Up and Down Again:Gravity of Earth and Mars

Demonstration

By Maxwell D. Peterson 6TH grade Raven School Juneau

Ptolemysecond century A.D.Alexandrian astronomer,geographer, and mathematicianwhose initial work, Almagest, giveshis theories of planetary motion indetail. His studies were based onthe belief that all celestial bodiesrevolve around the earth

Nicolaus Copernicus1473-1543 A.D. Polish astronomer whodeveloped the theory opposing thePtolemaic system, that all the planets,including earth, rotate arounda stationary sun.

Tycho Brahe 1546-1601 A.D.Danish astronomer whosubstantiated that a nova was astar. His astronomical observationslaid the foundation for Kepler’slaws of planetary motion

Galileo Galilei1564-1642 A.D. Italianastronomer, mathematician, andphysicist, and the first toconstruct astronomicaltelescopes. A supporter ofCopernicus’s theory that the sunis the center of the universe, hisbeliefs resulted in hisimprisonment and persecutionby the Inquisition.

Explanation

How does gravity work on Mars and Earth? The gravity on Mars is about 1/3 of Earth’s gravity. So therefore, we would weigh much less on Mars. Whatever we drop would drop at a slower rate and whatever we throw would go much farther. The reason for this is Mars has less mass which gives it less gravity. This basically means that Mars is smaller than Earth. That is why earth has more gravity than mars (more mass).When we throw a baseball it won’t go over 30 ft farther than we would want it to. When we dropped something it would just fall and hit the ground at a faster rate. Therefore earth’s gravity is much greater then mars. On earth we never have to deal with any of these problems

Mars gravity is 1/3 of Earths

Demonstration.

The paper air planes are demonstrating the differences of gravity between Earth and Mars. The green plane represents Earth’s gravity so it would basically fly like a normal paper airplane. The orange and white paper planes represent Mars gravity which is much lighter then Earths. You would need 30 more paper air planes on Mars if you wanted the same lift you get on Earth. If you used an 8 ½” x 11” sheet of paper made into a paper air plane and threw it would go way farther than you would want it to. And then you would have to go through all the trouble of taking it back from the Martians.

The paper air planes are representing Earths gravity and Mars gravity.

Step 2: Plane landingsStep 1: throw paper airplane

The science board generally

Science board header

Left side of science board

Fun facts

Time line

Demonstration explanation

Sources• http://ti.arc.nasa.gov/destination/mars/quick_facts.php • It is a quick fact page about mars and earth NASA Official: Dave Korsmeyer April 2009 • 2008 world book mars planet mass and density• http://kids.yahoo.com/science/space/article/solarsystem

The Major Planets• http://www.universetoday.com/guide-to-space/mars/gravity-on-mars/• http://athena.cornell.edu/kids/tommy_tt_issue5.html • writer: Thomas J. Wdowiak • The difference in gravity between Mars and Earth.• http://videos.howstuffworks.com/tlc/30727-destination-mars-zero-gravity-exercise-video.htm• source: TlC• http://www.adlerplanetarium.org/education/resources/gravity/5-8_cb1-1.shtml• History of gravity• http://library.thinkquest.org/27585/frameset_intro.html• writers Ed Kao Katie Harris Jesse Lefkowitz • Everything • http://www-scf.usc.edu/~kallos/gravity.htm• • writer: Themos Kallos• http://library.thinkquest.org/C003108/funfacts.html• • Kristina Peterson• Derron Peterson