Planetary Landscapes Lab

In this lab we will do some experiments using common baking supplies to demonstrate cratering. For a variety of surfaces and a variety of projectiles, measure or describe each of the following:

• meteor width and mass
• meteor velocity, v = a * t, t = sqrt(2*d/a) Refresher on free fall
• crater depth, width
• crater pattern - Can you get crater rays?
• How much of the original surface gets ejected out of the crater?
• How much gets compacted into the subsurface?

Try to synthesize your results into a few "laws" that describe how craters change under different conditions. For example, for a given surface, does the crater width increase systematically with the projectile velocity? A graph would help you do this.

Do any of your craters look like Martian, Moon, or other planet's craters?
Google Mars
Google Moon
Google Earth Craters
Google Earth Meteorites
NASA World Wind with imagery from Mars, Moon, Venus, Jupiter's moons, etc.