Objectives: For the student todetermine the size and the weight of an asteriod by measuring the size of it's divot.
Materials: ,baking flour, .5kg.,1kg.,2kg. 5kg.,10kg., large bins(metal or wood for the balls to produce the divots),metersticks, rulers w/metric measurement.
Procedure:
1.Students are todetermine the the set height at which to drop the different balls and record the distance.
2.Students are to record the mass of each ball.
3.Students are to drop each mass into a bin and measure the depth of the divot.
4.When finished measuring the divot, smooth the sand /flour and ready for the next balldrop.
6. Students are to graph the results with depth being on the X axis and mass being on the Yaxis.
7.Students are then to drop a unknown mass and then from their previous results predict the mass of the object from the size of it's divot.
| mass | divot depth |
| .5kg. | |
| 1kg. | |
| 2kg. | |
| 5kg. | |
| 10kg. |
1.Students are to again drop the different size balls that have the same mass and meaure the width of each crater and they are to record the substance making up the asteroid/meteor(i.e.wood or plastic).
2.Students are then asked to evaluate what causes the size differences of the craters and the possible materials that cause the craters.
3.Students are blindfolded and are asked to predict the substance making up the meteor/asteroid.
| object | mass | sizeof crater |
| marble | ||
| soap | ||
| steel ball |
Conclusions:
1.How do scientist estimate the mass of meteors or asteriod when they hit the moon or earth?
2.How do scientist estimate the size of a metor/asteroid that hits the moon or earth?
3.How can scientist predict what a planet or moon is made of from their craters?
4. What happens to craters if an object is moving at higher velocity?
Student Benefits:
1.It gives students first hand experience in developing a model to solve real problems.
2.It helps students predict from modular data real results.
3.It shows students how scientist take known data and extrapolate possible proable findings of meteors and asteroids.