Sixth Grade Science ; Gravity and Friction in our daily lives ; Homeschool

Sixth Grade Science ; Gravity and Friction in our daily lives ; Homeschool 

 I haven’t been writing in quite a while. Last time I wrote a blog was during the beginning of March. Now March is coming to and end, and 2021 seems to fly. We had been continuing on the topic: motions. This time, we learned about gravity, and friction in our daily lives. Most of these information is from “Everything you need to know to ace science in one big fat note book”.

Force is everywhere. We see and use force everyday. For example, gravity. Gravity is an attractive force between objects with mass. The force of gravity does not happen only when something falls, but it affects all masses. Larger mass has more gravity (like humans), because the strength of gravity depends on both the mass and the distance between masses. Object that are closet to you will pull on you with more gravity. Gravity is also what keeps the earth circling around the sun. The sun has so much mass that it exerts a gravitational force on our entire solar system. 

Weight is the measure of gravitational force. Both force and mass of the object are used to define the weight of an object. Locations don’t matter when your measuring the mass of something. But your weight can change depending on your location. For example, if you were to climb to the top of mount Everest or stand to the moon, your weight will decrease due to the lack of gravity.   

“An object in motion will remain in motion and an object at rest will remain at rest unless there is a net force acting on the object”. This is Newton’s first law of motion. It states that an object will remain the same unless another force is given to it. If u were to slide your keyboard mouse, it will eventually stop moving due to the force that is added on to it. What is this force? Friction. It’s the force that opposes movement between touching surfaces and always act against the direction of motion. Say that you are riding a kick board. The wheels slow down due to the frictional force of the sidewalk, and the wheels. Rougher surfaces have more friction. A ball that is rolled on a smooth sidewalk will go farther more than is rolls on a rough sidewalk. Friction is in air as well. We call this friction “air resistance”. When you drop a feather, it will fall side to side until it reaches the ground. This is because the air resistance opposes the downward movement. 

Here are some types of friction: 

Static friction: The force of friction that is between a surface not in motion. If you leave an object alone and it stays still, that is an example of static friction.

Kinetic Friction (Or sliding friction): The force of friction that affects surfaces in motion. When you push an object, the force that resists the motion is Kinetic friction.

Rolling Friction: The friction between surfaces when an object that roll (a ball or wheels) rolls freely over a surface. When you ride your bike on the sidewalk, that is rolling friction.

MyLK Monday, 2021, March 22th.