Download Labs/Teacher Notes Solar System to Scale Outside

Teacher Notes: Solar System to Scale
1. In the classroom, I have a cut out made from yellow paper that shows the Sun the correct
size to scale if the Earth was the size of a penny. The Sun is about 109x the diameter of the
Earth. I also put on the sun a cut out with Jupiter, about 10x the diameter of the Earth, and
one of the moon (paper punch) about ¼ the size of the earth separated by the distance to
the earth (30 earth diameters). I also have on it a small yellow marble about 1 cm in size
that is the right size for the next activity.
2. Prior to taking the class outside I have painted spots on the curb that represent the
correct distance of the planets (and asteroids and Pluto) to scale.
Our scale is one meter represents 1 astronomical unit. 1 m = 1 A.U. about 150 million km.
Mercury
Venus
Earth
Mars
Ceres
Jupiter
Scale Distances From the Sun A.U. astronomical units
0.39
Saturn
0.72
Uranus
1.0
Neptune
1.52
Pluto
2.77
Eris
5.2
9.58
19.2
30.1
39.5
68.01
Note:
a) At this scale the Sun is about 1 cm, Jupiter 1 mm, and Earth 0.1 mm
I have my students hold their thumb and finger together to show the size of the Earth, about
the thickness of a piece of paper, close as you can without touching.
b) 1 light year is 63,240 astronomical units, the next nearest star at this scale would be 4.24
x 63,240= 268,137.6 au 268 km at this scale or 167 miles away
Our galaxy would be 3.9 million miles across at this scale!
3. Starting the activity I give students pictures representing the various objects including the
Sun. Outside I then have the students stand at the appropriate places and say the rotation
and revolution rate for each planet.
4. I also demonstrate with a student moving between the Sun and Neptune, the approximate
orbit of Halley’s Comet. It moves faster going toward the sun and slowing down moving
away.
5. Voyager 2 left Earth 1977, Jupiter 1979, Saturn 1981, Uranus 1986, Neptune 1989.
Voyager 2 left our solar system this year. It is now a distance of 104.48 AU (1.563×1010 km)
as of 27 October 2014 from Earth
Science 8
Lab: Solar System to Scale
Name:
Period:
Purpose:
a) To demonstrate the size of the solar system to scale and discuss relative
sizes of planets, travel times and periods of revolution.
b) To observe the moon if visible, sunspots if visible and use the eclipse
glasses
Note: Before going outside we discussed the size of the planets and sun.
Scale: 1 meter represented 1 astronomical unit (~150,000,000 km
Materials: meter stick, planet pictures, rocket
Method: (Write down what we did and how we did it)
1)
2)
etc.
Analysis: (Write down what you learned from this experience)
1)
2)
etc.