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4th grade · Science · Unit 4 of 17

Gravity & Magnets

Forces that work without touching

What your child practices

Gravity pulls objects toward Earth. Magnets have a north and south pole; like poles repel and unlike poles attract. Children learn which materials are magnetic and that non-contact forces get weaker with distance.

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) teks student expectation: 4.7 · gravity and magnetism as forces that act at a distance

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Gravity and magnetism are non-contact forces: they act without touching.
  2. Magnets pull iron and steel, but not glass, plastic or wood.
  3. Both pulls get weaker as objects move farther apart.
  4. The Moon's gravity is weaker than Earth's, so things weigh less there.

Example: Would a magnet pull a steel paper clip, a rubber band or a glass bead? Magnets pull iron and steel. Only the paper clip is steel. Answer: the steel paper clip

Gravity & Magnets in Texas

In the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), this is unit 4 of 17 in 4th grade Science, after Thermal Energy and before Energy, Speed & Collisions.

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: Texas Education Agency (TEA)

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

    On the Moon, a rock would weigh less than on Earth. Why?

    🌙
    • the Moon has more air
    • the Moon's gravity is weaker
    • magnets pull it up
    • the rock gets smaller

  2. Question 2

    A magnet picks up a paper clip from 1 cm away but not from 30 cm away. Why?

    📏
    • the paper clip got heavier
    • gravity stopped
    • the magnet turned off
    • the force gets weaker as the distance grows

  3. Question 3

    Would a magnet pull it? Tap an item, then tap its basket.

    Sort into: 🧲 pulled by a magnet · 🚫 not pulled

    • 📌a steel thumbtack
    • ⚪a ball of aluminum foil
    • 🔮a glass marble
    • 🪵a wooden block
    • 📎a steel paper clip
    • 🔩an iron nail

  4. Question 4

    Where is a magnet's pull the strongest?

    🧲
    • in the middle
    • the same everywhere
    • at its poles
    • far away

  5. Question 5

    What happens when two north poles are brought close together?

    ↔️
    • they melt
    • they pull together
    • nothing happens at all
    • they push apart

  6. Question 6

    As two objects move farther apart, what happens to the pull of gravity or of a magnet between them?

    🌍
    • it turns into a push
    • it stays exactly the same
    • it gets weaker
    • it gets stronger

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