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Re: [Phys-L] astronomy activities



I like the scale model of the solar system! Good for kids to deal with
proportional reasoning and also engage with each other. Wondering if this
can be made into a "graded" activity as I'm looking for more ways to assess
them with labs.

I'm in a high school so I can't really require kids to come back at night
for observing sessions. I'll have a star party with a telescope in the
fall, and only the most interested kids show up. Not for any "extra
credit." I guess I could have them do observing at home, but I can't be
there and they would not learn as much...

On Tue, May 28, 2019 at 5:43 PM John Denker via Phys-l <
phys-l@mail.phys-l.org> wrote:

On 5/28/19 1:33 PM, Arlyn DeBruyckere wrote:

Do a scale model of the solar system.

Yup, that's a winner.


I use 0.5 au = 1 meter for distance and 5 au=1 meter for planet size

I think those scale factors are reversed, but we get the idea.

My mother did this with her elementary-school kids, on a larger scale:
1 AU = 100 meters;
1 meter = 0.01 AU
(for sizes as well as distances).
-- The earth was 8.5 mm in diameter, on the door of her classroom.
-- The sun was a beach ball at the far end of the corridor, 100 m away.
-- Jupiter was 95 mm in diameter, on a lamp-post ½ km down the road
-- Neptune was 33 mm in diameter, on a lamp-post 3 km down the road in
the other direction.
-- etc.

The kids could visit Neptune if they wanted, while on shopping
trips or whatever. Some of them walked past Jupiter every day
on their way to school.

There was some talk of setting up a telescope to observe the
outer planet models, but this was deemed too much of a hassle
in the elementary-school setting.

Gory numerical details:
https://www.av8n.com/physics/planetary-data.html
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