Making a Model of our Solar System
Sunny enjoys making models that are an exact scale replica of the real thing. For a science
presentation, Sunny wants to make a model of our solar system. The solar system is huge
with billions of miles in between each planet. Sunny decided instead of going from miles
to inches to fractions of inches (which would involve a lot of multiplying and chances to
make a mistake) it would be easier to go from kilometers centimeters or millimeters; that
sort of unit conversion would only require moving the decimal point.
The following measurements were taken from the National
Geographic Website.
Sun: 1.4 million kilometers in diameter.
Mercury: 4,880 km in diameter. 57.9 million km from the Sun
Venus: 12,104 km in diameter. 108.2 million km from the Sun
Earth: 12,756 km in diameter. 149.6 million km from Sun
Mars: 6,795 km in diameter. 227.94 million km from Sun
Jupiter: 142,984 km in diameter. 778.4 million km from Sun
Saturn: 120,537 km in diameter. 1426.7 million km from Sun
Uranus: 51,119 km in diameter. 2871.0 million km from Sun
Neptune: 49,529 km in diameter. 4498.25 million km from Sun
Pretend you are Sunny. Consider how you would make an accurate model of the solar
system with all sizes and distances proportional to the actual solar system.
Consider the following questions:
1) If the model Earth were the size of a large pea (≈1.27 cm), how big would the model
Sun be?
2) How far away should the model Neptune be if the model Sun were in the center of the
gym?
3) If the entire model set of planets and model sun must fit inside the school, and you are
allowed to use index cards with dots on them for any model that is too small to display
otherwise, figure out the scale you will be using and the diameter of each planet and
their distances from the Sun.