1. Newton’s Toy Box Activity 2
Gravity and Balance
Newton’s Toy Box
Activity 2

2. Vocabulary
Gravity
Gravity support force
Newton (N)
Pound (lb)
Weight

3. What forces are acting on you right now?
Gravity (pulling us downward to Earth)
Magnetism (Earth’s magnetic field)

4. Are you actually falling at this moment because of gravity force?
No, there is a force that opposes gravity.
This force is called the gravity support force. This is an upward force.
Gravity support force is equal in strength to gravity’s downward pull. These forces are balanced.

5. What is the source of gravity support force (sitting in your chair)?
The chair and/or the floor

6. Is the force of gravity on you equal to the support force of the chair on you? How do you know?
Each of us is not moving; so, the two forces acting on each of us are balanced.

7. What happens if a chair leg is weak and the chair cannot produce a support force equal to your weight? Why?
The chair would break, and we would fall to the ground. The two forces, gravity and the gravity support force, would be unbalanced.

8. Activity Sheet 2
We will be using a spring scale, wooden ball, and a bag.
We will be working in groups of 4.
Read the activity sheet and begin the activity.
Remember to read the scale on the Newton side instead of grams.

9. Newton (N); Pound (lb) Newton is a metric unit of weight.
Pound is a standard or customary unit of weight in the English system.

10. Weight
Weight is the strength of the gravity force pulling down on an object.

11. Exit Slip or Homework
Architects and engineers must keep gravity in mind when they design building. For example, the gravity support force of the walls must be strong enough to hold up the roof.
Find examples in your neighborhoods where the gravity support force was not strong enough (hint: any object that has collapsed)