A group of students obtained a large sheet of rubber. They all grabbed it, and they held it one meter high and parallel to the ground. Their teacher placed a heavy blue ball in the center. Because the sheet was made of rubber, the ball pulled the sheet downward a bit. The teacher then threw a marble onto the sheet. The setup and the path of the released marble are shown below.
a large ball in the middle of a rubber sheet, and small marble rolling toward it
Modified from image courtesy of NASA
What does this model most likely represent?
A.
how an asteroid is affected by the vacuum of space
B.
the gravitational effect of a planet on a smaller object like a comet
C.
the effect of a planet's magnetic field on light energy
D.
how a moon slows down as it moves toward a planet
