echoesof.science · Ages 6–7
Why do things fall down?
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the game and the quiz
echoesof.science/school/gravity/ages-6-7/
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Drop a ball. Down it goes! It never falls up, and it never floats away. Something pulls it down. That pull is called gravity.
Gravity is an invisible pull. The Earth pulls everything towards its middle: you, your shoes, the rain and the apples on a tree. That is why you always come back down when you jump.
Big things pull harder. The Earth is very, very big, so its pull is strong. The Moon is much smaller, so its pull is about six times weaker. On the Moon you could jump much higher!
What falls faster, a hammer or a feather? On Earth the feather floats down slowly, because the air pushes against it. The Moon has no air. In 1971 the astronaut David Scott dropped a hammer and a feather on the Moon, and they landed at the same time!
Experiment: The drop race
- Hold the book in one hand and the flat sheet of paper in the other, at the same height.
- Guess: which one lands first? Then let go of both at the same moment.
- Now crumple the paper into a ball. Drop the book and the paper ball together. What happens now?
- Put the flat paper on top of the book. Drop them together. Does the paper stay on the book?
| Drop | I guess | What happened |
|---|---|---|
| Book and flat paper | book / paper / same | |
| Book and paper ball | book / paper / same | |
| Paper on top of the book | book / paper / same |
Questions
Draw an arrow on the apple to show which way gravity pulls.
🍎On the Moon, could you jump higher or lower than on Earth?
higher / lower
Why did the flat paper fall slowly?
Sources for every fact on this sheet: echoesof.science/school/gravity/sources/