Modeling the Solar System
Graduate Fellow: Kelly Fellows Master Teacher: Cheryl Park
Model calculations were obtained at http://www.exploratorium.edu/ronh/solar_system/. Objective: To build a scaled-down model of the solar system that will allow the students to learn about all nine planets’ size and distance from each other. TEKS: 6.3c; 6.5a; 6.13a Materials (per student): Metric ruler (mm divisions necessary) Pencil Construction paper of various colors Scissors Data sheet with planet sizes Materials (per class): Sun (diameter = 60in) Overhead of city map Engage: Begin by asking the students to name the nine planets. Ask them what they know about each of the planets. List them on the board in their order from the sun. If they have not thought of a fun acronym for the planets, work together to create one specifically for their class. Then ask the students if they can list the planets from largest to smallest. Show them the cut out of the sun and explain that they are going to be making an accurate model of the solar system in class today. The data sheets they receive will list the conversions for all nine planets relative to the size of our model sun. To get them thinking about how small the model systems will be, show them one of the planets. Explore: The students can now work individually to create their own solar system. Instruct the students to cut out paper models of each of the planets using the sizes listed on their data sheets. Once everyone has completed making their own solar system model separate the students into small groups. Instruct them to decide how far apart they think the planets will be from each other in our model solar system. They can record their predictions on their data sheets. Explain: Gather the class together and fill in the model distances in the table. Then use the overhead of the city to map out where the planets would be located if the sun was located just outside of their school. Time Allotment: 2 days
Elaborate: Other facts can be shared to help the students understand the scale of the solar system. For example, in this model solar system, a human would be the size of an atom and the nearest star would still be 40,000 km away (approximately the circumference of the earth!). Evaluate: The last question on the data sheet provides some input from the students on what they learned during the activity.
Solar System Model Calculation Results (based on a 60 in or 1,524 mm sun size): Predicted Model Actual Model Actual Distance Distance Planet/Star Diameter Diameter Distance from from the from the sun (km) (mm) the sun (km) sun (m) Sun Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto 1,391,900 4,866 12,106 12,742 6,760 139,516 116,438 46,940 45,432 2,274 1,524 5.3 13.2 13.9 7.4 152.7 127.4 51.3 49.7 2.4 0 57,950,000 108,110,000 149,570,000 227,840,000 778,140,000 1,427,000,000 2,870,300,000 4,449,900,000 5,913,000,000 0 63.45 118.37 163.77 249.46 851.99 1,562.43 3,142.70 4,926.96 6,474.18
Name
Date
Modeling the Solar System Data Sheet
MATERIALS (What did you use during the activity?):
DATA COLLECTION – Model Solar System Calculation Table: Actual Diameter (km) 1,391,900 4,866 12,106 12,742 6,760 139,516 116,438 46,940 45,432 2,274 Model Diameter (mm) 1,524 5.3 13.2 13.9 7.4 152.7 127.4 51.3 49.7 2.4 Predicted Distance from the sun 0 Actual Distance from the sun (km) 0 Model Distance from the sun (m) 0
Planet/Star
Sun Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto
CONCLUSION (What did you learn from your data?): 1. How closely did your predicted distances match the actual distances between the planets?
2. If we put all of the model planets in their positions where would our model planet of Pluto be located?
3. List your three favorite facts about the solar system that you learned from this activity. 1.
2.
3.