Science
SCI.V.4.2
Strand V:
Grade: 7
Using Scientific Knowledge in Earth Science
Standard 4:
Galaxy and Universe - All students will describe and explain how objects
in the solar system move
Benchmark 2:
Describe, compare, and explain the motions of solar system objects.
Constructing and Reflecting:
SCI.I.1.1
SCI.I.1.4
SCI.I.1.5
SCI.I.1.6
- Generate scientific questions about the world based on observation.
- Use metric measurement devices to provide consistency in an investigation.
- Use sources of information in support of scientific investigations.
- Write and follow procedures in the form of step-by-step instructions, formulas, flow diagrams, and
sketches.
SCI.II.1.1 - Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of claims, arguments, or data.
SCI.II.1.4 - Describe the advantages and risks of new technologies.
SCI.II.1.5 - Develop an awareness of and sensitivity to the natural world.
SCI.II.1.6 - Recognize the contributions made in science by cultures and individuals of diverse backgrounds.
Vocabulary / Key Concepts
Context
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orbit
rotation (spin)
axis
gravity
planets
moons
rings
comets
asteroids
seasons
Tilt of the earth on its axis
Direct / Indirect rays
See Force and Change in Motion (SCI.IV.3.MS.2).
See Gravity (SCI.IV.3.MS.3).
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observations of comet motion over days and
weeks
length of day and year on planets
changes in length of daylight and height of
sun in sky
changes in daily temperature patterns
summer and winter solstices
spring and fall equinoxes
Knowledge and Skills
The solar system is in constant and predictable
motion, and involves many different types of
natural and man-made objects. By using
diagrams, models, and simulations, students will
demonstrate an understanding of the motion of
major objects in our solar system, including the
rotation, orbit, and revolution of planets, moons,
and asteroids.
Resources
Coloma Resources:
Science Plus, Holt, Rinehart, Winston Book
Pages 399 – 403
A Trip Around the Sun
Read “Falling Star” (attached)
Lab “Shifty Shadows” – shows movement of
sun over on day.
Planets
Students will actively research planets
with computers and books to fill out
“Planet Fact Sheet”. (attached)
Toilet Paper Model – activity attached –
use info from planet search.
Scale model of the Moon, Earth and Sun
(attached)
Other Resources:
• NASA education – LOTS of great info!
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Exploratorium – Saturn – Jewel of the Solar
System – activities and images from the
Cassini-Huygens spacecraft. Excellent!
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Center for Educational Resources (CERES)
Project – TONS of astronomy materials for
teachers – from NASA and Montana State
Univ.
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Michigan Teacher Network Resources –38
on this topic – Lots of fun choices!
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Mount Wilson Observatory – San Gabriel,
CA – photos and info from a working
observatory. Cool!
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Sky and Telescope – How To: Telescopes
and Binoculars – informative and useful site!
Resources Continued
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Astronomy Magazine Online – premier trade
magazine includes awesome photos,
articles, maps and more.
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Earth and Sky Radio show – online –
EXCELLENT site with lots of teaching
materials and info corresponding to the daily
radio show.
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The Nine Planets – Multimedia tour of the
solar system – Nice!
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Bill Nye: Outer Space, Planets, Space
Exploration, Sun, Moon
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• Science Explosion: Space Science
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“Starry Night: Backyard” astronomy software
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Moon Phases Teaching Unit, available at
www.jcisd.org, Instructional Services, Math
and Science
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http://skymaps.com/downloads.html
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NASA – SpaceLink – more information from
the space folks at NASA!
Videoconferences Available
For more information, see
www.remc11.k12.mi.us/dl or call Janine Lim
471-7725x101 or email jlim@remc11.k12.mi.us
V.4.MS.2 Describe, compare, and explain the
motions or solar system objects
Asteroids from NASA Glenn Research Center
Comets: Visitors from the Unknown! from NASA
Glenn Research Center
Exploration of the Solar System from NASA
Glenn Research Center
Space and the Solar System from NASA Glenn
Research Center
Our Solar Neighborhood Expedition
(Astronomy) from NASA Johnson Space Center
Instruction
Focus Question: How does gravitational pull of
objects in the solar system affect revolution?
Coloma Assessment
Comet or Meteor? (attached)
Students brainstorm a list of objects in the solar
system. Using this list, students connect prior
knowledge to how the objects move. Discuss
information about Halley’s comet and how it flies by
Earth every 76 years. Discuss where the comet is
when we can’t see it. Students may have prior
knowledge about some celestial objects; the teacher
will direct discussion accordingly. By the end of the
discussion, students should gain an understanding
of how the planets, moons, comets, and asteroids
revolve around the sun. The teacher will facilitate a
discussion about gravity. Students demonstrate that
understanding by role-playing a solar system.
Optional Assessment
B
D
A
C
N
Use this diagram to answer the next two questions
In which position is the Northern hemisphere
receiving the most amount of direct sunlight?
a.
b.
c.
d.
Position A
Position B
Position C
Position D
In which position will the Southern Hemisphere
experience winter?
a.
b.
c.
d.
Position A
Position B
Position C
Position D
One year on Mars is 687 Earth days. Which
motion of the planet is responsible for its year?
a.
b.
c.
d.
its orbit around the sun
the tilt of its axis
its rotation on its axis
the motion of its moons
One day on Jupiter is 10 hours long. Which
motion of the planet is responsible for its day?
a.
b.
c.
d.
its orbit around the sun
the tilt of its axis
its rotation on its axis
the motion of its moons
Teacher Notes:
• The earth is the third planet from the sun in a system that includes the moon, the sun, eight other
planets and their moons, and smaller objects, such as asteroids and comets. The sun, an average
star, is the central and largest body in the solar system.
• Most objects in the solar system are in regular and predictable motion. Those motions explain such
phenomena as the day, the year, phases of the moon, and eclipses.
• Gravity is the force that keeps planets in orbit around the sun and governs the rest of the motion in
the solar system. Gravity alone holds us to the earth's surface.
• The sun is the major source of energy for phenomena on the earth's surface, such as growth of
plants, winds, ocean currents, and the water cycle. Seasons result from variations in the amount of
the sun's energy hitting the surface, due to the tilt of the earth's rotation on its axis and the length of
the day.
Focus Question
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How do objects in the solar system compare in motion and description?
"Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket..."
The sight of a falling star is always exciting. Before the word "look!" is out of your mouth, the
streak of light is gone. You point to where it was and ask others if they saw it too. Often, no
one else sees the speedy flight of light flash by and you are left trying to describe what you
saw and felt. You stare at the dark space, hoping another will streak across the sky.
What is a falling star? A falling star is not a star at all. It is not even a piece of a star. Stars
are huge balls of burning gas sending off great amounts of energy in the form of light and
heat. Stars are much bigger than our planet. Stars do not fall; they stay in their own places in
their own galaxies. Our sun is a star. A falling star is a meteor. Meteors are streaks of light in
the sky that we can see when a small speck of dust burns up high in the air above us. Where
do these specks of dust come from? Comets!
Astronomers call these pieces of comet dust "meteoroids." Meteoroids are usually smaller
than a grain of sand. Some meteoroids are bigger but most are tiny. Meteoroids hit the
Earth's atmosphere at super high speed, sometimes faster than 90,000 miles per hour. The
friction between the tiny meteoroid and the atmosphere creates the light that we recognize as
a meteor (or "falling star").The dust speck that bums up is called a meteoroid. The flash of
light is called a meteor. Meteors usually last just a second or two.
Sometimes, there are meteor showers. The heavens are a black theater for an amazing
display of silent fireworks. It is exciting to watch all these meteors shoot through the dark sky.
There are so many that if you watch with °a friend, you will both probably see both the same
and some different ones. Scientists also watch these meteors and record the numbers, the
brightness, and the paths of these beautiful fireworks of nature. In a meteor shower, lots of
shooting stars seem to fall from one area of the sky.
Why do we have meteor showers? They happen when the Earth passes through the tail of a
comet. Like the dust cloud surrounding "Pigpen" in the "Peanuts" comics, a meteoroid stream
travels along with the comet on its orbit through the solar system.
Some people are confused by comets and meteors. A comet is different from a meteor. A
comet is usually larger and travels slowly across the night sky. A very bright comet only
appears once or twice in a century but it remains in 1he sky for many days or months
because it is very far away. Comets appear to be bright balls with fat tails. They do not fall
rapidly in the sky; you would have to watch one for hours or days to see its movement. The
center of a comet is a ball of frozen gas, dust, and water. Like planets or moons, comets orbit
around the sun. The comet that causes the Leonids is called Tempel-Tuttle. It is named after
two scientists who discovered it at the end of 1865. The scientists were not working together;
one was in France and one was in America. They were each looking through telescopes.
Both astronomers spotted the comet and reported their finding. The comet they found was
not a big, bright comet. It is so small that it can only be seen with a telescope. The comet
Tempel-Tuttle is about two and one-half miles in diameter.
This year on November 19th, the Earth will pass through two clouds of debris from the comet
Tempel-Tuttle. The comet won't be anywhere around, but there will be lots of dusty junk that
melted off of the comet a long time ago. When comets get close to the sun, they begin to
warm up and their icy material begins to melt. Tiny grains of dirt which have been riding on
the comet for perhaps four and a half billion years fly off into space to join a long stream of
orbiting meteoroids. When the Earth hits this stream of comet junk from Tempel-Tuttle,
meteors seem to shoot out of the constellation Leo. That's why this meteor shower is called
the Leonids.
The Leonids are famous. The reason that the Leonids are so famous is that sometimes they
cause a 'meteor storm! In a meteor storm, over 1,000 meteors blaze across the sky every
hour. In 1833, people allover America woke up to see hundreds of stars falling every minute!
All night, the sky was brightened by meteors that rocketed through the night by the
thousands! Since no telescopes fancy equipment were needed to see the storm, ordinary
people were able to see that wonderful and rare sight. Many artists tried to paint pictures of
the 'rain of stars' that fell so heavily that night. Newspapers ran many stories about the storm.
What they saw was a Leonids meteor storm. This display was so beautiful and amazing that
meteors suddenly captured the attention and imagination of people everywhere. Scientists
were inspired to begin a serious study of meteors and their causes. Everyone hoped to see
the beautiful display of dazzling fireworks again.
However, Leonid meteor storms do not happen very often. Sometimes years pass between
storms. There was a beautiful Leonid storm in 2001. Normally we would have to wait many
years for another storm. Not this time, though. The best way to watch the storm is with your
eyes. Telescopes are not required. Before going to bed on Monday, November 18th, set your
alarm for sometime after midnight. The storm will take place in the wee hours of November
19th (remember, the date changes at midnight.) Dress warmly. Set up a comfortable lounge
chair with blankets and snacks or spread out a blanket. Lie down and lookup at the sky.
Watch the beautiful flashes of light from tiny "sky candles" created in the long-ago dawn
of our solar system.
Name
Date
Hour
1.
A dust speck that burns up is called a(n)
2.
A flash of light created is referred to as a(n)
3.
Meteoroids can move up to speeds of ___________________ mph.
4.
Meteors only last for _________________ to ___________________ ___________
5.
The light we see from a “falling star” is actually caused by
6.
Why do we have meteor showers?
7.
A comet’s size is ________________ compared to a meteor and travels
too.
8.
Comets and planets both move in a(n)
9.
Comets appear every
10. Unlike a meteor, comets last in the sky for
11. The center of a comet is made of
12. What happens in a meteor storm?
13. The comet Tempel-Tuttle was named after scientists from
and
14. The Leonids got their name because
15. A falling star is actually small
16. The specks of dust that make up meteors come from
17. Label the comet below.
Tell whether the word phrase refers to a comet, meteor or meteoroid.
18. surface melts into gas and dust when close to the sun
19. remains in sky for weeks
20. moves 90,000 mps
21. falling star
22. has a tail
23. tiny grains of sand
24. a flash of light
25. orbits the sun
Draw the comet’s tail. Make sure it is pointing in the correct direction! (Arrows show
movement path.
Planets Fact Sheet
Line up the planet facts correctly and glue them below.
Planets
Distance
from the sun
Average
Temperature
Rotation
time
Revolution
time
Moons
Rings
Mercury
Venus
Earth
Mars
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
Pluto
Compare the planets.
Which planet is the warmest?
Which planet is the coldest?
Which planet rotates the fastest?
Which planet has the most moons?
Which planet has the most rings?
Which planet is hot and cold?
Imagine that the sun were the size of a softball. If you began unrolling a roll of toilet paper
next to the softball-sized sun, you would have to unroll 36 sheets before you came to
Mercury, the first planet in the solar system. (TRY IT, IT'S FARTHER THAN YOU THINK!)
Mercury would be the size of a hole made by a thin staple. Had you started out at the sun
and traveled at the speed of light, it would take three minutes to reach Mercury.
Continue unrolling toilet paper until you reach 57 sheets. This would bring you to the planet
Venus, which would be less than the size of a hole made by a small, paperclip. Moving at the
speed of light, it would take six minutes to reach Venus.
Earth, the third planet from the sun, will be 93 sheets away from the Sun. Earth would be the
size of a hole made by a small paperclip. It takes light eight minutes to travel from the sun to
earth.
Take time to be amazed at how small the earth is and how far away from the sun it is.
Then continue counting to 141 sheets from the sun. You are now at, Mars which would be
half the size of the hole made by a paperclip. Mars is 11.7 minutes from the sun, traveling at
the speed of light.
At 251 sheets and 22.5 minutes from the sun is the Asteroid Belt.
Jupiter is located 483 sheets, from our softball-sized sun, and it is the size of the hole in a
record album. It takes 43.3 minutes for light to reach Jupiter from the sun.
At 886 sheets from the sun, you will come to the sixth planet Saturn. Saturn would be the
size of the hole made by a pencil, and it would be one hour, 19 minutes from the sun.
Getting the picture? This is way things really are in space. ...
The next planet Uranus is one whole roll (1000 sheets) plus 763 sheets from the sun. It is
the size of the hole in the eyelet of your sneaker. Traveling at the speed of light, Uranus is
two hours, 40 minutes from the sun.
Even smaller than Uranus is Neptune, which is 2793 sheets from our sun. It takes light four
hours, 10 minutes to reach Neptune from the sun. Moving at the speed of light for five hours,
30 minutes would bring you to Pluto. In our model. Pluto would be 3675 sheets of toilet paper
from the Sun, and it would be the size of a hole made by a staple! IT IS AMAZING THAT
PLUTO WAS EVER DISCOVERED!!
.
Using the same scale, you would have to unroll 24,437 rolls to reach the nearest star,
Proxima Centauri which is 4.3 light years away. The distance covered by the toilet paper
would equal 1,735 miles! If stacked one on top of the other, the rolls would be 1.7 miles high.
The star Sirius, at a distance of 9 light years, would be 52,000 rolls away. If the first sheet of
toilet paper were in Philadelphia, the last sheet would be 600 miles off the California coast.
The stack of rolls would be 3.5 miles high!
ASTRONOMY
VB1D
(Demonstration)
Materials: spheres of various sizes
1. Which two spheres have the best sizes for modeling the earth and the moon?
Earth:
Moon:
2. How many moons fit across the earth?
3. Where should the model moon be placed so it is the right distance from the model earth?
4. How many earths fit between the earth and the moon?
5. Which two spheres have the best sizes for modeling the earth and the sun?
Earth
Sun
6. How many earths fit across the sun?
7. Where should the model earth be placed so It is the right distance from the model sun?
8. How many suns fit between the earth and the sun?
9. On this new scale, which sphere could best model the moon?
10. If you have the right-sized sphere, place it in the proper place. If you do not have a
sphere of the proper size, place the tip of a pencil in the proper place.
11. In the space below, sketch this scale model as accurately as you can. If you are not
satisfied that your drawing is accurate enough draw a larger one on the back of this sheet.
ASTRONOMY
Materials: celestial sphere
1. If you stand outside on a clear night, you may get the feeling that you are looking up into
an inverted “bowl” that has many stars on it. This bowl (called the celestial sphere) meets
the Earth at what we call the horizon (See figure below).
2. Does the celestial sphere appear to move as the night goes on, or does it stand still?
If it does move, in which direction does it appear to move?
3. Is there any part of the sphere that does not move?
How can you tell?
What part (or parts) of the sphere does not move?
ASTRONOMY
181
4. A small model of the celestial sphere is available for you to see what happens as this
sphere turns about the earth. The sphere always rotates about an axis labeled N-S. Place
the sphere in the cradle. The cradle is the horizon for your position on the earth (see
figure). The N point on the sphere should be above the horizon the same number of
degrees as your school is north of the equator. (This number is called your latitude. It can
be found on a globe or map). Attach a small disk to the sphere at the location where the
sun rose this morning. If you are not sure where this is, ask your instructor.
Imagine that you are at the center of the sphere. DESCRIBE what you think will be the
path of the sun as you rotate the sphere about a N-S axis.
Now rotate the sphere and see what happens. Is it what you expected?
Does the sun ever appear to be directly overhead?
5. Try some other positions of the rising sun, making sure that you include the directions NE,
E and SE. Rotate the sphere through one complete revolution at as constant a rate as
possible. For each case, note whether the sun stays above the horizon longer or stays
below the horizon longer.
6. Relate the observations in Step 5 to the seasons of the year.
7. Use the celestial sphere to show when the sun is in the local noon position. Also show the
sun in the local midnight position. DESCRIBE these positions.