Design your own Satellite

I used our KS3 physics books for the info but can easily be the internet. The pupils describe and draw 2 different types of orbit. The beginning of the lesson I demonstrated centripetal force using a tennis ball attached to a weight. The rope attaching the tennis ball to the weight needs to be about 1 - 1.5m long and you have to have a hollow handle. Swing the tennis ball around and the force of the ball moving will lift up the weight through the tube. This demonstrates the affect of gravity on an object and the speed at which something has to orbit to maintain it's orbit.