Howardites

A printable worksheet for the lesson Gravity, weight and orbits (KS3). It prints on A4 without the website around it. The answers are on a separate sheet for the teacher.

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KS3 · Ages 11 to 14 (Years 7 to 9)Howardites worksheet

Gravity, weight and orbits

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Key words

Meteorite
A meteorite is a piece of space rock that has survived its fall through the air and landed on Earth.
Jupiter
Jupiter is the largest planet in the Solar System, whose gravity shapes the asteroid belt and steers meteoroids towards Earth.
Asteroid
A rocky or metal-rich object, smaller than a planet, that goes around the Sun.
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun, a cold, rocky world with ancient river valleys; some meteorites come from it.
Vesta
The second-largest object in the asteroid belt and the likely home of the howardite, eucrite and diogenite meteorites.
Orbit
An orbit is the curved path one object follows around another under gravity, such as Earth around the Sun.

Choose the right answer

Circle the letter of the right answer.

  1. Why is the gravitational field strength on Vesta so much smaller than on Earth?
    • AVesta has no atmosphere
    • BVesta spins much faster
    • CVesta is a much smaller world
    • DVesta is further from the Sun
  2. In a 3 to 1 resonance with Jupiter, what happens?
    • AThe asteroid spins three times for each trip round the Sun
    • BThe asteroid orbits the Sun three times for each orbit of Jupiter
    • CJupiter orbits the Sun three times for each orbit of the asteroid
    • DThree asteroids crash together every time Jupiter passes
  3. Mars has a gravitational field strength of 3.7 N/kg. What does this mean?
    • AEach newton of weight has a mass of 3.7 kg
    • BMars is 3.7 times smaller than Earth
    • CEach kilogram is pulled down with a force of 3.7 N
    • DObjects on Mars fall at a steady 3.7 km/s
  4. The Sun's gravity pulls on every asteroid. Why don't asteroids fall into the Sun?
    • AThey move sideways so fast that they keep missing it
    • BJupiter's gravity exactly cancels the Sun's pull
    • CThey are too far away to feel any pull at all
    • DThere is no gravity in the emptiness of space
  5. Why does the asteroid belt have gaps at certain distances from the Sun?
    • AJupiter's tugs at resonances moved asteroids out
    • BThe Sun's heat has melted all the asteroids at those distances
    • CThose distances are where the planets Mars and Earth orbit
    • DComets passing through have swept those regions clear of dust

True or false?

Is the answer given right? Tick True or False.

  1. A meteorite weighs 80 N on Earth (g = 10 N/kg). What would it weigh on Mars (g = 3.7 N/kg)?

    Answer given: 29.6 N TrueFalse

  2. Escaping Earth needs over 11 km/s; escaping Vesta needs about 0.36 km/s. Roughly how many times faster is Earth's escape speed?

    Answer given: About 30 times TrueFalse

Write your answer

Answer in a word or a short sentence.

  1. The worked example's 12 kg meteorite weighs 120 N on Earth and 3 N on Vesta. How many times smaller is its weight on Vesta?
  2. A rock weighs 8 N on the Moon, where g = 1.6 N/kg. What is its mass?
  3. A 5 kg bag is taken to Jupiter's cloud tops, where g is about 25 N/kg. What would it weigh there?

Task

Find the gravitational field strength on Mercury (3.7 N/kg), Mars (3.7 N/kg) and Jupiter's cloud tops (about 25 N/kg). Calculate the weight of your school bag on each. Then write two sentences explaining why your mass would not change on any of them.

Howardites · free to copy for use in your classroom · answers are on the separate teacher's answer sheet