Suitable For
Grade 1
Difficulty
1
Time Required
<1 Hour
Supervision
Advised
What’s it about?
Many forces exist in nature that we are unable to see. One of these forces which can be easily studied is ‘gravity’. Gravity can be explained as the force with which the earth attracts bodies near its surface. It is said that the famous scientist, Isaac Newton, pondered over the force of gravity while sitting in an orchard, watching an apple fall from a tree a long time ago.
Newton suggested that both the apple and the earth had an invisible force that pulled objects toward them, but because of the shear size and weight of the earth, its gravitational force is much more powerful and the apple is pulled toward the earth. A scientist called ‘Galileo’, put forward the theory that all objects are pulled down to earth due to gravity, at the same speed, no matter their weight. Try to prove Galileo’s theory for yourself in the following science experiment:
Topics covered
Gravity, Isaac Newton, Galileo
What will I need?
- LARGE TIN TRAY
- CHAIR
- BALL BEARING
- MODELLING CLAY
Procedure (Method)
Many forces exist in nature that we are unable to see. One of these forces which can be easily studied is ‘gravity’. Gravity can be explained as the force with which the earth attracts bodies near its surface. It is said that the famous scientist, Isaac Newton, pondered over the force of gravity while sitting in an orchard, watching an apple fall from a tree a long time ago. Newton suggested that both the apple and the earth had an invisible force that pulled objects toward them, but because of the shear size and weight of the earth, its gravitational force is much more powerful and the apple is pulled toward the earth. A scientist called ‘Galileo’, put forward the theory that all objects are pulled down to earth due to gravity, at the same speed, no matter their weight. Try to prove Galileo’s theory for yourself in the following science experiment:
- Place a large tin tray on the floor and place a chair right next to it.
- While holding a ball bearing in one hand and a ball of modelling clay in the other, climb on the chair and stand on it with your arms stretched out over the tray.
- Hold your arms up high and then try to let go of both objects at exactly the same time. Listen to the sound of the objects hitting the tray – they should hit the tray at the same time!
How does it work?
Gravity pulls down both objects toward the earth at the same speed, even though they have different weights. If no air resistance is present, the rate of descent depends only on how far the object has fallen, no matter how heavy the object is. This means that two objects will reach the ground at the same time if they are dropped simultaneously from the same height. In this science experiment we use two ‘balls’ of different weights but of more or less the same size to try and minimize the effect that the air resistance has on them.
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