HS - PS2.B (A) - Newton's Law of Gravitation - FINAL (WND 4/9/2014)

Module: Newton’s Law of Gravitation

DCI: PS2.B (A) Newton’s law of universal gravitation and Coulomb’s law provide the mathematical models to describe and predict the effects of gravitational and electrostatic forces between distant objects.

PE: HS-PS2-4 Use mathematical representations of Newton’s Law of Gravitation and coulomb’s Law to describe and predict the gravitational and electrostatic forces between objects.

[Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on both quantitative and conceptual descriptions of gravitational and electric fields.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment is limited to systems with two objects.]

The ideas are: 

- We can use Newton's law of universal gravitation to predict the effects of gravitational forces between distant objects. 

- We can use Coulomb's law to predict the effects of electrostatic forces between distant objects. 

So in this module, we can use formulas and have students calculate (using either Newton's Law of Gravity or Coulomb's law) the predicted force between two interacting objects. We might be able to ask a general question, too, about ways in which objects at a distance will interact. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton's_law_of_universal_gravitation

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coulomb's_law