Work Out Gravitational Pull

Warning! This activity will challenge your mathematical skills!

 

 

OK, you're probably up to speed on gravity now. So, you already know that:

 

- Gravity is a force between objects with mass (like the Earth and you)

- Objects with a greater mass (like the Earth) create a larger gravitational field than those with a smaller mass (like the moon)

- The gravitational force between those objects gets smaller as the objects get further apart

- Gravity causes objects to have a weight

- On Earth, the gravitational force of 10 N/kg means that a 1 kg mass weighs 10 N

- The unit for weight is Newtons (N)

 

 

You also know that to work out how much something weighs, you do a simple calculation:

 

w = m x g

 

where w is the weight of the object (in N) found by multiplying g, the gravitational force (in N/kg) by m, the mass of the object (in kg).

 

So, are you all right with that? Want to run it past yourself once more?

 

Let's get our teeth (and our calculators!) into this activity and remember that you can look back at this introduction at any point by clicking on the red help button on the screen.