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5th grade · Science · Unit 7 of 10

Gravity Pulls Down

Everywhere on Earth, gravity pulls things toward the center.

What your child practices

Practices explaining that Earth's gravitational force on objects is directed down, toward Earth's center, wherever you are on the planet.

Arizona Academic Standards learning standard: 5.E2U1.8 · Earth's gravity pulling objects toward its center

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Gravity pulls things toward Earth's center, everywhere on Earth.
  2. Gravity makes water drop over waterfalls like Niagara Falls and skiers speed up downhill.
  3. Gravity keeps the oceans on Earth and the moon in orbit around it.

Example: Which way does gravity pull on a person standing anywhere on Earth? Gravity pulls toward the center of Earth. So it always points down, toward Earth's center. Answer: toward Earth's center

Gravity Pulls Down in Arizona

In the Arizona Academic Standards, this is unit 7 of 10 in 5th grade Science, after Speed & Motion and before Spinning Earth, Moving Shadows.

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: Arizona Department of Education

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

    Two students, one in Buffalo and one in Australia, drop balls. Which is correct?

    • Only the ball in Buffalo falls
    • The ball in Australia falls up
    • Neither ball falls
    • Both balls fall toward Earth's center

  2. Question 2

    Water flows downhill because of…

    • sound
    • gravity
    • light
    • magnets

  3. Question 3

    What happens to a pencil that rolls off a desk?

    • It falls to the floor
    • It flies up
    • It disappears
    • It floats

  4. Question 4

    A skier speeds up going down a hill because of…

    • magnetism
    • air pushing up
    • gravity
    • friction

  5. Question 5

    If Earth's gravity suddenly got stronger, a dropped ball would…

    • float
    • go up
    • fall slower
    • fall faster

  6. Question 6

    An apple falls from a tree in a New York orchard. What pulls it down?

    • The wind only
    • Earth's gravity
    • The tree
    • The sun's light

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