Name ____________________ Period ___
Date _______
Read “Scaling the Sun-Earth-Moon System” on page 18 - 21
in the book. Answer the following questions as you read.
A) What is the diameter of the Earth at the equator?
_________12,756 Km__________________________
B) What is the diameter of the Moon?
______3,500 km______________________________
C) What mathematical equation describes how many times
smaller in diameter the Moon is than the Earth?
__3,500 / 12,756 = 0.27 about 1/4_____________
D) What is the distance from Earth to the Moon?
__384,000 Km____________________________
E) What mathematical equation describes how to measure the
distance from Earth to the Moon using Earth’s diameter as
a unit of measure?
384,000 / 12,756 = 30 earth diameters_________
F) What is the diameter of the Sun?
_1,392,000 Km_____________________________
G) What mathematical equation describes how many Earth
diameters equal the Sun’s diameter?
_1,392,000 / 12,756 = 109__________________
H) Why does the Sun appear to be the same size as the Moon
in the sky? What mathematical equation would you use to
explain why the Sun and the Moon appear to be the same
size?
The Sun is 400 times farther away from Earth than the
Moon is from the Earth. (close approximates)________
1,392,000 / 3500 ≈ 400_____________________
150,000,000 / 384,000 ≈ 390________________
I) Why is there a leap year every four years?
It takes Earth about 365.25 days to orbit the Sun so an
extra day is added every four years to make up for the
“¼ “._________________________________________
J) Use the reading selection to help you decide if the diameter
of the model Moon you used in 2.1 ( group demonstrations)
is to scale with your 12cm globe Earth?
The Moon is about ¼ the size of the Earth so you should
use the smaller model of the moon._________________
K) How large would your model Sun be if scaled to your 12 cm
Earth?
13 m
109 x 12 = 1308cm which is about 13 meters