Gravity!
State Newton's law of universal gravitation.
Every object in the universe is attracted to every other object!
Give an example of an observation and an inference that is based on that observation.
Many different answers...
Observation: information you get with your 5 senses
Inference: an idea based on your observation
Give an example of something in the universe that would change if gravity became stronger.
Possible answers: Stars would burn more quickly, bigger stars and planets would form, planets might crash into stars, etc.
True or false: Science can prove something 100%. Explain your answer.
False, science can never prove something 100% because no one has examined every part of the universe! New evidence could always be found. Scientific knowledge gets stronger with a lot of evidence, but it can always be changed by new discoveries.
Explain why moons orbit around planets instead of stars.
Even though stars have a lot more mass than planets, moons are much closer to planets than stars. Since less distance = MORE gravity, the moon and planet have a big attraction for each other because they are close together. The gravity from the planet makes the moon orbit around it.
Is this a law or a theory? Explain how you know.
"For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction."
It's a law. It describes something about the natural world, but it does not explain why.
Neutron stars form when massive stars die (if a black hole doesn't form). Look at the picture to see the size of a neutron star: https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-8d2a963ade8e5301f3c0b97b5ecdbf7c.webp
Why would you weigh SO MUCH more if you stood on a neutron star. Explain all the reasons.
You would weigh a lot more on a neutron star because weight = mass x gravity, and neutron stars have A LOT of gravitational force. Neutron stars have a huge gravitational force because they are formed from very massive stars. More mass means the pull of gravity is stronger. Also, neutron stars are very small and dense. If you could stand on a neutron star, you distance between you and the center of the star would be small. Less distance means more gravity.
Shapley thought the universe was made of one big cloud of stars and dust. Curtis thought the universe was made of many separate galaxies. After collecting more data, Hubble found evidence that some stars were very far away, so different galaxies must exist.
a) Did Shapley and Curtis create hypotheses or theories? Explain.
b) Explain two ways that this shows the nature of science. Give supporting details.
a) Hypotheses - they were educated guesses based on the evidence they had that needed to be tested out
b) Possible answers:
- Science grows and changes over time with new evidence. Hubble's new evidence showed that Curtis' view was probably correct.
- Science is social. People need to work together to find evidence for each other's ideas, like Curtis and Hubble.
- Science is based on observations of the natural world. Hubble found evidence about star distances.