Download Solar System Bead Activity

Solar System Bead Activity
Julie Barker
Modified from “Solar System Bead Distance Activity” By Paula Partida
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/education/index.cfm?page=100
8-4.9 Recall the Sun’s position in the universe, the shapes and composition of galaxies, and the
distance measurement unit (light year) needed to identify star and galaxy locations.
8-4.10 Compare the purposes of the tools and the technology that scientists use to study space
(including various types of telescopes, satellites, space probes, and spectroscopes).
Materials

Flashlight

Planet beads (pony beads in 11 colors) per student

1 Gold bell to represent the sun per student

Five meters of string per student

Meter sticks with centimeter markings

Voyager 1 satellite cut-outs

Student Sheets
Procedure
1. Begin by giving the students the Pre-MacMod Worksheet.
2. Start the class with a discussion of what a light year is (the distance that light travels in
one year; 300,000 km/s or 9.5 trillion km/yr). Talk about how fast this is. It may help
the students if you turn off the light and flip on the flashlight and discuss how it seems
that the light travels to the wall immediately.
3. Next discuss that distance in space is usually measured in light years because space is so
vast a large unit is needed. Astronomers also use a unit called an AU (astronomical unit)
to discuss distance in space (1 light year = 62,000 AU). 1 AU is the distance from the
Sun to Earth.
4. Direct students to there worksheet. Display how to do the conversions for classes that
may need extra assistance.
5. Once students have finished the math, assist them with constructing there mini solar
system.
6. Finally have students look at there solar systems. Discuss how long it took the Voyager 1
to reach Saturn. Ask students what they answered for Question 2 on the Pre-Mac Mod
activity. Maybe they said one week or less. You can tell the students that if they were
traveling at 75 mph for one week straight they would have only moved .00135cm on
there string from Earth to Mars!!
7. Now have the students complete the Post MacMod Activity to assess what they learned.
Pre-MacMod
1. What is a light year? How fast is it?
2. If you were traveling 75 mph (121 km/hr) in a car how long do you think it would take you to
get to Mars? (Don’t worry about the facts of having to be launched into space and the lack of
gravity, just pretend that you can drive to Mars just as you can drive to Conway)
Post Mac-Mod
1. What is a light year? How fast is it?
2. Considering what you learned about the distance between planets, if future space travel
were to allow it, would you be willing to go on a mission from Earth to Jupiter? Please
use ideas that were discussed today to EXPLAIN why or why not.
Name:
Solar System Activity
1. Fill in the chart below using the conversions provided
1 light year =9.5 trillion km/year or 300,000 km/s
1 light year = 9,300,000,000,000 km = 9,300,000 million km
1 astronomical unit (AU) =150 million km
1 AU = 10 cm
Light Years
million km
Sun (bell)
0
0
Mercury (maroon)
6.4x10-6
60
Venus (cream)
1.1x10-5
105
Earth (clear blue)
1.6x10-5
150
Mars (red)
2.4x10-5
225
Asteroid Belt (grey)
4.5x10-5
420
Jupiter (orange)
8.4x10-5
780
Saturn (yellow)
1.5x10-4
1,440
Uranus (dark blue)
3.1x10-4
2,880
Neptune (light blue)
4.8x10-4
4,500
Pluto (black)
7.9x10-4
7,395
AU
cm
2. Construct your own solar system by tying the correct color bead (listed next to
planet name) on the blue string. Place the planets at their correct distance from one
another using the cm calculation you did in the above chart. Cut your string 5
meters long.
3. The Voyager 1 was a spacecraft launched from Earth in 1977 to study our solar
system. It took many photographs and transmitted them back to earth. It took
Voyager 1 three years to reach Saturn, arriving in 1980.
4. Tape your picture of Voyager 1 to a piece of string and tie it next to Saturn. Label
your picture with the date it arrived and how long the trip took.