Crater Case – Moon crater flour drop

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What you do:

Why do craters on the moon have different sizes? It has to do with energy!
Teach students the relationship between speed, mass, and energy with this fun and flour-y activity.

In this activity, we’ll drop balls from predetermined heights into a pan of flour. By measuring the size of the created crater, we can estimated how much energy the falling ball had.

What you need:

Lesson plan

  • Aluminum broiling pan (1 per group)
  • Flour (2 lbs per group)
  • Golf ball or other small spherical object (1 per group)
    • Optional: balls of other sizes
  • Yard stick (1 per group)
  • Ruler (1 per group)
  • Rubber poppers (1 per student)

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