Gravity on other planets

[scottgirl]

My daughter is preparing for her first science fair. She is in 4th grade and we have just concluded a study on the solar system. When asked what she wants to do for the fair she says "Demonstrate how an object will fall more slowly on a planet with a smaller mass and visa versa." I can not find any experiments to demonstrate this concept. When I suggested magnets of differing masses pulling on a constant she said she really wants to show objects falling. She thought maybe a coffee filter falling more slowly than a coin. But this only demonstrates wind resistance, right? I'm not a science person. I don't want to steer her wrong. Any info would be helpful - even if it is that it can't be demonstrated except with the magnets.

Thanks,
A

[deleted-71709]

Well, Mom's right again!

Any object, regardless of mass, will fall at the same rate if it is acted on by the same gravity - unless it's affected by wind resistance.

On earth, gravity is the same everywhere (withing normal measurements anyway). If you put a feather and a bowling ball inside a chamber with no air, so wind resistance is no longer a factor - that is a vacuum - they would fall at exactly the same speed.

Objects on different planets would fall at different speeds because the gravity is different. This is due mostly to the physical size of the planet.

There is an experiment described on Science Buddies that you're daughter might be interested in. It's called "What Goes Up, Must Come Down: Conduct Galileo's Famous Falling Objects Experiment". You can find it here: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... p015.shtml

I wish you BOTH have fun with this experiment!

[jallen]

A couple of sites that might help out are http://www.PlanetsOfTheSolarSystem.net and http://www.CTreasuresCWonders.com. Hope this helps!