if you are standing on a
skateboard or a slippery floor and push against
a wall? You slide in the opposite direction
(away from the wall), because you pushed on
the wall but the wall pushed back on you with
equal and opposite force.
Why does it hurt so much when you stub your
toe? When your toe exerts a force on a rock,
the rock exerts an equal force back on your
toe. The harder you hit your toe against it,
the more force the rock exerts back on your
toe (and the more your toe hurts).
http://www.quia.com/quiz/1321898.html
Satellites move fast enough that they
overcome earth’s gravitational pull, but
still stay within the earth’s orbit.

As you know Satellites move around our earth. But did
you know that is a problem?


“There are currently over eight
thousand satellites and other large
objects in orbit around the Earth,
and there are countless smaller
pieces of debris generated by
spacecraft explosions and by
collisions between satellites. Until
recently, it has been standard
practice to put a satellite into orbit
and leave it there. However, the
number of satellites has grown
quickly, and as a result, the
amount of orbital debris is growing
rapidly. Because this debris is
travelling at orbital speeds (7-8
km/s!), it poses a significant threat
to the space shuttle, the
International Space Station, and
the many satellites in Earth orbit.”
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.tethers.com/W
ebImages/OrbitalDebris.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.tethers.com/Orbit
alDebris.html&usg=__JnSEf589SrzzPevOvU5XTyPALss=&h=250&w=2
58&sz=46&hl=en&start=18&tbnid=rrwVQ4lVZalWAM:&tbnh=109&tb
nw=112&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dearth%2B%252B%2Bsatellites%26
gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive
When do Satellites become subject to earth’s
The cannon ball must
gravity?
move very quickly to
orbit the earth.
If an object does not
meet the required speed
it would be slowly
dragged into the Earth’s
atmosphere.
* Objects farther from
earth experience less
gravitational pull.
The closer to earth’s surface the more
gravitational pull is felt.
The Moon orbits the Earth and is
therefore a Satellite.

Despite that the moon is much farther it is
still attracted to the Earth’s gravitational
pull, but it moves so quickly it revolves the
planet at a fixed distance.
The Moon is also
1/16 the size of
the earth and
therefore has
1/16 of the
gravitational pull.
Earth’s gravity is
9.8 m/s2.
Moon’s gravity is
.1625 m/s2.
State Objectives…
Distinguish between mass and weight…

Mass: the amount of matter in an object
Weight: the force of gravity acting on an
object

How is weight determined?


Scales

If you went to Mars would you mass be
the same or different?
SAME
If you went to Mars would
you weight be the same
or different?
Different
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Cite examples of how Earth’s gravitational
force on an object depends upon the mass
of the object.
Moon
Satellites
Both have less mass than Earth and
therefore are pulled in by Earth’s gravity


Describe how Earth’s gravitational force on
an object depends upon the distance of
the object from Earth.
Moon vs. Mars