PHET Lab - Gravity and Orbital Motion

What is the distance of the Earth from the Sun in the 3 o'clock position?

• Around 146,ooo,ooo km

• Around 150,000,000 km

• Around 144,000,000 km

Tags

8-ESS1-2

What is the distance of the Earth to the Sun in the 12 o'clock position?

• Around 149,000,000 km

• Around 153,000,000

• Around 146,000,000 km

Tags

8-ESS1-2

What is the distance of the Earth to the Sun in the 9 o'clock position?

• Around 152,000,000 km

• Around 148,000,000 km

• Around 150,000,000 km

Tags

8-ESS1-2

What is the distance of the Earth to the Sun in the 6 o'clock position?

• Around 148,000,000 km

• Around 150,000,000 km

• Around 146,000,000 km

Tags

8-ESS1-2

Looking at question #5 on your lab sheet, which of these illustrations shows the correct distances of the Earth to the Sun at different times during the year?

• 
• 
• 

Tags

8-ESS1-2

What is the difference in distance between the Earth to the Sun from when the Earth is in the 3 o'clock position to when the Earth is in the 9 o'clock position?

• Around 149,000,000km

• Around 153,000,000km

• Around 146,000,000km

Tags

8-ESS1-2

Based on the data you collected in the lab, what is the shape of Earth's orbit around the Sun?

• Circular

• Elliptical

• Spherical

• Square

Tags

8-ESS1-2

When you changed the mass of the Sun to 1.5 it changed the velocity of the Earth around the Sun (green arrows) and it also caused a change in the orbit path of the Earth.

How is the orbital path of the Earth different with a 1.5 mass Sun than it was with a 1.0 mass Sun?

• There was no change in the orbital path of the Earth

• The orbital path of the Earth got bigger

• The orbital path of the Earth got smaller

Tags

8-ESS1-2

When you changed the mass of the Sun to 1.5 it changed the velocity of the Earth around the Sun (green arrows) and it also caused a change in the orbit path of the Earth.

What changes to the Earth's velocity (green arrows) did you see with a 1.5 mass Sun than with a 1.0 mass Sun?

• There was no change in the velocity of the Earth

• The velocity of the Earth got faster when the Earth was close to the Sun and slowed down when the Earth was farther from the Sun

• The velocity of the Earth got slower when the Earth was close to the Sun and faster when the Earth was farther from the Sun

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS1-2

NGSS.MS-PS2-2

NGSS.MS-PS2-4

Why do you think the velocity of the Earth changed the way it did in question 9?

• There was less gravitational force when the Earth was close to the Sun, so the Earth moved faster in that position than when it was farther from the Sun.

• There was more gravitational force when the Earth was close to the Sun, so the Earth moved slower in that position than when it was farther from the Sun.

• There was less gravitational force when the Earth was close to the Sun, so the Earth moved slower in that position than when it was farther from the Sun.

• There was more gravitational force when the Earth was close to the Sun, so the Earth moved faster in that position than when it was farther from the Sun.

Tags

8-ESS1-2