The Bridge V Learning Edition 1 ; our solar system | Page 42

Earth
Moon
Mars
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
Pluto
9.81
1.62
3.71
24.79
10.44
8.69
11.15
0.7
1
0.17
0.38
2.53
1.06
0.89
1.14
0.07
1
0.17
0.38
2.53
1.06
0.89
1.14
0.07
30
5.1
11.4
75.9
31.8
26.7
34.2
2.1
On the Moon, a child with a mass of 30 kg would weigh only 0.17 x 30 kg = 5.1 kg, while on
Jupiter it would weigh as much as an adult weighs on Earth: 2.36 x 30 kg = 70.8 kg.
Other sources: An astronaut carries out a famous experiment on the Moon with a feather and a
hammer: http://goo.gl/TIvEI
Full description
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•
Hand out the left two columns of the table from the background science, with the
gravity acceleration for each planet and the multiplier.
Ask the children to write down how much a child would weigh on each planet, given
that it weighs 30 kg on Earth.
Tip: Note that the surface gravity not only depends on the mass of a planet, but also on its size.
The bigger a planet is, the farther away you are from the centre when you stand on its surface.
Distance decreases the amount of gravity you feel.
Related Subject Ideas
Arts
Searching for extra-terrestrials is exciting. What could they look like? You could ask the children
to draw their own versions of extra-terrestrials, or make clay models of them.