Science Year 5/6B Autumn 2 Earth and Space Space! Session 2 Resource Pack Original resource copyright Hamilton Trust, who give permission for it to be adapted as wished by individual users. We refer you to our warning, at the foot of the block overview, about links to other websites.
Questions for building a model of the solar system Scale and ratios (building a scale model of the solar system) What is a scale? What does it mean if we have a ratio? What is the greatest distance we will need to include in our model? (Sun-Neptune) What is the smallest distance we will need to include in our model? (Sun-Mercury) What is the greatest planet diameter we will need to include in our model? (Jupiter) What is the smallest planet diameter we will need to include in our model? (Mercury) What ratio could we use (distance: one piece of loo roll) to create a scaled model of the solar system? What ratio could we use (actual diameter (km): fruit diameter (mm)) to create scaled planets within our model solar system? If the distance from the Sun to the Earth is approximately 150,000,000km, how many pieces of loo roll will this be? Which fruit should we use for the Earth?
Planetary movement websites Orrery: http://web.archive.org/web/20140208042043/http:/dd.dynamicdiagrams.com/wpcontent/uploads/2011/01/orrery_2006.swf The planets today: http://www.theplanetstoday.com/ Solar System Scope: http://www.solarsystemscope.com/#plans
Stargazing images for comparison (Y5) (ignore numbers) From: http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/tv/guides/bbc_stargazing_live_star_guide.pdf January-March
April-June
July-September
October-December
Questions for changing star and planet positions in the night sky Apparent movement of stars Y6: What happens to the night sky over a period of time? Why does it look different? Can you spot any recurring constellations? What do these differences tell us about the movement of the Earth (and other planets)? Why might some stars sometimes seem to disappear? Why are some stars brighter than others? Do the stars move around the sun? Why do you think planets appear in different places in the night sky at different times in the year? Y5: Can you spot any differences between these images? Can you find any recurring constellations? Why do you think some stars might appear to move behind other stars? As the Earth moves what do you think happens to the night sky that we can see? Why are some stars brighter than others? Do the stars move around the sun? Why do you think planets appear in different places in the night sky at different times in the year?
Questions for changing star and planet positions in the night sky (teacher reference) Apparent movement of stars Y6: What happens to the night sky over a period of time? Why does it look different? Can you spot any recurring constellations? What do these differences tell us about the movement of the Earth (and other planets)? Why might some stars sometimes seem to disappear? (The 3D nature of space means that some stars may hide behind others depending on the Earth s position.) Why are some stars brighter than others? (Some are closer.) Do the stars move around the sun? Why do you think planets appear in different places in the night sky at different times in the year? Y5: Can you spot any differences between these images? Can you find any recurring constellations? Why do you think some stars might appear to move behind other stars? As the Earth moves what do you think happens to the night sky that we can see? Why are some stars brighter than others? Do the stars move around the sun? Why do you think planets appear in different places in the night sky at different times in the year? Note that one of the turning points for realising it was us moving and not the sun was based on mathematical measurements and calculations of star and planetary positions in the night sky over time that supported a more heliocentric view of the solar system (the maths was simpler and much more straight forward/made more sense if the sun was the centre and we were moving!). Useful websites to identify constellations and for looking at tonight s sky: Night Sky, Schools Observatory: http://www.schoolsobservatory.org.uk/astro/esm/nightsky Constellations, Night Sky: http://stardate.org/nightsky/constellations Constellations of the northern hemisphere, Sporcle: http://www.sporcle.com/games/g/constellations_northern
Options for why the stars change in the night sky (Y5) Which of the following explains the link between star observations and the movement of the Earth? Because the Earth is moving around the sun - mathematical measurements and calculations of star and planetary positions in the night sky over time are far simpler and make more sense in a heliocentric (sun centred) solar system. Stars sometimes disappear because the position of the Earth as it moves around the sun and the subsequent position of other stars and planets obscure the view. Because the stars are moving around a stationary Earth mainly in irregular movements that happen to coincide with our seasons. Because the stars move in their own solar systems and the Earth does not stars mainly move in ways that happen to coincide with our seasons.
Online secondary sources of information: planets http://nineplanets.org/tour/ http://amazingspace.org/resources/explorations/trading/game.htm?ssscssssssss http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/starchild/solar_system_level2/solar_system.html http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/ http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/menu/solar-system/ http://www.amnh.org/explore/ology/astronomy/planetary-mysteries http://planetfacts.org/size-of-planets-in-order/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/space/solarsystem/sun_and_planets http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/topics/zdrrd2p
Sample data to collect Planet Distance from sun Average temperate (facing sun) Diameter Time to orbit the Sun (in Earth days) Time to rotate on axis (in hours) Type of planet Atmosphere Other information Mercury Venus Earth 149.6 million km Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune 20⁰C 12, 800km 365.3 days 24hrs Rocky Nitrogen & oxygen
Graphing options Bar graphs: show numbers that are independent of each other (e.g. the diameter of individual planets) Pie charts: show you how a whole is divided up (e.g. amount of daylight and night time in a 24hr period on a set day) Line graphs: show you how something changes over time (e.g. average temperature for each month of the year) Scatter graphs: compare two sets of data that are likely to have an impact on one another (e.g. distance from sun vs average temperature on planet)
Images for art
Mercury
Venus
Earth
Mars
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
Images of Stonehenge Watch video: http://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/zg8q2hv