How does the gravitational pull affect the world that we live in?

What is gravity?

All mass has a gravitational force.  The greater the mass, the greater the gravitational force.  The force of gravity makes things with mass be attracted to each other.  Because of the enormous mass of the planet Earth, the sun, and the moon, they have a huge impact on the world due to their gravitational force.

Gravity is the force that pulls mass towards the center of the Earth.  The Earth has the same gravitational pull on every object no matter what the size.  If you drop a feather or a brick in a vacuum (no air resistance) they will fall at the same speed.  Air resistance is the reason why a heavy object and a light object don’t fall at the same speed.

How important is gravity?

Gravity is essential to humans and we could not survive on earth without it.  The sun’s gravity keeps Earth orbiting around it at a safe distance so we can have the proper amount of light and heat from the sun.  Gravity keeps the atmosphere down so we have air to breath.

How does gravity affect our environment?  

The environment gets shaped by gravity pulling everything down towards Earth.  Rivers run downhill not uphill and plants have roots growing down and leaves growing upwards.  Gravity limits the height of plants because gravity makes it difficult for the plants to move water up to it’s leaves.  Without gravity, plants grow in all directions.  If you were to put plants that we grow on Earth in space, they would grow a lot differently because of the lack of gravity.  They would grow without proper structure.  Even air is affected by gravity.  Air is thickest by the ocean and becomes thinner up in the mountains.

How does gravity affect weather on Earth? 

The moon’s gravity affects the tides; it makes ‘high’ and ‘low’ tides.  Weather can also be affected when gravity pulls on the clouds.

How does gravity directly affect human life?

The Earth’s gravitational pull lets us know what is up and what is down.

Gravity keeps us on the ground even when we jump and fall.

http://scienceline.ucsb.edu/getkey.php?key=5416

https://sciencing.com/gravitational-pull-6300673.html

https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/what-is-gravity/en/

http://www.cosmos4kids.com/files/universe_gravity.html

Reflection

1. The questions I needed to research in order to research my topic are:

What is gravity?

What is gravitational pull?

How does gravity affect the way plants grow?

When something is thrown how come it comes down?

If you trip over something how come you fall down?

When someone jumps what makes them come back down?

Does gravity affect the speed of falling objects?

Is air affected by gravity?

Can plants grow in space?

Does gravity affect the tides?

2. The digital tools I used that are familiar to me are Google and Youtube.  The digital tool I used that was not familiar to me was the Gale Topic Finder.

3. The process I used to investigate the topic was searching the internet for answers to my questions.

4. I searched different sites to see if they had similar information about my topic.  I tried to make sure that the sites did not have conflicting and inaccurate information.  I took notes from the sites I thought would be useful for the project.

5.  The process of completing this challenge was time consuming.  I could have decreased the number of notes I took and narrowed down the focus of my research.  A lot of the notes I took were very general and not that useful for the project.