Year 5 investigate gravity!

Year 5 have been working with (and against!) forces in a series of hands-on investigations.

Using small masses, they had to record the weight in Newtons and the mass in grams – always remembering weight can change if you can overcome forces, but the mass will remain constant as it is a measure of all the matter inside something. This is why your weight would change if you visited the moon – the ‘gravity diet’ happens! Gravity on the moon is less as it is 1/6 the size of the earth, so you are ‘pulled down’ with less force and therefore have fewer Newtons notched up on the scale. However, your mass remains constant – you will still have your same body with all the same particles making up your legs, arms, torso etc – so you will have the same mass in Kg.

But you can ease things on earth a little bit by using machines to literally take the strain. The simplest machines like levers, gears and pulleys are some of the most effective, efficient force multipliers. Think how would you lift a car to change a tyre or travel uphill on a bike with ease without their help?

Year 5 investigated just this – they lifted masses to measure their weight and mass then enlisted the help of a pulley system which they made themselves from the kits. Every group found the work got easier and in some cases the force was made so much easier, 0N was registering on the force-meters!

All results were recorded in photographs and videos then uploaded to PowerPoints and when gathered gave us undeniable evidence gravity had indeed been overcome, and the pulley had acted as an excellent force multiplier – more work was done with a lot less effort!

Great investigating everyone, you worked smarter not harder!