Week 7

 

1. The big question addressed in lab, and a description of what you did.
1. How big is our solar system? 
2. This week in lab we built a model of the solar system that was to scale. We only included the sun, the moon, and the four inner planets. Before this model, I knew the solar system was big, but not THIS big. We started out making the sun out of playdough which had to be 200 millimeters. As a group, we began to make our tiny planets out of playdough that would be to scale with our sun. Mercury was 0.067 mm, Venus was 1.74 mm, Earth was 1.83 mm, and Mars was 0.97. We did not realize how small Mercury was and could not believe it. After we made our tiny planets, we had to measure the planets from the sun. We used meters for the orbit radius of the planets. We were running out of room to place each one. Mercury was 8.3 m, Venus was 15.53, Earth was 21.49 m, and lastly Mars was 32.74 m. It is insane how massive our solar system is. 
2. A description of what you learned in Thursday's lecture.
1. In a lecture on Thursday, I learned how the moon was created. I thought the moon happened through a collision or an asteroid. However, it occurred when Earth was forming while it was still a hot pile of goo. Fea, a small planet, collided with Earth, knowing it into its tilt, absorbing into Earth, while also spitting parts of the Earth out into space to make the moon. Because of the gravitational pull between the two it orbits Earth. 
3. Answer questions about the weekly textbook reading:
   1. What did you learn?
   1. Pluto is not considered a planet because it does not meet the requirements to be labeled as a planet. In order to be a planet it must orbit around the sun, gravity formed the planet into a round shape, and it must clear its neighboring region of objects. Pluto does not meet the third requirement. 
   2. What was most helpful?
   1. The most helpful part of this reading was the video about the man walking down the street showing how far and small away all the planets are compared to the sun.