Ask students what features are on the Moon and what caused them.
Give each student, or one between two, double sided cards, the first with ‘bigger’ on one side and ‘smaller’ on the other, the second with ‘circular’ and ‘irregular’. Alternatively you can ask the students to write the word on white boards and hold it up to show you.
Ask students the following questions and ask them to hold up one card:
- If the projectile size increases is the size of the crater bigger or smaller?(Answer: bigger)
- If the projectile mass decreases is the size of the crater bigger or smaller? (Answer: smaller)
- If the height the projectile is dropped from increases, is the size of the crater bigger or smaller? (Answer: bigger)
- When we dropped the projectile, some of the flour flew up and landed around the crater. On the Moon, these bright features are called rays. If we drop the projectile from directly above does the flour fly all around the crater, so it is circular, or is it irregular, only in one or two directions? (Answer: circular)
- If we drop the projectile from an angle, does the flour fly all around the crater, are the rays all around the crater, so circular, or is it irregular? (Answer: irregular)
- If we decrease the angle the projectile is dropped from so it is closer to horizontal, do the rays of flour become more circular or irregular? (Answer: irregular)