Lesson Plan: Surface Gravity Physics • 9th Grade

This lesson plan includes the objectives, prerequisites, and exclusions of the lesson teaching students how to calculate the surface gravity of a planet or moon given its mass and its radius.

Objectives

Students will be able to

  • understand that the acceleration due to gravity, 𝑎, experienced by an object in the vicinity of a large object with mass 𝑀 is dependent on 𝑀 and the radial distance between the centers of mass of the two objects, 𝑟; so, 𝑎=𝐺𝑀𝑟,
  • use 𝑎=𝐺𝑀𝑟 to calculate the acceleration due to gravity on the surface of a large body,
  • understand that the acceleration due to gravity experienced by object 𝑋 in the vicinity of a large object is the same whatever the mass of 𝑋.

Prerequisites

Students should already be familiar with

  • Newton’s law of gravitation, 𝐹=𝐺𝑀𝑚𝑟,
  • Newton’s second law of motion, 𝐹=𝑚𝑎.

Exclusions

Students will not cover

  • the gravitational field strength inside large objects,
  • time-evolving systems,
  • gravitational potential energy,
  • gravitational potential.

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