Modeling the impact of meteorites

Modeling the impact of meteorites Students from grade 10 in Mr Diego’s class, collected data this week in an experiment where the impact of meteorites on the surface of Earth is modelled using sand and marbles.

Students from Grade 10 in Mr Diego’s class collected data this week in an experiment where the impact of meteorites on the surface of Earth is modelled using sand and marbles.

 

The unit on Astrophysics that Grade 10 is about to finish gave students the opportunity to explore the levels of organization or matter in the universe ranging from our planet and the solar system up to superclusters of galaxies.

Meteoroids are objects that our planet meets very often as it moves through space. When meteoroids enter our atmosphere and survive the large friction produced by air and hit the surface of the planet, we call them meteorites. Meteorites hit our planet at different angles, velocities and they land in different regions of the world.

The experiment that Grade 10 carried out, studied the size of the crater left by a marble as it hits a surface of sand when dropped from different heights (and thus having different impact velocities). Students will then process and present data to determine the nature and details of the the relationship between the dropping height and diameter of the crater.

The MYP Science curriculum at Northbridge encourages and guides our students to develop the skills they need to become tomorrow’s leading scientists. We are ambitious!