Yes, Newton's law of universal gravitation can be demonstrated through simple experiments at the school level. Although these experiments may not provide precise measurements or account for all factors, they can give students a basic understanding of gravitational forces and help illustrate the principles of Newton's law.
Here are a few simple experiments that can be conducted:
Falling Objects: Students can drop objects of different masses (such as balls of various weights) from the same height and observe that they all fall towards the Earth. This demonstrates that all objects experience the same acceleration due to gravity regardless of their mass.
Pendulum Swing: Students can use a pendulum (a mass attached to a string or rod) and measure the time it takes for one complete swing back and forth. By changing the length of the string or rod, students can observe how the time period of the pendulum changes. This experiment helps demonstrate that the period of a pendulum depends on the length of the pendulum and not the mass of the object.
Gravitational Attraction: Students can use two objects, such as small magnets or masses, and vary the distance between them. They can then measure the strength of the attraction between the objects using a spring scale or by observing the force required to separate them. By increasing the distance between the objects and measuring the decreasing attraction, students can observe how gravitational force follows an inverse square law, as predicted by Newton's law of universal gravitation.
These experiments provide a basic qualitative understanding of gravitational forces and can serve as starting points for more advanced studies. They help illustrate that gravitational forces exist between objects, and the strength of the force depends on the mass of the objects and the distance between them.