Download Scale model of solar system

Name_____________________________________________________Period_________
Scale Model of the Solar System
The purpose of this activity is to try to give our minds a sense of how big the solar system is. We are going
to scale down the solar system to a ten-billionth the size. In other words, we’re going to make it 10 billion
times smaller than it actually is.
Size
Actual
Mass
Actual
Distance
Actual
Guess
Size
Guess
Mass
guess
distance
Sun
-----------Bowling -------------- 1,000,000 ---------------0
ball
pennies
Mercury
Venus
Earth
Mars
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
Now we are going to go outside and walk these distances and learn a little bit about each of the planets in
the solar system. Fill out the table below for each planet.
Planet
Temperature
What is its How long is a Time to drive
Time to fly
atmosphere
day and a
there (going
there (going
range (°F)
made of?
year?
85 mph)
500 mph)
Sun
Day =
Mercury
Day =
Venus
Year =
Day =
Earth
Year =
Day =
Mars
Year =
Day =
Jupiter
Year =
Day =
Saturn
Year =
Day =
Year =
Planet
Temperature
range (°F)
What is its
atmosphere
made of?
Uranus
How long is a
day and a
year?
Day =
Neptune
Year =
Day =
Time to drive
there (going
85 mph)
Time to fly
there (going
500 mph)
Year =
Proxima Centauri
(the nearest star
to us)
Sirius (the
brightest star in
the sky)
The edge of
our galaxy
Andromeda (our
closest galaxy)
How many steps in our
model to get there?
How long to travel
there by car?
How long to travel
there by plane?
How long to travel
there by fastest
spacecraft ever
Questions:
1. What were you surprised to learn about the distances of the planets?
2. Most of the solar system is made of what?
3. How big do you think our solar system is compared to the Milky Way Galaxy?
4. When looking at the scaled down model of the sun at a distance, how does it compare to looking at
the actual sun? (By the way, don’t ever look directly at the sun)
5. What characteristics of Earth make it perfect for living things to thrive?
6. Why do some planets have such huge swings in temperature?
7. What factors affect the temperature of a planet? (There are two important ones)
8. What would the sun look like from Neptune?
9. What do the 4 inner planets have in common?
10. What do the 4 outer planets have in common?
11. How far away from the sun are the inner planets
compared to the outer planets?
Mastery Check Questions:
1. How does the size of the solar system
compare to the size of the galaxy?
2. If the sun were the size of a bowling
ball how big would the planets be?
3. How far away from the sun are the
inner planets compared to the outer
planets?
The Solar System reduced by 10 billion
Venus
Actual
Size
Bowling
ball
Grain of
salt
Bb
Earth
BB
1 penny
15 (4)
Mars
Pin head
0.6
pennies
300
pennies
250
pennies
100
pennies
100
pennies
23 (8)
Sun
Mercury
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
Size
Guess
------------
Bouncy
ball
Marble
Plain
M&M
Plain
M&M
Mass
Guess
--------------
Actual
Mass
1,000,000
pennies
0.3
pennies
1.25
Distance
guess
----------------
Actual
distance
0
6 (6)
11 (5)
78 (55)
143 (65)
287 (144)
450 (163)
Now we are going to go outside and walk these distances and learn a little bit about each of the planets in
the solar system. Fill out the table below for each planet.
Planet
Temperature Does it have
What is its
How long is a
Time to drive
Time to fly
water?
atmosphere day and a year? there (going
there (going
range (°F)
made of?
85 mph)
500 mph)
Sun
27 million at No
Hydrogen
25 to 35 days
124 years
21 years
core to
and Helium
10,000 near
surface
Mercury -298 to 800
Maybe
Very, very,
Day = 59 days
64 years
11 years
frozen on
very thin
Year = 88 days
poles
Oxygen
Venus
880
Trace
Very thick
Day = 243
34 years
6 years
amounts in
CO2, N2 and Year = 225
atmosphere sulfuric acid
Earth
-89 to 159
70% of
78% N2
Day = 24 hours
Earth
20% O2
Year = 365
CO2, H2O, Ar days
Mars
-225 to 70
Frozen at
Very, very
Day = 24 hours 188 years
31 years
poles,
thin
Year = 1.9
maybe salt
years
water below
surface
Jupiter
-234
Water vapor Hydrogen
Day = 9.9 hours 490 years
83 years
deep in
and helium
Year = 12 years
planet
Saturn
-288
Frozen
Hydrogen
Day = 10.6
1001 years
170 years
water in
and helium
hours
rings
Year = 29 years
Planet
Temperature
range (°F)
Uranus
-357
Neptune
-353
Does it
have
water?
Frozen
water
Frozen
water
What is its
atmosphere
made of?
Methane,
hydrogen
and helium
Methane,
hydrogen
and helium
How long is a
day and a
year?
Day = 17.25
hours
Year = 84
years
Day = 16
hours
Time to drive
Time to fly
there (going
there (going
85 mph)
500 mph)
2538 years
662 years
3894 years
662 years
Year = 164
years
How many steps in our
model to get there?
How long to travel
there by car?
How long to travel
there by plane?
How long to travel by
New Horizons (fastest
spacecraft ever)
Notes:






Proxima Centauri
Sirius (the
(the nearest star
brightest star in
to us)
the sky)
1731 miles
3400 miles
Ohio
almost England
32 million years
64 million years
5 million years
10 million years
75,000
150,000
The edge of
our galaxy
Andromeda (our
closest galaxy)
263,000,000
Almost Jupiter
167 billion
years
26 billion
years
390 million
years
746,000,000
Saturn
19 trillion years
3 trillion years
45 trillion years
The radius of our galaxy is 50,000 light years
We are 28,000 light years from the center and 22,000 light years from the edge
The nearest star to us is Proxima Centauri, which 4.2 light years away, which 24 trillion miles away
The brightest star is Sirius, which is 8.6 light years away
The nearest galaxy is Andromeda, which is 2,538,000 light years away
There are 5.8 trillion miles in a light year (5,878,499,810,000)
Planet
Steps from
previous
planet
Sun
Steps
from sun
0
Temperature
range (°F)
Does it
have
water?
No
27 million at
core to 10,000
near surface
-298 to 800
Maybe
frozen on
poles
880
Trace
amounts in
atmosphere
-89 to 159
70% of
Earth
Mercury
6
6
Venus
5
11
Earth
4
15
Mars
8
23
-225 to 70
Jupiter
55
78
-234
Saturn
65
143
-288
Uranus
144
287
-357
Neptune
163
450
-353
Frozen at
poles,
maybe salt
water
below
surface
Water
vapor deep
in planet
Frozen
water in
rings
Frozen
water
Frozen
water
Nearest star (Proxima centauri) would be in Ohio.
The edge of the galaxy would be
Nearest galaxy would be in Saturn
What is its
atmosphere
made of?
Hydrogen
and Helium
How long is a
day and a year?
25 to 35 days
Very, very,
very thin
Oxygen
Very thick
CO2, N2 and
sulfuric acid
78% N2
20% O2
CO2, H2O,
Ar
Very, very
thin
Day = 59 days
Year = 88 days
Hydrogen
and helium
Day = 9.9 hours
Year = 4331
days
Day = 10.6 hours
Year = 10,759
days
Day = 17.25
hours
Year = 30,687
days
Day = 16 hours
Year = 60,190
days
Hydrogen
and helium
Methane,
hydrogen
and helium
Methane,
hydrogen
and helium
Day = 243
Year = 225
Day = 24 hours
Year = 365 days
Day = 24 hours
Year = 1.9 years