Gravity and Orbits PhET Lab

This virtual PhET Gravity and Orbits simulation lab provides students opportunity to experiment with the variables that affect the force of gravity between two objects and the concept of orbital motion. This inquiry activity can be used in a physical science class while students are exploring motion and gravity. This could also be incorporated during an astronomy unit or even as an inquiry into the concept of gravity alone.

There are two differentiated versions of this activity:

• The green circle version can be used for lower-level students, younger students (I use this one with my sixth graders), or if you aren’t diving too deep into the physics/vectors and just want students to see the general concepts behind orbital motion.
• The blue square version can be used for higher-level students, older students, or if you are using this in a physical science class where students will be exposed to vectors and a more in-depth study of Newton’s first law of motion. For the blue square version, students should understand the concepts of mass and velocity prior to this lesson. They will be constructing their own understanding of orbital motion using the PhET lab platform. The lab provides both a guided portion for which students will be asked to adjust certain variables and observe what happen and an experimental portion for which students will try to create extreme orbital motion by manipulating the variables themselves.

Answer keys for both versions are included.

The virtual lab is located at this link.

You may also be interested in my Gravity and Orbiting Cornell Doodle Notes!

Thanks for looking!

Sunrise Science