Discovery Museum Forces

DISCOVERY MUSEUM
FORCES Written by: Sarah Tropp-Pacelli

GRAVITY AND AIR RESISTANCE
One of the most fundamental truths about If you’ve ever dropped things, you’re prob-
life here on Earth is that we all are subject ably wondering why that doesn’t always
to gravity. Gravity is a force between all seem to hold true. Certainly, a bowling ball
things that pulls between their centers, but dropped from a tower will hit the ground
we know it best as the thing that keeps us before a feather dropped at the same time
on the surface of the Earth. from the same height. So what else is
going on?
There are a few famous stories about grav-
ity. One of the legends commonly shared Gravity isn’t the only force we have here on
is that of Sir Isaac Newton, who is said to Earth. One of the other things that makes
have discovered gravity when an apple fell our planet special is the presence of an
on his head as he sat under a tree. This atmosphere that gives us air to breathe
incident sparked many ideas for Newton, and protect us from the extreme conditions
leading to his eventual development of the of space. In 1971, astronauts on the Moon
Laws of Motion. But even before Newton re-enacted Galileo’s famous experiment,
made his discovery, another scientist made and they found that he was right: objects
some other very important discoveries dropped on the Moon also hit the ground
related to gravity that scientists still learn at the same time--but on the Moon, even
about today. a feather drops straight down instead of
drifting the way it might here on our home
Galileo Galilei wanted to explore what planet.
happens to the speed of falling objects
dropped from the same height. In Galil- The reason things might seem like they
fall at different rates on Earth is the
fact that we have air, which means we
also face air resistance. Air takes up
space, which means that anything going
through that space--such as a falling
object--needs to move the air aside to
do so.
INVESTIGATION item to hit the ground, then divide by 8 to

find out how long the drop actually took!
ACTIVITY
You will also want to consider how you
ACTIVITY: Investigate how air resis- can make sure that the objects really
eo’s famous experiment, he took two balls tance affects the way that objects fall. drop from the same height every time.
made of different materials and studied Graph your results and come up with Consider designing a “drop shelf” that
them as they fell. Some versions of the an explanation about how the presence items can be placed on that can be
story say he dropped them off the Tower of of air influences different objects based pulled out from under them to ensure that
Pisa, while others say he rolled them down on their size (volume and mass), their they start in the same spot each time.
a ramp. In either case, he made an amaz- shape, and their materials.
ing discovery: all objects fall at the same Once you devise your drop mechanism
rate, regardless of their materials or their SUGGESTED MATERIALS: and your timing system, you’re ready to
mass (the amount of matter something feathers, paper, small rocks, pencils, test! Pick some objects to drop. Make sure
contains). His discovery is known today as erasers, sports equipment you use each object at least 3 times so you
the equivalence principle. can get an average of the result, to make
To set up your investigation, consider sure you have the best data possible.
how you will time how long it takes
for the objects to fall. We recommend Graph your results to demonstrate
that you use slow-motion footage of how long each item takes to drop and
your drops to calculate the time to get use your data to create an explanation
the most accurate result--a cell phone about how air resistance influences the
records at 240 frames per second and way that falling objects move. You might
plays at 30 frames per second, so you want to graph objects in several ways,
can watch your slow motion footage such as by density (mass divided by
and count the seconds it takes for your volume) and by material.
NIE
NEWS IN EDUCATION
Standards Alignment:
Next Generation Science Standards: 3-PS2-1, 5-PS2-1
Common Core Math Standards: MP.2, MP.5, 3.MD.A.2

Discovery Museum Forces

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DISCOVERY MUSEUM

FORCES Written by: Sarah Tropp-Pacelli

INVESTIGATION item to hit the ground, then divide by 8 to

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