Name____________________ Date______________ Class
Earth, Moon, and Sun • Section Summary
Gravity and Motion Worksheet
Key Concepts
• What determines the strength of the force of gravity between two objects?
• What two factors combine to keep the moon and Earth in orbit?
Earth revolves around the sun in a nearly circular orbit. The moon orbits
Earth in the same way. But what keeps Earth and the moon in orbit? Why don't
they just fly off into space? The first person to answer these questions was the
English scientist Isaac Newton. Newton told a story about bow watching an
apple fell from a tree in 1666 had made him think about the moon's orbit.
Newton realized that there must be a force acting between Earth and the
moon that kept the moon in orbit. A force is a push or a pull.
Newton hypothesized that the force that pulls an apple to the ground also
pulls the moon toward Earth, keeping it in orbit. This force, called gravity,
attracts all objects toward each other. In Newton's day, most scientists thought
that forces on Earth were different from those elsewhere in the universe.
Although Newton did not discover gravity, he was the first to realize that
gravity occurs everywhere. Newton's law of universal gravitation states that
every object in the universe attracts every other object.
The strength of gravity is measured in units called newtons, named after
Isaac Newton. The strength of the force of gravity between two objects
depends on two factors: the masses of the objects and the distance between
them. According to the law of universal gravitation, all of the objects around
you are pulling on you. Why don't you notice this pull? Because the strength of
gravity depends, in part, on the masses of the objects. Mass is the amount of
matter in an object.
Because Earth is so massive, it exerts a much greater force on you than a
book does. Similarly, Earth exerts a gravitational pull on the moon, large
enough to keep the moon in orbit. The force of gravity on an object is known as
its weight. An object's weight can change depending on its location. For
example, on the moon, you would weigh about one-sixth of your weight on
Earth. This is because the moon is much less massive than Earth, so the pull of
its gravity on you would be much less.
The tendency of an object to resist a change in motion is inertia. Isaac
Newton stated his ideas about inertia as a scientific law. Newton's first law of
motion says that an object at rest will stay at rest and an object in motion will
stay in. motion with a constant speed and direction unless acted on by a force.
Why do Earth and the moon remain in their orbits? Newton concluded that
two factors—inertia and gravity—combine to keep Earth in orbit around the
sun and the moon in orbit around Earth. Earth's gravity keeps pulling the moon
toward it, preventing the moon from moving in a straight line. At the same time,
the moon keeps moving ahead because of its inertia. If not for Earth's gravity,
inertia would cause the moon to move off through space in a straight line. In the
same 'way, Earth revolves around the sun because the sun's gravity pulls on it
while Earth's inertia keeps it moving ahead.
Name____________________ Date______________ Class.
Earth, Moon, and Sun • Review and Reinforce
Gravity and Motion
Understanding Main Ideas
Answer the following questions in the spaces provided.
1. How are gravity and weight related? __________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
2. How does Newton's law of universal gravitation apply to Earth and the moon? _________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
3. Use Newton's first law of motion to explain why a basketball rolls across the court. _______
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
4. How does distance affect the strength of the force of gravity? ______________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
Building Vocabulary
Write a brief description of each of the following.
5. force ___________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
6. gravity__________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
7. law of universal gravitation__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
8. mass_____________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
9. weight__________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
10. inertia____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
11. Newton's first law of motion________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
