Week 7: Our Solar System

What did you do in lab today? 

In lab today, we got into groups and built a model of the sun, the moon, earth, mars, venus, and mercury. This model needed to be to scale, so we converted the actual distance of the moon and the four inner planets from the sun. We used the sink as our sun, and calculated the different distances going all the way out to the hallway. It was really difficult to think of ways to convert the actual distances in order to make it to scale. This took a lot of trial and error because some of our conversions made it way too small to make the planets, so small that they would be specks of play dough. We also got to explore how the earth is compared to other planets to put things into perspective of just how big our solar system is. 

What was the big question?

The big question that we were investigating this week is how big is the solar system? We got to get a good idea of this through the physical model of the solar system that we built in lab. 

What did you learn in Thursday's discussion? 

During discussion on Thursday, I continued to learn about the phases of the moon. We went through different questions about what phase the moon would be in based on what time of the day that it was and what position we are in/going in on earth. We also continued to talk about the different solstices and equinoxes. We looked at a visual representation that we also saw last week, showing how the earth is tilted on its axis during different seasons. We talked about shadows, and which way shadows face in relation to where you are standing, what time of the day it is, hemisphere, and tropics. I learned that the moon does orbit the earth, and that it orbits in exact alignment with the rotation of it. I learned that the distance between the moon and earth very slowly increases each year, but we do not have to worry about it because the moon would be out of earth's orbit in billions of years from now. 

Pressbook:

- What did you learn?

I learned about the different sizes of each planet and the order of the different planets in relation to the sun. I also learned about the acronym to remember the order of the planets. I learned that the four inner planets, like the ones we used to make our model in lab, have solid surfaces and are rocky planets. The other four planets, the outer ones, are gaseous. I learned about the distances that each planet is from the sun. I also learned that pluto is not considered a planet because it does not meet one of the three requirements to be a planet. Planets need gravitational dominance and pluto does not. 

- What was most helpful?

I thought that the acronym for remembering the order of the planets was the most helpful. "My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nutella" I have always thought that these types of things were helpful in school because the sayings are very catchy. This was the same with little songs that we would learn to remember important things as well. 

- What do you need more information on?

I would like more information on the why behind pluto not being a planet. I learned that pluto is not a planet and read the reasoning as to why it is not one. I don't fully understand the idea of "clearing the neighborhood", I could not fully wrap my head around it even after trying to piece the information together. I think maybe seeing a visual or example of this could help for what it means to clear the neighborhood. 

- What questions, concerns, and/or comments do you have?

I don't have any questions or concerns. I really like the videos and visuals that are incorporated into the pressbook because I learn better visually. I think these things really help me wrap my head around the concepts that we are investigating.