Scaling
the Planets
MATERIALS
Students to represent
- Sun
- Mercury
- Venus
- Earth
- Mars
- Jupiter
- Saturn
- Uranus
- Neptune
-
Pluto
- Stars
Background
materials provided
-
"Charting the Planets"
- "Our
Solar System at a Glance"
- Styrofoam
ball
- Knitting
needle
- Flashlight
ENGAGEMENT
Have the students set up a K-W-L sheet and fill in what they know
about the planets.
Demonstration
Use a styrofoam ball and a knitting needle to represent the
Earth, and a flashlight to represent the sun. Push the needle
through the ball and shine the light on "Earth." Ask
the students which side is night and which is day. Turn the ball
while you discuss a 24-hour day (rotation). Earth is rotating.
What would happen if the Earth did not rotate? Use a clock and
the demonstration to show students the relationship of time to
the movement of the Earth.
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EXPLORATION
Create a distance from the sun scale model. This may be scaled
down for an indoor display. However, this is best demonstrated
with the students representing the planets while outside.
Distances
from the sun (based on 10 meters)
- Mercury
0.4 meter
- Venus
0.7 meter
- Earth
1.0 meter
- Mars 1.5
meters
- Asteroids
(the Asteroid Belt lies between Mars and Jupiter) 2.7 meters
- Jupiter
5.0 meters
- Saturn
9.5 meters
- Uranus
19.0 meters
- Neptune
30.0 meters
- Pluto
39.0 meters
The students
will "become" the planets and line up from the sun.
Put a litho of the planet or the planet name around the neck of
the students participating. Have the students begin by walking
in a counterclockwise motion around the sun (prograde orbits as
seen from Earth’s North Pole). Begin with Mercury and have
this student walk very quickly; Mercury revolves around the sun
in 88 days. Venus is next, taking 225 days; Earth a little slower
in 365 days. Let the students help to decide the speed, comparing
Mercury in 88 days with Pluto in 248 years. Ask the students to
demonstrate how they would represent the differences in time.
Mars takes 687 days. The remaining planets in order: Jupiter in
12 years, Saturn in 29 years, Uranus in 84 years, Neptune in 165
years and Pluto in 248 years. Once they are all revolving around
the sun at various speeds, you can add the counterclockwise rotations.
Mercury rotates in 59 days compared to Jupiter and Saturn in 10
hours. This will help the students regulate their own time representations.
Earth takes 24 hours, as does Mars. Neptune takes 16 hours. All
of these planets rotate counterclockwise (prograde).
Venus takes 243 days to rotate and rotates clockwise, as does
Uranus in 17 hours (rolls on its side) and Pluto in 7 days (retrograde).
EXPLANATION
In their cooperative learning groups, have the students make a
list of the changes on Earth if the movement of the Earth was
eliminated.
Literature Connection
Cole,
Joanna. The Magic School Bus Lost in the Solar System
Illustrated by Bruce Degen. New York, Scholastic Inc. 1990.
Livingston, Myra Cohn. Space Songs. Illustrated by Leonard
E. Fisher. New York, Holiday House. 1988.
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Grades K through 1
Encourage the students to draw pictures of the things they do
at night and the things they do during the day. The classes may
wish to create a Learning Experience Story as a whole group to
explain their drawings. The story and the drawings should be included
in the NASA Gallery.
Grades 2 through 4
The students should write in their journals how the changes on
Earth affect their lives.
Grades 5 through 6
The fifth and sixth grade students could hypothesize about the
importance of the Earth’s rotation, revolution, and placement
within the solar system and how that has lent itself to life on
our planet. Let them hypothesize about life on Mars (exploration
of Mars information included as a teacher resource). They could
also write stories or poems about comets.
ELABORATION
Depending on your class, you may try any of these activities to
further demonstrate the planet arrangement in the solar system.
Use the Solar System Puzzle Kits, as you desire (sets available
for classes that wish to use them).
Create a scale drawing of the solar system. This could be created
as a class project and as part of the NASA Gallery.
For
example:
- The Sun
— size of an orange
- Mercury
— hole made by a staple
- Venus
— thickness of a small paper clip
- Earth
— thickness of a paper clip
- Mars —
half the thickness of a paper clip
- Jupiter
— thickness of a pencil, be generous
- Saturn
— thickness of a pencil
- Uranus
— size of the eyelet of a tennis shoe
- Neptune
— size of the eyelet of a tennis shoe
- Pluto
— thickness of a small staple
If you use
a beach ball as the Sun, the other planets can be created using
different size styrofoam balls. Another idea is to use fruit to
represent the planets.
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EVALUATION
K-W-L
Have the students continue to add to the K-W-L sheet or do this
as a class activity. This will help the students to think of questions
that they might ask the scientist or engineer during the assembly.
K — What the students know about the planets.
W — What they want to learn about the planets.
L — What they have learned about the planets.
After completing the chart, have the students create a set of
questions that they would like to have answered during the assembly.
IN
THE NASA JOURNAL
Have the students complete a "Right Angles Reflection."
| FACTS |
FEELINGS |
| 1._________ |
1.___________ |
| 2._________ |
2.___________ |
| 3._________ |
3.___________ |
| 4._________ |
4.___________ |
| 5._________ |
5.___________ |
CONNECTIONS
TO THE NATIONAL STANDARDS
Grades K through 4
Objects
in the sky have patterns of movement.
Grades 5 through 8
Most objects
in the solar system are in regular and predictable motion.
OBJECTIVE
You can demonstrate the movement of planets.
You can demonstrate classification skills using the characteristics
of the planets.
CONNECTIONS
TO THE NATIONAL MATHEMATICS STANDARDS
Grades K through 4
Relate physical materials, pictures, and diagrams to
mathematical ideas.
Use models, known facts, properties, and relationships to explain
their thinking.
Grades 5 through 8
Connect mathematics to other subjects and to the world outside
the classroom.
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