APPENDIX ACTIVITY 1: MAKE SCALE MODELS OF …

1 the planets &THEIR REALITIVE SIZESM ercuryVenusJupiterSaturnUranusNeptunePlu toMarsEarthAPPENDIX ACTIVITY 1: make SCALE MODELS OF THE PLANETSA ctivity 5: Creating a Large-Scaled model of Catastrophic FloodingAppendix ACTIVITY 1: make SCALE MODELS of the PlanetsFor a long time, people thought that the Earth was the centerof the Universe, with the Sun, Moon, stars and planets circlingaround the Earth. This idea made complete sense based onwhat people saw when they looked up at the we know that the Earth is not the center of Universe is incredibly huge, with many more stars thanwe can see at night. Our Sun is just one of those stars,although it certainly is the most important one for and Mars are both planets which go around the are a total of nine planets in our Solar all nine planets are the same shape roughly spheri-cal they vary considerably in their sizes.

2 Looking at them inthe sky is no real help in comprehending their sizes because, atgreat distances, even the giant planets appear as dots. In thisactivity, you will make MODELS of the planets , in order to com-pare their ACTIVITY 1: make SCALE MODELS of the Planets77 Materials:paper, scissors, pen or pencil, drawing compass, rulerAt the right is a table called Sizes of the planets . For eachplanet, it shows the actual diameter in kilometers. It alsoshows how to create SCALE MODELS that are one billion timessmaller than the real make two-dimensional paper MODELS of each planet , findthe scaled diameter column. Start with the Earth. Earth sreal diameter is 12,800 km. The scaled diameter, at onebillionth reduction, is cm (actually it is cm, but it isrounded off to the nearest tenth of a centimeter).

3 Use a com-pass to draw a circle that is cm in diameter and cut it outwith scissors. This circle represents Step 1 with the other planets. For each planet , cutout a circle that is the scaled diameter. Label each planetwith its name and diameter. (Mercury and Pluto will be toosmall to label).After you cut out all the planets , glue or tape them into yourjournal. One student in the class should set aside the paperplanets and not glue them to his or her journal. You willneed them for the next , make a SCALE model of the Sun. Tape several pagesof newspaper together and cut out a circle that is 139 cen-timeters in diameter. Label it Sun. Discuss in class or write in your journal: How do the planets compare in size? Which planet is the largest? Smallest? Which is most nearly the size of Earth? Is Mars larger or smaller than Earth?

4 What surprised you most about this ACTIVITY ?45231 How Do the PlanetsCompare in Size?Sizes of the PlanetsMercury VenusEarth MarsJupiterSaturnUranus Neptune PlutoSun Scaled diameter is 1 billionth of actual cm4,880 km12,100 km12,800 km6,800 km142,000 km120,000 km51,200 km48,600 km2,200 km1,392,000 kmActual DiameterScaled DiameterPlanet