Discovery of Gravity
Isaac Newton was born in 1642. He lived in England. He wanted to know how the
world worked. One day Newton saw an apple fall from a tree branch. It hit the
ground near his feet. He thought about the apple. Why did things ALWAYS fall to
the ground? Why didn’t anything ever fall up? Newton realized that an unseen
force had pulled the apple down. He called this force GRAVITY. Gravity is a force
that makes all objects attracted to each other.
How Mass Affects Gravity
Newton loved math. He was smart. He used
math to show how mass (size) affects gravity.
Things with a lot of mass pull with a stronger
gravitational pull. The bigger the object is, the
more it attracts things. Since nothing on Earth
is bigger than planet Earth itself, all the things
and people on Earth are attracted by Earth.
Everything is pulled toward the center of the
planet. That is why things fall to the ground.
How Distance Affects Gravity
Newton also figured out that distance also
affects the amount of gravity. Newton
discovered that objects that are close
together have a greater gravitational pull on
each other. Conversely, object which are
which are far apart exert less gravitational
pull on objects.
Activity: Create a Graphic organizer on that depicts how distance and mass
affect gravitational pull.