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Building the Solar System Work File

Part 1: Preparing for the Activity:
For this activity, it is required that your parent or guardian participate as your lab partner.

Before this activity, please form a hypothesis about the distances between planets.

Discuss, with your parent/guardian lab partner, what you already know about the solar

system, and the new things you discover as you build this model.

Distances from the Sun:

An Astronomical Unit is the approximate distance between the Earth and the Sun
(http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/glossary/au.html).
Fill in the scale distances below. Convert the objects distances from AUs to
EITHER centimeters or inches. Choose the conversion unit that matches the
measuring tool that you have at home. If you have a meter stick, use centimeters. If
you have a yard stick, measuring tape or other English measurement tool, use
inches. These will be the distances that you will measure in order to create your
model.
Example:
Mercurys distance from the sun in AUs = .387
1m = 100 cm
1m = 39.38 inches

0.387 * 100 = 38.7 cm

0.387 * 39.38 = 15.24 inches
Distance From
Sun in:

Scale
Distance
in:

Astronomical
Units

Centimeters

Mercury

0.387

38.7 cm

15.24 in

Venus

0.723

Earth

1.00

Mars

1.524

Asteroid Belt

3.00

Jupiter

5.203

Saturn

9.539

Uranus

19.18

Neptune

30.06

Pluto

39.53

No longer a
planet

You may skip this one

Object Name

Or Scale Distance
in:
Inches

Note: Contact your instructor if you need help converting the measurements.

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Part 2: The Activity:

http://cse.ssl.berkeley.edu/AtHomeAstronomy/activity_10.html
From the site above, click on Planet Print Outs from menu on the left. Print the images
and cut them out. You will also need a marker or object to represent the sun and
the asteroid belt. Pasting the smaller planets to an index card may keep them from
getting lost or damaged. Review Part 4 Completing the Activity before beginning
this section.
Gather your planet cutouts, data table, parent/guardian, and measuring tool and head
outside. Find a long, straight, uninterrupted area, like a driveway, or yard edge parallel
to, but away from the road. Be sure you are in a safe area before proceeding.
1. Place your marker representing the sun on the ground.
2. Starting from the sun, measure out to the distance calculated for Mercury, placing
your Mercury cutout here
3. Continue measuring from the sun, in a straight line, to each planets calculated
distance, placing the planet images and asteroid belt at their scale distances.

Part 3: Reflecting on the Activity:

Write a paragraph about your observations for each of the following sets of questions.

Results and Observations: What did you observe about the organization of the
solar system in terms of distances? Did you notice any groupings of planets? What did
you observe about the sizes of the planets and their position in relation to the Sun?
Analysis: Which planets make up the inner and outer planet groupings? Why do you
believe that astronomers decided to group them this way? Include at least three
reasons explaining why astronomers may have grouped the planets this way.

Part 4: Completing the Activity Choose one of the two options below:
Option 1 Document the making of your model with the following photos:
a. One picture with parent/guardian at sun.
b. One picture with student at asteroid belt.
Insert your images into this work file and submit this assessment.
(If the file is too large to submit as an assessment, change to quality of your photos to e
mail quality to reduce the file size. Alternatively you can e-mail your instructor in the
course and attach the images.)

Option 2 Parent phone call with your instructor.

After completing this lesson, you and your parent will contact your instructor by phone to
discuss your participation in this family activity.