DIY Gravity Well

Materials:

 Large bowl
 Stretchy fabric, like a cotton blend t-shirt
 Rubber band, big enough to go around the bowl, or binder clips
 Heavy ball, like a golf ball or something similar
 Marble, round bead, or something similar

Instructions:

1. Place the stretchy fabric over the top of the bowl. Stretch the fabric tightly
and use the rubber band or binder clips to hold it in place.
2. Place the heavy ball in the center of the fabric.
3. First place the marble on the side and let it go. What path does it follow?
4. Next, roll the marble along the side of the bowl. What path does it follow
now?

So how does this simulate planetary orbit?

We can think about gravity as the pulling of the stretchy fabric. When we
place the heavy ball, our Sun, in the middle of the fabric it bends the cloth. So,
when we let our little marble planet go in the gravity well, the heavy ball’s gravity
is pulling the marble towards it. When we gave our marble a little push, though, it
started to orbit the ball in an elliptical path.

Our set-up is on such a small scale, that that marble quickly collides with
the heavy ball, but on a massive scale, like with a planet and the Sun, an initial
velocity allows the planet to stay orbiting the Sun.