SCIENCE CONCEPT:
- All objects, regardless of mass, fall to the ground
with the same acceleration, as long as air resistance is not a factor.
This is because gravity pulls all falling objects down to earth at the
same rate.
STUDENT OBJECTIVE:
- The student will explore how fast objects fall to the
earth using pennies, empty plastic container and a window 2 to 3 stories
above ground.
OVERVIEW:
- In this activity, students will examine and discover what
happens when dropping something from a window and how fast the object
accelerates to the earth. In the first part of the experiment the
students will see if two objects weighing different weights fall to the
earth at the same time when released simultaneously. In the second part
of the experiment, there will be 4 trials to get an average rate of
acceleration of one of the objects. The acceleration due to gravity can
be found by using this formula: g = 2d/t(squared), where g = the
acceleration, d = distance, and t = time. In this experiment you will
calculate this acceleration due to gravity.
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PREPARATION TIME:
- 25 minutes.
LESSON TIME:
- 30 - 45 minutes.
TEACHER PREP:
- Gather the materials that are needed for the
experiment.
WORDS TO KNOW:
- acceleration
- force of gravity
- constantly
- air
- resistance
- gravity
- hypothesis
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