Testing the equivalence principle
Students will answer questions based on the Science News article "Galileo experiment re-created in space."
Educator Guide: Galileo Experiment Re-created in Space
FREE-FALLIN’ Scientists compared the acceleration of two objects in free fall in a satellite orbiting 710 kilometers above the Earth (illustrated).
(C) CNES/VIRTUAL-IT 2017. This document is taken from the CNES Web site cnes.fr. Protected information. All rights reserved © CNES (2017).
About this guide
The article “Galileo experiment re-created in space” describes how scientists used cylinders in a satellite to show with very high precision that the equivalence principle, a foundation of Einstein’s general theory of relativity, holds up in space. Students can focus on details reported in the article, follow connections to earlier articles about gravitational measurements and pursue cross-curricular connections to other major science topics in physics, biology and engineering. In a related activity, students can drop balls of various densities and measure the balls’ gravitational acceleration.
This Guide Includes:
The equivalence principle in the archive
Use this short section to explore and compare other articles about measurements of the equivalence principle as reported by Science News since 1924.
When science and gravity meet
These discussion prompts encourage students to explore concepts related to gravity and how scientists measure it.
Free-fallin’
Students will determine if an object's composition and the height at which can object is dropped affects its gravitational acceleration.