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    Explore Gravity!: With 25 Great Projects
    Explore Gravity!: With 25 Great Projects
    Explore Gravity!: With 25 Great Projects
    Ebook142 pages1 hour

    Explore Gravity!: With 25 Great Projects

    By Cindy Blobaum and Bryan Stone

    ()

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    About this ebook

    How can something that grounds us and keeps us here on this earth be so invisible and mysterious? We're not talking about anything abstract and undetectable. We're talking about GRAVITY! Gravity is a force that affects everyone and everything. Gravity is something we can easily understand, even kids, especially if they have the right tools to teach them.

    Explore Gravity! With 25 Great Projects will introduce kids ages 6-9 to the basics of gravity, including concepts of matter, attraction, and gravitational pull. Projects include creating a working model of a scale to learn what "weight" really means and how it's affected by gravity. By playing with various weights to make a marvelous mobile, readers learn about the center of balance and how martial artists use this knowledge to throw their weight around. All the projects in this book are easy to follow, require little adult supervision, and use commonly found household products, many from the recycling box! The fun facts, trivia, jokes, comics, and hands-on activities will help kids discover the captivating science of gravity. Furthermore, the informational text and hands-on activities will excite kids about STEM, the interrelated fields of science, technology, engineering, and math.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherNomad Press
    Release dateJan 7, 2014
    ISBN9781619302051
    Explore Gravity!: With 25 Great Projects
    Author

    Cindy Blobaum

    Cindy Blobaum is the author of many nonfiction books for children, including Skulls and Skeeltons! and Explore the Ice Age! for Nomad Press. She is a contributor to Highlights, Hopscotch for Girls, and Plays magazines and has designed science-based programs and teacher workshops for nature organizations throughout the United States. Cindylives in Iowa.

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      Book preview

      Explore Gravity! - Cindy Blobaum

      INTRODUCTION

      Wherever you are right now, point a finger straight down. Change your position and point straight down. Stand up. Stand on your head. Lie down. Did you point to the same spot? How do you know which way is down?

      These questions may seem simple, or even silly. Of course you know which way is down. Down means toward the ground. When you are standing, down means toward your feet. If you stand on your head, down means below your head. If you are sitting in a desk chair, down goes by your side.

      WORDS KNOW

      down: toward the ground. If you’re underground, down means toward the center of the earth.

      On the earth, the force of gravity pulls everything toward its center. There are forces pushing and pulling objects all the time. Wind pushes tree branches and sailboats. Your muscles push and pull parts of your body so you can walk, talk, and move.

      You can see some forces, but you can’t see gravity. It’s invisible. You can choose to use many forces, but gravity is different. You can’t turn it on or off. It pulls you down whether you want it to or not. Without it, you would float away!

      How does gravity keep you safe? Why does the position of your belly button matter? How do astronauts work in zero gravity? Can gravity make life easier? You’ll learn the answers to these questions and more in this book!

      WORDS KNOW

      force: a push or a pull.

      gravity: a natural force that pulls objects to the earth.

      object: something that can be seen or touched.

      invisible: unable to be seen.

      astronaut: a person who travels or works in space, where the moon, sun, planets, and stars are.

      matter: something real that takes up space.

      scientist: someone who studies science and asks questions about the natural world, seeking answers based on facts.

      WHAT’S THE MATTER?

      Gravity works on all matter. Matter is the word scientists use to describe anything that takes up space. You can measure matter, even though sometimes you can’t see it or touch it. Water is matter, and so is air and gases.

      Chocolate cake is matter. It takes up space. You can stick a fork in it, and describe how it looks and tastes. A feather is matter, and so are dogs and cats, a car, this book, your body, and even a speck of dust.

      Gravity’s force is a natural attraction that affects all matter. Gravity pulls all matter closer together. There is gravity between an apple and a banana sitting on a table. There is gravity between a bird and a tree. Most of the time, the pull of gravity between objects is so small that we don’t notice it. But the more matter an object has, the stronger its pull.

      WORDS KNOW

      attraction: an invisible power that pulls things together.

      gravitational pull: the force of gravity acting on an object.

      The earth is very, very big. Its gravitational pull is stronger than anything else around it. Earth’s gravity pulls you, the air, plants, trees, and even the moon, closer to its center. It keeps our feet on the ground!

      What isn’t matter? Your thoughts and feelings. They are real, but they don’t take up space. You can’t touch or measure them. Gravity isn’t matter. It doesn’t take up space and you can’t touch it.

      Did You Know?

      The sun’s gravity is pulling at you, but it’s so far away you don’t notice it. Earth is by far the biggest, closest object to humans, so it has the strongest pull on us.

      ACTIVITY

      Make a Science Journal

      A science journal is a great place to note the steps of your experiments, make observations, and record data. A scientific method worksheet is a useful tool for keeping your ideas and observations organized. The scientific method is the way scientists ask questions, form a hypothesis, and then find answers.

      WORDS KNOW

      observation: something you discover using your senses.

      data: a collection of facts.

      hypothesis: a prediction or unproven idea that tries to explain certain facts or observations.

      SUPPLIES

      plain paper

      stapler

      markers

      pencil

      1 Stack about five sheets of paper and fold them in half.

      2 Staple along the folded edge about 1 inch in (2½ centimeters) to secure the pages together.

      3 Decorate the cover any way you want. Just don’t forget the word Gravity and your name.

      4 Use the inside pages to make scientific method worksheets for the experiments you’ll do in this book.

      ACTIVITY

      Find Straight Down

      Gravity pulls everything down toward the center of the earth. How can you prove which way is straight down? Where is straight down when you are standing on a hill?

      Why do you need to know which way is straight down? If you drop something, you want to know where to look for it. Builders want to make sure their buildings are straight and don’t

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