A Swansea University Science for Schools Scheme (S4) lesson plan and hands-on experimental workshop.

All S4 workshops follow the same format. They contain background information, a kit list, an experimental design, key words and concepts and learning outcomes and signposts for fur-ther information. You can also email any questions or queries to s4science@swansea.ac.uk

Solar system scramble: a workshop on space1. What is the workshop about?When we talk about space it is difficult to grasp the idea of the different scales, as the distances and sizes we talk about are so big. Most of the pictures and models that we see of the solar system will display either the relative sizes of the planets or their distances from the Sun, but not both, so they do not show how empty space is or how far apart objects in space actually are.

In this workshop, students will learn about the planets that make up our solar system. The workshop will begin with a presentation which will explain the differences between the planets, their sizes and their properties. The students will then have the opportunity to build their own scale model of the solar system so that they can see the relative sizes of the planets and their distance from the Sun.

Summary: the lesson/workshop plan has two parts:

• A) Introduction – the solar system: the planets in our solar system and their order working from the Sun outwards.

• B) The Experiment – solar system workshop experiment: build a scale model of the solar system from plasticine.

Part A can take up to 30 minutes. Part B can take up to 60 minutes.

2. Learning outcomes• Students will be able to identify the eight

planets in our solar system and their order from the Sun.

• Students will understand and be able to explain what materials the different planets are made from.

• Students will be able to describe the relative sizes of the planets and their distances from the Sun

3. Topics covered• Developing mathematical knowledge, in

part through solving problems and evalu-ating outcomes, including multi-step prob-lems.

• Using scale factors.• Describing the movement of the Earth, and

other planets, relative to the Sun in the solar system.

• Exploring concepts related to the planets and the solar system.

Keywords and definitions

1. Solar System – Our Sun and everything that is orbiting (moving in circles) around it. This includes the eight planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune); the planets’ moons; smaller objects like dwarf planets (Pluto), comets and asteroids.

2. Planet – An object in space that is round (or very nearly round); that orbits a star (like our Sun) and has cleared all of the rock and debris from its path.

3. Dwarf planet – Like a planet, but smaller. A dwarf planet will be round and will orbit a star, but it is too small to clear its path of rock and debris.

4. Scale model – A model that looks like something real, but all of the parts have been made bigger or smaller by the same amount.

Solar system scramble: A workshop on space Physics workshop

6. PlanA) Introduction

We suggest making up some introduc-tory slides/worksheets from the infor-mation below. An example worksheet can be found here:https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5DEaJZdm-MaKcTFpU3NBX0E2T2M

Important information:Our solar system is made up of our Sun, which is a star and all of the things that orbit it. This includes the eight planets, which are (in order of their dis-tance from the sun)

1. Mercury – the smallest and densest (the heaviest for its size) of the planets. Mercury is made from lots of iron covered in a small layer of rock.

2. Venus – the hottest of the planets because it has a thick atmosphere (a layer of gas sur-rounding it that traps heat). It is about the same size as Earth.

3. Earth – The only planet that we know has life on it.

4. Mars – we call this the red planet because its surface contains a lot of dust made from bits of rusty iron, which is red. It is home to ‘Olympus Mons’ which is the biggest volcano in the solar system.

5. Jupiter – this is the largest planet in the solar system. You could fit all of the other planets inside Jupiter. It has a red spot, which is ac-tually made from a large storm that has been raging for hundreds of years. The Earth would fit in the red spot more than 3 times.

6. Saturn – Saturn is the second biggest planet, but it is very light. If you put it in a giant bathtub, it would float. It is surrounded by rings made from rock, dust and ice.

7. Uranus – Uranus has a very tilted axis and actually spins on its side like a barrel.

8. Neptune – this is the furthest planet from the sun. It has a dark spot, which is a storm (like Jupiter’s red spot) which is the size of Earth.

The planets can be put into two types:• Small rocky planets (closest to Sun): Mercury,

Venus, Earth, Mars. These are small and made mostly of rock and metal (the surface of Earth also has a lot of water).

• Gas giants (furthest from Sun): Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune. These are much larger than the rocky planets and are made mostly of gas and liquid.

4. Materials needed for the lesson/ workshop (assuming a group size of up to 30).Consumables:

• Plasticine• Superglue• Batteries

Re-usable items • 8x calculators• 8x 1.2m wooden sticks with two drawing

pins super-glued back-to-back on one end of each stick

• 1x 1.2m wooden stick (for the Sun)• 30cm round, yellow paper lampshade/

hanging lantern• Battery powered camping light• Small plastic bowl• 100m tape measure or a GPS device

5. Preparation In this workshop, students will be building a scale model of the solar system. You will need to pro-vide the model of the Sun, which will need to be 30cm in diameter, and the students will work in groups to build the planets to the correct size and calculate how far they should be from the ‘30cm’Sun. Students will then place their planets in the correct distance from the model of the Sun. The whole solar system (from the Sun to Neptune) will be about 1 km (1000 meters), so this will work best in a large area outside. If this is not availa-ble, you can make all of the distances 10 times (or even 20 times) smaller, so that you can do this activity in an inside space of 100 meters (or 50 meters). This will work best in a long corridor or a large sports hall.

Solar system scramble: A workshop on space Physics workshop

Points for discussion

• Where did the solar system come from?Our solar system is about 4.6 billion (4,600,000,000) years old. Our Sun and everything in our solar system formed from the same cloud of dust and gas in space. This cloud of dust and gas was called a nebula. The material that the cloud was made from would have clumped together because of gravity (gravity makes things with a mass pull towards each other). These clumps would have crashed into each other to form even bigger and bigger clumps. These clumps of matter eventually became huge planets and asteroids and everything else in our solar system. Find out more here:https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/solar-system-for-mation/en/

• Are there other solar systems?Scientists believe that there are trillions of stars like our Sun (a trillion is a billion billion-that’s 1 with 12 zeros after it – or 1,000,000,000,000!), each with its own solar system. It is quite possible that some of these solar systems may contain life.

Pluto was declassified as a planet in 2006, after be-ing called the ninth planet for nearly 80 years. It’s so small that it got renamed a dwarf planet (after many other similar sized bodies were discovered in our solar system).

B) The experiment B1 Building a solar system:

1. Before the workshop, print out list of the planet names. Cut out each planet name indi-vidually, fold the pieces of paper and put in the small plastic bowl.

2. Before the workshop, make the model of the Sun by putting a lampshade on the top of a wooden stick and putting a camping light inside.

3. Split the students into appropriate groups, we suggest 8 students per group. Get one stu-dent from each group to pick a planet at ran-dom from the bowl. This will be the planet that they will build.

4. Get the students to calculate how big their planet should be and how far from the Sun it should be (if the solar system were scaled down so that the Sun is 30 cm [300 mm]). Instructions on how to do this can be found here:https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5DEa-JZdmMaKcTFpU3NBX0E2T2M

5. Get the students to build their planets from plasticine. There are circles on the last page of the worksheet above that the students can use as a reference for the sizes.

6. Put the planets on the pins on the 8 wooden sticks.

7. Place the Sun where you want the centre of the solar system to be.

8. Use the GPS devices or tape measure to work out where the planets should go and put them in the right places (use the GPS device is you are outside and the measuring tape if you are indoors). If you are outside, you can place the wooden sticks into the ground to keep them in place; if you are inside, you can prop them up.

9. Let the students walk through the solar system model and look at the sizes/distances before collecting the planets.

Solar system scramble: A workshop on space Physics workshop

The correct sizes and distances, with a 30cm Sun, are:Planet Size (in mm) Distance from Sun (in meters)Mercury 1.0 12.49Venus 2.6 23.30Earth 2.7 32.24Mars 1.4 49.11Jupiter 30.8 167.71Saturn 25.0 307.57Uranus 10.1 618.64Neptune 9.7 969.88

B2 Space quiz: If you have extra time, you can put on a ‘pub quiz’ style space quiz. In their groups, get the students to answer questions on the solar sys-tem. You can use the questions fromhttp://www.dkfindout.com/uk/quiz/space/take-solar-system-quiz/or come up with your own (e.g. how many moons does Saturn have? What is Jupiter’s red spot made from?). You can give points for cor-rect and also the funniest answers.

Points for discussion

• Why are there two planet types (i.e. small rocky planets and gas giants)?The Sun gives off lots of energy, which we see as light and feel as heat. The closer you are to the Sun, the hotter it will feel, so the planets closest to the Sun will be hot-ter than the planets that are further away. When the planets were forming, it would have been very hot close to the sun, so only the materials that don’t melt very easily (like metal and rock) would have survived for long enough to become part of a planet. This means that the planets that are close to the sun are small and made mostly from metal and rock. The planets that are further away from the Sun have lots of gas and liq-uid because it’s cool enough that far away from the sun for those material to survive. Because they kept more of the material they were formed from this also means that the outer planets are bigger than the inner ones. Much bigger!

• Why is there so much ‘space’ in space?After you have built the scale model of the solar system, the students will notice two important things. The first is that there is a lot of empty space-our solar system is very empty! The second thing is that the small, rocky planets are quite close to the Sun and then there is a huge gap before you reach the four gas giants that are very spread apart. This is because of the way that the Sun’s gravitational force acts on the planets. The planets are all being pulled towards the Sun because of its gravity. The four small rocky planets formed close to the Sun, where the gravity was strongest, so they got pulled in close. The four gas giants formed further away from the Sun, where the gravity was weaker. The gas giants are also attracted to each other and to other big objects in the solar system because of gravity and this was enough to stop them getting pulled too close to the Sun, so they stayed spread apart.

Solar system scramble: A workshop on space Physics workshop