Name Date Class

Gravity and Motion

Understanding Main Ideas

Answer the following questions in the spaces provided.

1. How are gravity and weight related? Weight is the force of gravity on an object. Weight depends
on the strength of the gravitational field the object is in and the  mass of the object. Mass is constant
anywhere in the universe, whereas weight depends on the gravity where the object is present
(Earth, the moon, Jupiter, etc.).

2. How does Newton’s law of universal gravitation apply to Earth and

the moon? Newton proved that the force that causes, for example, an apple to fall toward the
ground is the same force that causes the moon to fall around, or orbit, the Earth.
This universal force also acts between the Earth and the Sun, or any other star and its satellites.
Each attracts the other.

3. Use Newton’s first law of motion to explain why a basketball rolls

across the court. A basketball rolls across the court by the force of a human pushing or the
wind. It will stay in motion until acted on by another force like another player or a wall.

4. How does distance affect the strength of the force of gravity? The force of gravity depends
directly upon the masses of the two objects, and inversely on the square of the  distance between
them. This means that the force of gravity increases with mass, but decreases with
increasing distance between objects.

Building Vocabulary
On a separate sheet of paper, write a definition for each of these terms.

5. force; strength or energy as an attribute of physical action or movement.

6. gravity; an invisible force that pulls objects toward each other. Earth's gravity is what keeps you
on the ground and what makes things fall.
7. law of universal gravitation; a classical physical law that describes the gravitational interaction
between different bodies with mass.
8. mass; a large body of matter with no definite shape.
9. weight; a body's relative mass or the quantity of matter contained by it, giving rise to a downward
force; the heaviness of a person or thing.
10. inertia; a tendency to do nothing or to remain unchanged.
11. Newton’s first law of motion; states that, if a body is at rest or moving at a constant speed in a
straight line, it will remain at rest or keep moving in a straight line at constant speed unless it is acted
upon by a force. This postulate is known as the law of inertia.