The Living Planet

Lab Brief #17

🎯 Your mission

Run the experiment. Find out what really happens.

⚡ The twist

Nature loves to surprise the careful watcher.

What you'll learn

Earth is the only planet we know that has liquid water and life.

Key words

planet
A large round object that travels in orbit around a star.
Earth
The planet we live on, the third one from the Sun.

Make a hypothesis first

Before you start: write down what you think will happen, and why.

Say your guess out loud — then find out if you were right.

Get ready

🧰 What you need

flashlight
ball (Earth)
small ball (moon)

⚠️ Safety first

Have an adult check your set-up before you start, and tidy everything away afterwards.

Step 1 of 4 · Read

Look at the new words. Can you say each one?

Step 2 of 4 · Do

Use a flashlight and a ball to show how the Earth's spin creates day and night.

Step 3 of 4 · Observe

Draw a picture of what you observe.

Step 4 of 4 · Record

Share your results with a partner.

Question 1 of 3

Which planet do we live on?

How sure are you?😐 maybe

Question 2 of 3

How many planets orbit our sun?

How sure are you?😐 maybe

Question 3 of 3

What is an orbit?

How sure are you?😐 maybe

Mind = blown

🔬 The more you look, the more nature shows you.

Nice work!

You got 0 of 3 right.

Next: How Shadows Form All lessons

🎯

Next Smart Experiment

We'll pick an experiment that matches exactly how you're thinking right now.

✨ More to explore

🌍 Where you see this in real life: This shows up in your everyday life more than you'd think.

🏆 Stretch challenge (try it this week): Try one experiment in real life this week — even a tiny one.

👨‍👩‍👧 For the dinner table: “What's the most surprising thing you learned today?”

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