Download Spying into the lives of the stars

Stellar
Evolution
Lab
Spying into the lives of
the stars
Developed by: Betsy Mills, UCLA NSF GK-12 Fellow
Title of Lesson: Stellar Evolution Lab
!
Grade Level: 8th
Subject(s): Astronomy: Stars, the Sun, and Stellar life cycles
Summary:
Students will rotate through 4 stations
Time Required: 15-20 minutes for each lab station; 60-90 minutes total.
Group Size: Divide class into 4 groups to rotate through each station.
Cost to implement: ~$10 for colored beads or sprinkles
Learning Goals:
• Red stars are colder than blue stars
• We are made out of elements that came from stars, and the deaths of
stars
• The sun is just one of many di"erent types of stars
• The sun will never become a supernova
Level of Inquiry:
This lesson incorporates inquiry by having students observe, predict, and draw
conclusions from di"erent sources of data.
Safety Issues:
DO NOT do Part One of this activity without a professional solar filter on your
telescope, which you are trained to use. LOOKING AT THE SUN DIRECTLY
WITH A TELESCOPE CAN CAUSE BLINDESS AND SEVERE EYE INJURY. If you
do not have access to a telescope, Part one can be done by having students
look at a current picture of the sun, such as are available online.
Materials List:
• small tupperware containers
• sprinkles or beads
• Large sheet of paper
• Colored poster board or construction paper
• Tape
• Solar telescope
Introduction / Motivation:
To introduce the lab, ask students what they know about stars.
Explaint that we know that, like humans, stars are born, grow up, and die. It’s
just that stars take longer to do these things: millions and billions of years. You
can’t really just take a single star and follow it from birth to death, so today, we
will use some of the tools that astronomers use to study stars and find out
about how they live and die.
Procedure:
Have students break into four groups. Rotate students through the four
stations, having them fill out an attached worksheet for each station.
Lesson Closure:
After students have completed all of the stations, have them share their Haikus
with the class. Use this as an entry into a discussion of stellar evolution using
the stars from the H-R diagram. Ask them, which of these stars will a star like
the sun turn into? (a red giant, a white dwarf) What happens in between those
two stages (a planetary nebula) Will the sun ever become a supernova? (no)
Which of these objects will? (A high mass star, which turns into a red supergiant
before exploding)
References:
Information on the Hertzspring-Russell diagram:
http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/H/HRdiag.html
List CA Science Standards addressed:
4b: Students know that the sun is one of many stars in the Milky Way galaxy
and that stars may di"er in size, temperature, and color.
Attachments:
Worksheets for each station are attached, as well as descriptions of the setup
required for each station.
Station Setups:
Station 1:
Telescope with Solar Filter.
DO NOT use a telescope without a professional grade solar filter
If you do not have access to a telescope, use a current picture of the sun from
one of the following websites:
!
!
!
http://www.spaceweather.com
http://www.spacew.com/sunnow/
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/
Station 2:
Small containers with the following mixes of beads:
•
•
•
•
Container 1: Sun (75% Hydrogen, 25% Helium)
Container 2: Planetary Nebula* (Approximately 50% Nitrogen, 30%
Carbon, 10% Oxygen)
Container 3: Supernova* (Approximately 70% Oxygen, 20% Carbon, 10%
Calcium)
Container 4: Human (65% Oxygen, 20% Carbon, 10% Hydrogen, 3%
Nitrogen, 1% Calcium)
*Important note: The given compositions of Planetary Nebulae and Supernovae
are NOT perfectly representative of their actual compositions. Planetary Nebulae
and Supernovae are actually still mainly dominated by Helium and Hydrogen.
Omitting the Hydrogen and Helium in these two objects makes it easier to see
that these objects are important sources of other elements: The small amounts
of Carbon and Nitrogen Planetary nebulae release are the main sources of these
two elements in the universe. Similarly, Supernovae are the main sources of
Oxygen, Calcium (and some Carbon) in the universe.
Give students a key to explain what each color is
(For example: Blue = Oxygen, Green = Carbon, Yellow = Hydrogen, Orange =
Nitrogen, Red = Helium, Purple = Calcium)
Station 3:
No setup needed, beyond giving students access to textbooks or other sources
if they desire them.
Station 4:
For this station, you will need the following drawn on a large sheet of paper:
1,000,000x as bright as the Sun
100,000x as bright as the Sun
10,000x as bright as the Sun
1000x as bright as the Sun
100x as bright as the Sun
10x as bright as the Sun
As bright as the Sun
1/10x as bright as the Sun
1/100x as bright as the Sun
1/1000x as bright as the Sun
30,000
10,000 9000
8000 7000
6000
5000 4000
Degrees Celsius
This type of chart is called a ‘Herztsprung-Russell’ or H-R Diagram
It lets astronomers map out how stars live and die, and compare their
properties. For this activity, it will show students how the colors and sizes of
stars relate to their temperatures and brightnesses.
3000
You also need the following six colored shapes cut out, with relative sizes
preserved (Try to use sizes ranging from a large paper plate to a quarter).
For each circle, write or otherwise attach the associated brightness and
temperature of the star
Red Supergiant
Brightness = 100,000 x as bright as the sun
Temperature = 3000o C
Red Giant
Brightness = 10,000 x as bright as the sun
Temperature = 4000o C
High-mass Star
Brightness = 100,000 x as bright as the sun
Temperature = 30,000o C
Sun
Temperature = 6000o C
Red Dwarf
Brightness = 1/100 x as bright as the sun
Temperature = 3000o C
White Dwarf
Brightness = 1/1000 x as bright as the sun
Temperature = 10,000o C
NAME:
___________________
1. Our
nearest
star
A lot of what we know
about stars come
from studying the
closest star, the sun!
Most stars are located
light years away, but
our nearest stellar
neighbor is just eight
light MINUTES away. Did you know that means that the Sun could explode, and
we wouldn!t know about it until eight minutes later?? (Don!t worry, the sun can!t
actually explode)
Draw what you see on the sun looking through the
telescope.
Try to pick out just a couple special things and
draw their position as perfectly as you can!
Imagine that you were going to look at the sun
again tomorrow, and wanted to be able to
compare it to what you just saw today.
How many earths do you think fit inside the sun?
Write down one thing you learned about the sun that you did not know:
NAME:
___________________
2. We are all Star Stuff
Have you ever thought about where all of
the different atoms in your body came
from? Just like the fact that right now
you could be breathing in the same air
molecules that Einstein,
Michaelangelo, Caesar, Galileo or
Shakespeare once breathed in, the atoms
that make up your body weren’t always
part of the earth!
I breathed
that air first.
At this lab station, there are four
‘samples’ of the atoms in four types of
objects.
A: The sun (a normal young star)
B: A planetary nebula (the leftovers after the death of a star like the sun)
C: A human ( inhabitant of a planet around a normal young star )
D: A supernova (the leftovers after the death of a star BIGGER than the sun)
There is also a key that tells you which color represents which atomic element.
Be very careful! Two of the colors look VERY similar.
What two elements are most stars made out of?
Where do you think most of the carbon in humans comes from?
Where do you think most of the oxygen in humans comes from?
Where do you think most of the metals in humans come from?
How can a star like the sun change from step A to step B, totally changing
what it is made out of?
Write down two questions you have about how stars live and die:
NAME:
___________________
3... it was written in the Stars
A Haiku is a traditional type of Japanese poem.
You don’t need to use capitalization or punctuation, and it
doesn’t even have to rhyme!
Each poem is only three lines long, with the following format:
five syllables first
seven syllables after
five syllables last
For example,
i like science now
(because we made things explode)
let’s do it again
Your job: write a haiku about one stage of stellar evolution:
red giant, supergiant, white dwarf, supernova, planetary nebula,
or black hole.
Try to tell as much information as you can (hint: look in the
book!) about this stage of stellar evolution in the three lines
you have. Think of it like tweeting or texting. Trim out all of
the unecessary stuff-- “dear mom, hi, how are you, sincerely,
please, thanks” and leave in the most important things --”pick
me up from movie now!” (Hey, that was seven syllables right
there!)
Topic: ___________________________
2 important things about your topic:___________________________
_______________________________________________________________
Practice space:
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
______________________________
______________________________
______________________________
Final Haiku:
________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
NAME:
___________________
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