Gravity Well

$295.00

Price includes Australia wide shipping and handling.

The gravity well takes only 5-10 minutes to assemble and is useful to help students visualise the warping of space time caused by massive objects.

What’s included:

  • Lightweight and stable PVC frame. Assembled size – 80cm high, 140cm wide, 140cm long. Width and length of gravity well are designed to allow an adult to easily reach and recover the masses from the middle of the gravity well. Colour coded components for easy assembly.

  • High quality 4 way stretch fabric, to allow for longevity and good stretch around masses. Fabric made from 78% recycled materials.

  • 12 x clips

  • 1 x heavy mass

  • 20 x marbles

  • 1 x assembly instructions

  • 1 x shipping/storage box (the Gravity Well can be stored disassembled in the 15cm x 15cm x 80cm box).

Aligns with the Australian Curriculum:

  • Year 2 Earth and Space Sciences AC9S2U01

Recognise Earth is a planet in the solar system and identify patterns in the changing position of the sun, moon, planets and stars in the sky

  • Year 4 Physical Sciences AC9S4U03

Identify how forces can be exerted by one object on another and investigate the effect of frictional, gravitational and magnetic forces on the motion of objects

  • Year 6 Earth and Space Sciences AC9S6U02

Describe the movement of Earth and other planets relative to the sun and model how Earth’s tilt, rotation on its axis and revolution around the sun relate to cyclic observable phenomena, including variable day and night length

  • Senior Physics Unit 3 Gravity and Electromagnetism

See below for suggested demonstrations using the Gravity Well.

Price includes Australia wide shipping and handling.

The gravity well takes only 5-10 minutes to assemble and is useful to help students visualise the warping of space time caused by massive objects.

What’s included:

  • Lightweight and stable PVC frame. Assembled size – 80cm high, 140cm wide, 140cm long. Width and length of gravity well are designed to allow an adult to easily reach and recover the masses from the middle of the gravity well. Colour coded components for easy assembly.

  • High quality 4 way stretch fabric, to allow for longevity and good stretch around masses. Fabric made from 78% recycled materials.

  • 12 x clips

  • 1 x heavy mass

  • 20 x marbles

  • 1 x assembly instructions

  • 1 x shipping/storage box (the Gravity Well can be stored disassembled in the 15cm x 15cm x 80cm box).

Aligns with the Australian Curriculum:

  • Year 2 Earth and Space Sciences AC9S2U01

Recognise Earth is a planet in the solar system and identify patterns in the changing position of the sun, moon, planets and stars in the sky

  • Year 4 Physical Sciences AC9S4U03

Identify how forces can be exerted by one object on another and investigate the effect of frictional, gravitational and magnetic forces on the motion of objects

  • Year 6 Earth and Space Sciences AC9S6U02

Describe the movement of Earth and other planets relative to the sun and model how Earth’s tilt, rotation on its axis and revolution around the sun relate to cyclic observable phenomena, including variable day and night length

  • Senior Physics Unit 3 Gravity and Electromagnetism

See below for suggested demonstrations using the Gravity Well.

 
 

More about the Gravity Well

    • When there is no large mass curving space time, objects travel in a straight line.

    • Large masses curve space-time

    • Objects orbiting large masses due to curvature of space time orbit in an elliptical shape (Kepler's 1st Law)

    • Elliptical orbits - an object travels at a higher speed when closer to the central mass, and at a slower speed when further from the central mass (Kepler's 2nd Law)

    • Mark distance to central mass using chalk. Use stopwatch to find period of orbit at different distances from the central mass, and find relationship between orbital period and radius (Kepler's 3rd Law)

    • Slingshot manoeuvre

    • Galaxy formation (objects accelerating towards each other due to warped space-time)

    • Preferred orbital direction during solar system formation