Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Moon Math


Our new unit of study in science is about the moon. We have discussed some of the differences between the earth and moon, including the amount of gravity. We decided to compare the effects of the moon's gravity with the effects of the earth's gravity in the area of weight, throwing, and jumping.

First, we gathered our materials:
bathroom scale
yardstick
Nerf balls
measuring wheel
activity manual to record our findings



THROWING: We threw a Nerf ball down the hall and measured the distance in feet for the earth measurement. Then we multiplied it by six for the moon measurement. We decided we would be star quarterbacks on the moon!

JUMPING: We measured our jumping distance in inches for the earth's measurement and multiplied the distance by six for the moon's measurement. We would have a real "spring in our step" on the moon!















Weight: Turns were taken as we recorded
our weight on a bathroom scale for the earth's measurement. Then we divided that number by six to calculate our moon weight. Definitely a bunch of featherweights on the moon!

Conclusions: There is less gravity on the moon than the earth. If you increase your mass on the earth, your weight increases and this occurs because an object with more mass experiences a stronger pull of gravity.






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