Week 4: Solar system model

Objectives

This is where you get to make a model of the solar system from salad bowls and toilet roll centres (Blue Peter has nothing on us). By the end of this lesson, you will have

• found information relating to the size and distance from the Sun of 5 solar system bodies (these can include the Earth-Sun-Moon system and two other planets or Jupiter and the four Galilean moons)
• adopted a convenient scale for your model
• identified household objects that can represent the solar system bodies
• built your model

Web Links

Powers of ten

If you search on the phrase 'powers of ten' you will find a lot of pages that convey the immensity of space and the smallness of atoms. Find one that you like the look of. They are all based on a book with the title 'Powers of 10'. The example shown here is typical.

The Nine Planets

This excellent Web site has all the information you will need to devise your scale model. This is also a really good Web site to help younger people with their homework!

Scale models of Solar System

This Web page has loads of links about scale models of the Solar System. Some people lay Solar System models out in parks and gardens. At least one local authority in the UK has done a Solar System model as a canal side walk.

Activity

You need to

• download activity 3 and find the information you need from the Web sites above and any others you can find
• decide if you are going for the Sun and four planets, the Sun-Earth and Moon system and two other planets, or Jupiter and the four Galilean Moons as your model
• calculate a scale (help available) and draw up a list of objects of roughly the correct size
• perpetrate the model
• I'll be photographing the finished models for this Web site