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Gravity Force Lab HTML Guide - en

The Gravity Force Lab simulation allows students to observe and explore the gravitational force between two objects. Students can adjust the masses of the objects and their distance to see how these factors affect the gravitational attraction. The simulation is designed to help students discover on their own that gravitational force decreases as distance increases and increases as mass increases, without directly referring to equations.

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Nur Anang Mahendra
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
206 views

Gravity Force Lab HTML Guide - en

The Gravity Force Lab simulation allows students to observe and explore the gravitational force between two objects. Students can adjust the masses of the objects and their distance to see how these factors affect the gravitational attraction. The simulation is designed to help students discover on their own that gravitational force decreases as distance increases and increases as mass increases, without directly referring to equations.

Uploaded by

Nur Anang Mahendra
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Tips for Teachers Gravity Force Lab

In Gravity Force Lab students observe the gravitational force that two objects exert on each other, and
adjust the properties of the masses to see the effect on gravitational attraction.

VIEW the forces DISPLAY the


in the system distance between
the objects

DRAG the HOLD the radius


masses apart or constant when
together

ADJUST masses ACCESS


keyboard
navigation help
menu

Insights into Student Use


• Students should measure distances from the center of mass, but we want them to discover this on
their own. If they use something else, like distance between outer edges, they should find that their
data doesn’t make sense.
• We encourage students to construct their own ideas through exploration, and have found that referring
directly to the “Universal Law of Gravity” may encourage some students to simply look up the relevant
equation.

Model Simplifications
• The scale of the masses and distances allow students to explore the gravitational force between
everyday objects. To experiment with forces on the order of 10-1-103 N, see Gravity Force Lab:
Basics.
• By default, the masses will maintain a constant density. If the mass is increased, the radius will increase
proportionally to maintain the density. If the simulation is in Constant Size mode, the radii of the
masses will instead remain constant. The color saturation of the mass maps to its density (i.e. larger
masses will have a more saturated color).
• The figures attached to the masses are displayed to help students understand why
the objects stay apart, despite their attraction. The figure will lean further back to
indicate that the force exerted on the mass it is holding has increased. However, the
figure is massless and does not contribute to the forces in the system.

Rouinfar & Fiedler, April 2021 Page !1 of 2


Additional Features
• A tone plays that changes with the magnitude of the force as mass OR distance change to emphasize
the change on the gravitational force by either variable.
• Extra emphasis on the magnitude of the mass as being different than the force
sound is possible using the the Enhanced Sound feature in the PhET menu. A
change in mass also plays a percussive tone that changes pitch with the
magnitude of the mass.
• See the Sound Features Video for more useful tips on how concepts and sound are integrated in this
sim. See the published Sound Design Documentation for more details on all sounds in this simulation.

Suggestions for Use


Sample Challenge Prompts
• Identify two ways you can change the amount of gravitational force that the objects experience. How
could you increase the gravitational force using each factor? How could you decrease the gravitational
force using each factor?
• If gravity is a force of attraction between objects, why aren’t objects like your pencil being pulled
towards you? Explain your reasoning.
• Select two different values for mass 1 and mass 2. How does the force that the smaller mass exerts on
the larger mass compare to the force that the larger mass exerts on the smaller mass?
• Predict what happens to the gravitational force as the distance between the masses is doubled.
• Pick an independent variable to manipulate and design an experiment to determine what happens to
the gravitational force as this variable is changed. What do you observe?
• Design an experiment to determine the equation that describes the relationship between the
gravitational force and the masses of the objects and the distance between the objects. Plot your data
and choose an appropriate trend line.

Explore Inverse Square Laws


Use Coulomb's Law to investigate the electrostatic force.
• Determine the similarities and differences between the gravitational and electrostatic forces.
• Compare the magnitudes of the gravitational and electrostatic forces in the Hydrogen atom.

See all published activities for Gravity Force Lab here.


For more tips on using PhET sims with your students, see Tips for Using PhET.

Rouinfar & Fiedler, April 2021 Page !2 of 2

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