Science #1
What is Microgravity?
A. A place with no matter
B. An environment where objects appear nearly weightless
C. A place with no oxygen
D. Very strong gravity
B. An environment where objects appear nearly weightless
Which is an example of Matter?
A) The heat from a campfire
B) The sound of a ringing bell
C) A puddle of water
D) The shadow of a tree
C) A puddle of water
What is Mass?
A. How fast something moves
B. The amount of matter in an object
C. The force of gravity
D. How big something looks
B. The amount of matter in an object
What happens to oil and water when mixed?
A. They completely mix
B. They disappear
C. They separate into layers
D. They become a solid
C. They separate into layers
An astronaut takes a pencil into microgravity. Does the pencil still have mass?
A. Yes
B. No
A. Yes
What can change when gravity changes?
A. Mass
B. Weight
B. Weight
An astronaut pushes a ball in microgravity. What will happen?
A. It can move in the direction of the push
B. It immediately falls
C. It loses its mass
D. It disappears
A. It can move in the direction of the push
Which variable is the one you purposely change in an experiment?
A. Dependent variable
B. Independent variable
C. Controlled variable
B. Independent variable
An astronaut travels from Earth to the Moon. What happens to the astronaut's mass?
A. It increases
B. It decreases
C. It stays the same
D. It disappears
C. It stays the same
A student tests whether the amount of water affects how tall a plant grows. What is the dependent variable?
A. Amount of water
B. Plant height
C. Type of plant
D. Amount of soil
B. Plant height
Why do scientists keep controlled variables the same?
A. To make the experiment fair
B. To make the experiment longer
C. To change two things at once
D. To make the results disappear
A. To make the experiment fair
Why might an astronaut appear to float inside the ISS?
A. The astronaut has no mass
B. There is no matter in space
C. The astronaut and spacecraft are moving together in free fall
D. Gravity completely disappears
C. The astronaut and spacecraft are moving together in free fall
An astronaut drops a pencil inside the ISS. Instead of falling straight to the floor like it would on Earth, it appears to float.
The astronaut, pencil, and spacecraft are moving together in a microgravity/free-fall environment, so the pencil appears to float.
An astronaut says, “I feel weightless, but I know I still have mass.”
Why can both of these statements be true?
Mass is the amount of matter in the astronaut and does not disappear. The astronaut feels weightless because of the microgravity environment.
A student is testing whether different types of seeds affect how quickly plants grow. They use the same amount of water, soil, and sunlight.
What is the one thing the student is changing?
The type of seed is the independent variable.
Your team performs an experiment on Earth before sending it to the ISS (International Space Station).
Why is it useful to perform the experiment on Earth first?
It gives the team a comparison or baseline. They can compare what happens on Earth with what happens in microgravity.
Your SSEP team wants to test oil and water in microgravity. What is the BEST reason to conduct the experiment?
A. To see if oil and water behave differently when gravity is not dominating their movement
B. To make the oil disappear
C. To remove all matter from the experiment
D. To prove that water has no mass
A. To see if oil and water behave differently when gravity is not dominating their movement
Your team wants to test whether different amounts of water affect how quickly a tablet dissolves.
Identify all three:
Independent = amount of water
Dependent = how quickly the tablet dissolves
Controlled = tablet type/size, water temperature, etc.
Your team wants to compare oil and water on Earth and in microgravity.
Why would comparing the two environments help scientists?
It could show how gravity affects the way oil and water move, separate, or interact.
Your group is sending an experiment to the ISS. You can change only ONE variable at a time.
Why is this important?
It makes the experiment fair and allows scientists to tell what caused the results.