Print- I tend not to focus too much on the historical figures in astronomy and their accomplishments, and I left out a lot about Galileo, who was very important in the transition from a Geocentric to Heliocentric view of the Universe. If you'd like to read more about Galileo on your own, I recommend the Galileo Project.
- In the ClassAction Modules there are modules related to this unit under Basic Motions & Ancient Astronomy and Renaissance Astronomy. I recommend the Renaissance Astronomy module called the "Planetary Orbit Simulator," and they also have modules similar to the ones in this lesson (e.g., the retrograde motion animation).
- On Teacher's Domain, there are several resources related to this lesson:
- A video from NASA of the Galileo Experiment performed on the Moon.
- A video about a classroom demo you can do on weightlessness.
- A NOVA animation about Newton's cannon and weightlessness.
- In the lesson, I recommended the PhET simulations and suggested you try experimenting to create stable and unstable orbits using one of their orbital simulators. A physics teacher collaborator and I wrote an article about an in-class investigation you can do with one of those simulations, and it is available for free in PDF form here: Earth Scientist Vol XXIX Summer 2013 (see p. 32)
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