Teacher: Eric Beutel Date: 2/20/20

School: Rocky Mountain Highschool Grade: 10-12 Content: Astronomy

Title: Relativity and Gravity

Lesson Idea and Rationale - This lesson is structured to allow the students to explore a hands
on model of how mass’s effect on space time creates gravity and the related phenomena such
as orbit, black holes, and relativity. The students are learning about motion of celestial bodies,
and Einstein’s contributions to how we understand the universe so this lesson giving them a
visual model to represent these properties should help to deepen their understanding of these
principles.

Student Profile- 10-12 grade. Elective science course. Mostly high achieving. Very quiet unless
prompted. Very good in small groups. 18 students, small class room.

Content Standards: Use mathematical or computational representations to predict the motion of

orbiting objects in the solar system. [Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on Newtonian gravitational
laws governing orbital motions, which apply to human-made satellites as well as planets and moons.]
[Assessment Boundary: Mathematical representations for the gravitational attraction of bodies and
Kepler’s Laws of orbital motions should not deal with more than two bodies, nor involve calculus.]

Understandings: Gravity is a mass dependent property. Mass affects space time in a way that causes the
bending of light and time, and the attraction of other masses. Gravity can be visualized as shown in the
lab. Models are not perfect, understanding both the usefulness and limitations of models.

Inquiry Questions:

How does matter affect the space around it?

What does gravity do?
What does gravity look like?

Evidence outcomes: Gather record and interpret data on mass and volume.
Determine how variables affect outcomes

I can:
Understand what the concept of “The Fabric of spacetime”
Picture how a massive object affects the spacetime surrounding an object
Construct a model of gravity, and recognize potential problems and values in the given model.
Picture a black hole as a very large mass.
Identify a dependent and independent variable.

This means:
Gravity is not a magical force, but a property of masses effect on the space around it.
Mass and not volume affects the amount of gravity.
Time moves slower in higher gravity.
Assessments:
Filled in lab sheet
Kahoot quiz data
Proper lab documentation
Participation

Name of Lesson- Explorations of a Spandex Gravity well

Time ~60 minutes

Materials- (Students will be broken into two groups so these materials apply to one group’s necessary
items)

1 Large spandex sheet

1 Large round masses
2 medium round masses
2 small round masses
1 Large Volume small mass round object

Set: Inquiry/need for knowledge- Start with intro to lesson “we’re talking about gravity” “what is gravity?”
Does anyone know what gravity looks like? You’re gonna show me what gravity looks like!
Lesson starts with all materials and no direction. Students will be put into teams given a short period of
time to show me what gravity looks like ~5 min and then ~5 min to present to each other.

Procedures-
Strategy - Inquiry based lab procedure - Lab should allow students to visualize concepts of gravity and its
properties. This will be followed up by a short lecture on Einstein, his contributions, and what this means
in context.

Hold spandex sheet wide, place large mass in the middle - What do you notice about the sheet?
Start moving objects in a straight line, What happens to the objects? What astronomy concept does this
remind you of?
Repeat this process with the large volume small mass object.
What do you notice about the sheet?
What do you notice about the moving objects?
How is this different than with the large mass?
What can you infer about gravity based on these two things?

Closure-
Strategy - Exit ticket
In your own words what does gravity look like?

Assessment - Students will be assessed on how they conducted the lab, how they documented their
findings, and what they were able to find out about gravity and its properties from those findings.

Lab Worksheet
In this lab you will need to test 5 different objects and measure the mass, volume, and “Stretch” on each
of these objects. Record in the given table.

Mass (g) Volume (cm3) “Stretch” (cm)

To Measure “Stretch” (S) start by Measuring the distance from the ground (in cm) which your group is
holding the spandex sheet. Then place your object in the center of the sheet. Now measure the distance
from the bottom of the stretch caused by the object to the ground. To find “Stretch” take the height to the
sheet (H) and subtract the height from center (h).

Height of Sheet (H) Height from center (h) Stretch (H-h)

Now that you’ve collected this data graph what you found! Label Stretch on the Y axis for both graphs.
On the first graph label mass the X axis, on the second graph label Volume on the X axis. Fill in your
results on the given graphs.
Compare the two graphs
Answer the following questions about your two graphs.

How is the Mass graph different than the Volume graph?

What effect does Mass have on stretch?

What effect does Volume have on stretch?

What does stretch represent in this model?