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Astronomy

Lab: Crater formation

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Astronomy Lab Instructions

Astronomy Lab: Lunar Crater Formation

Goal: To observe crater formation

Materials:

Procedure

  1. Fill the pan with flour at least 1 inch deep.
  2. Place the pan on newspapers.
  3. Sift cocoa power or chocolate milk powder over the flour until evenly covered.
  4. Drop the smallest rock or marble into the pan from 2 to 4 feet above the surface. [Be sure to measure this.]
  5. Draw the resulting crater.
  6. Measure the crater diameter and depth. Determine the ray length (splash diameter).
  7. Repeat the above steps, using rocks of different sizes and weights, and varying the height from which the objects are dropped. See if you can find patterns that answer the following questions:
    1. What characteristics are common to all craters, regardless of the size of the object or the "energy" of the impact?
    2. How does the crater size, depth, and splash diameter depend on the mass of the incoming object (test by dropping different masses from the same height)?
    3. How does the crater size, depth, and splash diameter depend on the energy of the incoming object (test by dropping the same mass from different heights)?
    4. If possible, repeat with another material, such as corn meal or sugar. How does crater formation depend on the size of the materials on the surface?

Report

Write a report of all your observations and post it to the Moodle assignment for this lab. Be sure to include

  1. A list of the materials you actually used.
  2. A brief description of your procedure, with notes on any major changes you made to the suggested procedure above.
  3. The standard basic data about your session .
  4. Answers to the questions asked in my procedure directions, if they apply.
  5. Any observations you think interesting or important.

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