Download The Ordered Solar System

UNIT 7: Kilo Hōkū - Astronomy & Navigation
Teacher’s Notes for: The Ordered Solar System
Before the students can begin their Tour Through the Solar System they need to have a
roadmap. This exercise provides both an internal roadmap, by teaching the students about
their learning style, and an external map when they create a model Solar System. The
model Solar System can be left up in the classroom for the whole unit so that students can
review their progress in each lesson. This section consists of 6 activities. The first 3
activities are core to the learning outcomes and the last 3 are additional that can be done if
there is time.
Objectives
The goal of this unit (Part B of Unit 7) is to teach the order and general properties of the
planetary objects in our Solar System.
Learning Outcomes
To enable students to:
 Learn there are now 8 planets in the Solar System and why
 Arrange the objects in our Solar System in the correct order
 Learn that planets are not equally spaced
 Learn Gas Giants are bigger and farther apart than terrestrial planets
 Understand planets are not all alike (e.g., not all the same size), some have
atmospheres, some don’t, some have moons while others do not
 Gravity varies on each planet as a function of mass and planet radius
 Sun is ~ 100 x bigger than Earth
 Jupiter is ~ 10x bigger than Earth
 Although Mars is 50% bigger in size relative to Mercury, they have equivalent
gravity
 Explain why the Earth has a gravitational force similar to Saturn, even though
Saturn is 8x’s bigger and 100x more massive (it is less dense)
1. Optional Surveys: VARK and Multiple Intelligence
Have students take the VARK or multiple intelligence surveys at:
 Multiple Intelligence Survey
http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks1/ict/multiple_int/questi
ons/questions.cfm
 Visual, Aural Read/Write, and Kinesthetic (VARK) Survey
http://www.vark-learn.com/english/page.asp?p=questionnaire
(website addresses listed below). Have the students record their results for the
different learning styles.
The purpose of taking the surveys:
• to support those who have learning challenges
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•
•
to provide teachers a demographic of how students learn so that they
can develop additional learning strategies to target the different
learning styles of students
to form students for group work so that each learning style is
represented
In this curriculum we have attempted to stimulate the four different learning
styles: Visual, Aural, Reading/Writing and Kinesthetic.
2. Introductory Lecture – The Ordered Solar System
 Show the NASA Powerpoint “The Ordered Universe” (see preview in Part A of
this unit and slideshow on compact disk included in this curriculum), which
covers the definitions of a planet, gas giants versus terrestrial planets, and
introduces the terms dwarf planet and plutoid. These keywords, plus Kuiper
Belt and Asteriod Belt are defined at the end of the accompanying
Powerpoint handout.
Source: http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/curriculum/TourThroughTheSolarSystem/
 Discussion topics:
1) Why does the Solar System contain only eight planets and why is Pluto no
longer a planet?
o Recent discoveries of large objects orbiting the Sun beyond Neptune
and Pluto have raised the question, “What is a planet?” The
International Astronomical Union (IAU) has re-examined the way
planetary bodies are classified, and in August 2006 it passed a
resolution redefining the criteria for planetary status.
2) What three properties define a planet?
• A planet is defined by three properties:
 It is a celestial body that orbits the Sun
 It is massive enough that its own gravity causes it to form in a
spherical shape
 There are no other objects of comparable size other than its
own satellites (e.g., moons) in its orbit
3) What do objects in Pluto’s orbit have to do with its new classification?
An object is considered to have cleared the neighborhood around its orbit
when there are no other objects of comparable size within its orbit, except
for its own moons. For instance, Pluto shares its orbit with Kuiper Belt
objects; thus it has not cleared its orbit and does not meet the
requirements for the new definition of a planet.
Using this definition, the IAU has determined that our Solar System now
has eight planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus,
and Neptune.
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4) What is Pluto now known as?
Pluto has been reclassified as a dwarf planet, and because it is located
beyond the orbit of Neptune, it’s also known as a plutoid. Another dwarf
planet that is also a plutoid is Eris which is an icy body that is about the
same size as Pluto but is farther away from Earth (the distance from Pluto
to Eris is almost the same distance as the distance from the Sun to Pluto).
It was partly due to the discovery of Eris that the IAU re-defined planets.
5) Is Ceres the same as Eris?
Ceres is also a dwarf planet, but it is not a plutoid because it is not located
beyond the orbit of Neptune. Ceres is the largest asteroid found in the
Asteroid Belt, which is located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
Additional background reading can be found in the Unit 7 Appendix on the
compact disk included with this curriculum – see “Solar System Lithographs:
Visuals & Notes” file.
3. Planet Activities (Order & Size)
Review: Place Planets in Correct order
Have students review the 8 planets and their order from the Sun. Only a preview
of the images are printed in the curriculum. A full set of Lithographs are in the
Unit 7 Appendix in three versions:
• Our Solar System Lithographs (Visuals & Notes) Original
• Our Solar System Lithographs (visuals only)
• Our Solar System Lithographs (Visuals & Notes) half page version
Students can recite this mnemonic or make there own to memorize the planets’
order: My Very Excellent Mother Just Served Us Noodles
Bonus Questions: See Unit 7 Appendix on compact disk for 1 page handout for
students. They will need to view the full set of lithographs and notes (online at:
http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/curriculum/TourThroughTheSolarSystem/SolarSystem-Lithograph-complete-Set.pdf . No answer key is provided.
Scale of the Planets Activity: Assign Object to Planet
View the Scale in the Universe images (3 page handout printed in curriculum
or show the 5 color slides – see pdf document in Unit 7 on CD). Then give
groups various objects (see table below) and ask them to place them on the
“Scale in the Universe Activity” handout under the correct planet names.
Discuss answers and share facts in table below with class.
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Example of objects to use to represent relative Planet and Plutoid sizes
http://www.parkland.edu/planetarium/guidesearch.html
Object
Diameter (miles)
Scale Object
Scale
Object
Sun
Mercury
Venus
Earth
Mars
Jupiter
864,000
3,100
7,550
7,927
4,200
88,900
38-inch sphere
brass BB
marble
marble
1/4" bead
softball
Saturn
75,200
baseball
Uranus
Neptune
Pluto
29,200
28,000
1,500
golf ball
ping pong ball
grain of sand
grapefruit
salt grain
raw sugar
raw sugar
salt
cherry
tomato
green
grape
frozen pea
frozen pea
speck of
baking
soda
Scale
Distance from
Sun (inches)
n/a
3-1/8
6-3/4
9-1/4
14-1/8
48-1/2
89-1/4
177-3/4
279-3/4
367
4. Plot the Distance of the Planetary Objects
Using the data table provided in the handout, have the students plot the
distance of the planets in A.U. (Astronomical Unit) from the Sun. (1 A.U. =
149,598,000 km, the distance from the Earth to the Sun.)
The goal is to be able to emphasize the distance between planetary
objects, a common misconception is that the planets are equally spaced. It
is good to have the students graph the distance between the planets by hand
rather than in Excel so that they have to think about the scale that they are going
to use and to see how great the distance is.
The more advanced students can calculate the distances between planets, in
A.U., themselves.
Download graph paper from: http://incompetech.com/graphpaper/plain/. Select
the grid size that works best for this activity, for example:
Minimum border = 0.5 cm
Grid line width = 0.5 points
Grid spacing = 2 lines/cm
Online Activity: Another way for the students to visual the distance between the
planets can be seen at: http://www.bradley.edu/las/phy/astronomy/scale.html
It is a “tour” of the Solar System with relative distance between each planet
illustrated by scrolling between planets.
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Plot the distance of the planetary objects exercise – ANSWER KEY
1. How do the distances to the Sun compare for the inner (Mercury through
Mars) versus the outer (Jupiter through Pluto) planetary objects?
The distances between planetary objects are closer together for the terrestrial
planets (Mercury through Mars) while the distances between Jupiter through
Pluto are significantly larger (see the graph provided on the following page).
2. Between which two planets does the Solar System double in size?
Saturn (9.5 AU) and Uranus (19.2 AU).
The above figure is a graph of the distance from the Sun in A.U. versus the
planetary object order, starting with Mercury, including the Earth’s Moon, and
ending with Pluto. The students’ graphs should resemble the plot above.
Diamonds represent terrestrial planets; Mercury is blue/gray diamond, Venus is a
royal blue diamond, Earth is a green diamond, and Mars is a red diamond.
Circles represent gas giants; Jupiter is shown as an orange filled circle, Saturn is
a pale yellow filled circle, Uranus is a cyan filled circle, and Neptune is a dark
blue filled circle, Pluto is shown as a white square and the Earth’s Moon is a gray
triangle.
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5. Extension Option: “Order it Up Game”
(http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/games/order_planets_intro.html)
Alternatively, if the classroom has a computer with Internet access and a
computer projector then the game, “Order it Up” can be projected onto the
screen. "Order It Up" is a computer game about solar system statistics in which
the players put planets in order on the basis of various statistics (i.e. mass, # of
moons, etc.). Players must complete several puzzles to finish the game and
scores are kept with a jumbled photo of a planet that un-jumbles as the player
correctly places planets in order. The game gives the players 10 hints. It takes
between 5 and 10 minutes for individuals to play. The individual puzzles (8-10 of
them in random order) make good think-pair-share activities.
For each list, give the student pairs 2 minutes to assemble a list. Then the
class as a whole should direct the instructor to enter the answers into the applet
and decide whether to go for a hint.
Suggestions for use:
• Use this web page as a study guide
• In class as a game that 2 people or 2 groups of students can compete
against each other.
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