Chronology Current Month Current Thread Current Date
[Year List] [Month List (current year)] [Date Index] [Thread Index] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Date Prev] [Date Next]

Re: Relationship between Earth Moon



Although the bombing of the World Trade Center, a
few miles from my home in New York City has been
a great tragedy, Tina Fanetti has just given me a
great jolt this morning that has deflated my self
confidence to an even lower level than it had
ever been before.

Although I have been teaching both physics and
earth science for more than 50 years, I just discovered
that I was as ignorant as her students in grasping the
size and distance relationships between the earth and
the moon. Like Tina's students, I had been brainwashed
by faulty diagrams in all of my textbooks and encyclopedias
that all show the earth and the moon less than three earth
diameters apart.

I suggest that all readers of this e-mail do what Tina
suggests in her original e-mail (duplicated below).
Draw an earth-moon diagram on a sheet of notebook paper
with the diameters of the earth and the moon and the
distance between them drawn to scale. Then, based on your
diagram, explain the phases of the moon and the causes of
solar and lunar eclipses.



On Fri, 14 Sep 2001 07:57:31 -0500 Tina Fanetti
<FanettT@QUEST.WITCC.CC.IA.US> writes:
I came to this conclusion based on interviews and on surveys handed
out to students. The survey questions were:

1.. Explain, as clearly as you can, why it is the Moon sometimes
appears as a full bright circle like this, (drawing of circle)and
sometimes the Moon can appear as a crescent like this, (drawing of
crescent).

2. . On the back of this page, draw the Earth-Moon System as a
scale model. (This means draw the Earth and Moon the correct sizes for

asheet of paper. Also, make sure that you have the correct distance
apart for a sheet of paper.) Don't worry about being exact, just be
as close as you can. Please explain why you drew the Earth-Moon
System the way you did. Please be sure to label all the items in you
sketch!



Herb Gottlieb from New York City commented:
I find it hard to believe the statement above.
How did you obtain the data that suggests that
"most students in college do not grasp the relationship
between the earth and the moon" and that "most think
that the moon is close enough to take a plane to.


Tina Fanetti replied:
After collecting all the surveys, before and after instruction. I
measured the circles and set up ratios. Most Student drew the earth
and moon less then 3 earth diameters apart.
I can send you the actual data if you would like

Tina Fanetti
Physics Instructor
Western Iowa Technical Community College
4647 Stone Ave
Sioux City IA 51102
712-274-8733 ext 1429

On Mon, 10 Sep 2001 10:09:53 -0500 Tina Fanetti
<FanettT@QUEST.WITCC.CC.IA.US> writes:
I would have to agree with the statement that most students in
college do not grasp the relationship between the Earth and the
Moon.

My thesis was looking at college students' scale of the
Earth-Moon system and most think that the Moon is close enough
to take a plane to.

Tina