Gravity Board Lesson
Plan Amount of time Demo takes:​
3-4 mins.
Try this at home!
Materials
● Gravity board
● Metal balls
● Marbles
● Tape
Set-Up Instructions/ Instructional Procedure
1. Lay gravity board on a flat surface.
2. Tape metal balls onto the gravity board. Spread them out in the middle of
the board.
3. Roll marbles around the metal balls.
Lesson’s Big Idea
● The metal balls are heavier than the marbles and work as planets. When
rolling the marbles around these balls, naturally they will fall towards the
center of gravity. The largest metal ball acts as the sun. This has the
heaviest mass and the strongest gravitational pull. The smaller metal balls
have lighter masses and lighter gravitational pulls.
Background Information
Isaac Newton questioned why the planets tend to orbit the sun. He then
discovered the reason is the same as the reason objects fall to the ground
on earth. The heavier objects (the sun) have the strongest gravitational
pull. The sun is larger than all the planets and has the largest pull. This is
why all the planets tend to orbit the sun.
In addition to the planets moving around the sun they are also moving in a
sideways direction. It is the same as if you swing a ball around connected
to a string. Your hand is the force keeping the ball from flying away, but
the ball is also moving sideways.
Sample Questions to ask
1. Why do the marbles fall towards the larger ball?
2. Why don’t the smaller metal balls fall towards the largest one?
Clean Up
Put the balls, marbles and the lesson plans back into the given tote.
References ​
:
● http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/review/dr-marc-solar-system/planet-orbits.htm
l
● http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-and-how-do-planets-ro/
● http://www.bigmamaearthacademy.org/learning-center/portal/solar-syste
m/
Next Generation Science Standards
● 5-PS2-1
● MS-PS2-4
● HS-PS2-4