You spin me right round

Today, we experimented with the forces that explain why the planets revolve around the sun in an elliptical orbit.  We filled cups about half-full of water.  An object in motion tends to keep moving in the same direction.  Anywhere the cup is as we swing it around, its tendency (along with the water inside) is to fly out and away from us.  So we never get wet (unless, of course, the cup sustains damage, resulting in a hole in the bottom!).  Opposing this inertia is the child pulling the strings to the center.  In this model, each child acts as the sun, with the strings demonstrating the sun's gravitational pull on the planets. 





"10-4-16 Yesterday, we did science.  We filled a paper cup halfway with water and then swung it around our heads to find out if it'll spill.  This is similar to the planets revolving around the sun because I'm the sun, the cup is a planet, and there's a string on the cup.  That string is gravity.  I enjoyed this because I wanted to know if the water would spill."  by L.A., 1st grade