Friday, February 8, 2013

8th Grade Science homework (7th graders should try this too)

Use what we have learned about making a scale model of the Earth-Moon system and create a scale model of the inner solar system which should contain the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth-Moon, and Mars.

Since I did not sent the books home with you, here is some information that will help you get started.

Radius:
   Sun - 695,000 km
   Mercury - 2,440 km
   Venus - 6,052 km
   Earth and Moon should be in your journal
   Mars - 3,390 km

Distance from the Sun
   Mercury - 57,910,000 km
   Venus - 108,200,000 km
   Earth - 149,600,000 km
   Mars - 227,940,000 km

Remember the Scale that we used in class was 1 cm = 1063 km

To start you off using the diameter of Mercury
   
        ( 2440km x 2 ) ÷ 1063km/cm = scale diameter

Use several pieces of white printer paper taped together on one to make this model, once you complete the math, you will know how much paper you will need.

Hint: you may need to reduce the km/cm to km/mm to make this fit onto a manageable size.  Check what you drew in your journal as an example.

(7th Graders, you have already learned how to switch from cm to mm by moving the decimal, review how in your math text if needed)







47 comments:

  1. Thank you for this information!

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    1. You are welcome Maggie... good luck and I just posted the bonus activity too.

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  2. Thanks! I will be doing the bonus!

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    1. Good luck Maggie!! it looks like it will be a long storm, dress warm if you go out in the middle of it for pictures, or take them from a window.

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  3. YAY!!!! I'm so excited to do this!

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  4. Since you said that 7th grade should try this too, would this be extra credit for the 7th graders who attempt to do this?

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    1. The 7th Graders will be doing this as part of a class assignment, I was going to assign it yesterday but we ran out of time... if you do it and bring it in on Monday, you will recieve extra points for the project.

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  5. Oh then in that case i will just do it on Monday.

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    1. Give it a try and get the extra points!! It is easier than you think, but will take a few minutes to tape some paper together.
      You can do this!!! :-)

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  6. I was working on this then realized I have to change the radius into the diameter, right?

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  7. I found out the diameter of mercury, what do i do next?

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    1. Divide it by 1063km/cm and your answer will be in cm

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  8. sorry to bother you again but I just need to confirm what we need to do after you divide the diameter by 1063km/cm. What do you do with the distance of the planet away from the sun?

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    1. After you divide the diameter by 1063km/cm you have the diameter in centimeter.

      You do the same division with 1063km/cm for the distances away from the sun to convert them to your scale size in cm.

      Good luck!!

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  9. Ok thank you, I appreciate the help.

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  10. Ok, so my measurements came out high in mm, how pieces of paper do you think we will use to design this scale?

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    1. Remember millimeters are smaller than centimeters.

      Measure the size of a sheet of paper in millimeters and see how many sheets you will need.

      You may have to reduce this even more to micrometers, which is the next level below millimeters, to make it fit.

      If centimeters is 1.0, millimeters is 0.1, and micrometers is 0.01

      The best way is to determine what it will be in centimeters first, then reduce it by 10s to make it fit.

      Let me know what works.

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    2. How many micrometers are in a millimeter?

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    3. Ummm, I was doing the math and this is going to take A LOT of paper

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    4. 10 micrometers in a millimeter.

      How big is it if you go to millimeters or micrometers?

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    5. Maggie,
      the next size down is a nanometer

      10 nanometers in a micrometer
      10 micrometers in a millimeter
      10 millimeters in a centimeter
      10 centimeters in a decimeter
      10 decimeters in a meter

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    6. Do I just keep moving the decimal over by 1 each time

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    7. Can I keep the planets in cm or mm if I put the distance in nm?

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    8. No, your scale should be consistent throughout the model. It will give you a better understanding of the amount of space in space.

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  11. Wait, if i convert 5447.79 mm in micrometers how do I do that?

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    1. Move the decimal place to the right on number

      5447.49 mm = 54,474.9 nanometers

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    2. Okay, THANK YOU SO MUCH!! Now I am 90% sure that I will get it right! Thanks again!

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    3. Then could I round it to 54.5?

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    4. Also there is 20 nm in a millimeter right?

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    5. Maggie,
      so not to confuse yourself too much, use your ruller and draw out 30 cm, then under that draw 30 mm, and under that draw 30 nanometers

      You should end up with three lines,
      one 30 cm
      one 3 cm (30 mm)
      and one 3 mm (30 nanometers)

      So if you use nanometers, 10 nanometers is equal to 1 millimeter.

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    6. Maggie, If the rest of the 8th grade reads this they will get it right too!!

      Good luck, I look forward to seeing the results.

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    7. Ok now I promise I get it.

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    8. if you round to 54.5 nanometers it might work and be manageable

      my previous reply was wrong
      it should be

      30 cm
      3 cm (30 mm)
      3 mm (30 micrometers)
      3 micrometers (30 nanometers)

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    9. Ok I am doing it all in nm.. is that ok?

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    10. Yes, I look forward to seeing your final model!!

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    11. It might be a little small, but I will be able to use less paper.

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    12. From what I calculated last night, nine sheets should cover the inner planets at nano scale, but you will only be able to draw the orbits, the planets will be to small.

      Go for it!

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    13. I FIGURED IT OUT!!! I was thinking that I had to do 544.8 micrometers and then an additional 1017.9 micrometers. But, all I had to do was 473.1 micrometers. This is why I thought my whole diagram came out to be 8 pages. I hope I did it right!

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  12. Are we supposed to draw the orbiting paths of the planets?

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    1. you should at least make some sort of line at the location of the planets, that is if you made them at nanometer size.

      good luck!

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