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8th grade · Science · Unit 11 of 16

Fields & Forces at a Distance

Gravity, magnetism and electric forces.

What your child practices

Practices forces that act without touching: what affects electric and magnetic force strength, why gravity is always attractive and depends on mass, and how fields store energy.

Alabama Course of Study content standard: 8.12 · magnetic, gravitational and electric forces and fields between objects that don't touch

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Some forces act without touching: gravity, magnetism and electric force.
  2. Gravity always attracts and is stronger with more mass. Electric and magnetic forces can push or pull.
  3. More current makes an electromagnet stronger; closer objects feel stronger forces.

Example: A rubbed balloon sticks to a wall. Which force is this? Rubbing moves electrons onto the balloon. Charged objects attract. Answer: static electric force

Fields & Forces at a Distance in Alabama

In the Alabama Course of Study, this is unit 11 of 16 in 8th grade Science, after Newton's Laws and before Kinetic & Potential Energy.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Which keeps the planets in orbit around the sun?

    • Magnetism
    • Static electricity
    • Gravity
    • Friction

  2. Question 2

    Adding more coils to an electromagnet makes it…

    • weaker
    • colder
    • lighter
    • stronger

  3. Question 3

    Gravity between two objects is stronger when they are…

    • less massive and farther
    • colder
    • more massive and closer
    • the same color

  4. Question 4

    Increasing current in an electromagnet makes it…

    • unchanged
    • weaker
    • reversed in mass
    • stronger

  5. Question 5

    Like magnetic poles…

    • repel
    • do nothing
    • melt
    • attract

  6. Question 6

    A maglev train floats above the track using…

    • magnetic forces
    • gravity only
    • air pressure from fans
    • friction

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