Lesson 10 of 12 · Space
Experiment⭐ 30 XP🚀 StarbaseScale of the Solar System
Scale of the Solar System.
🎯 Your mission
Run the experiment. Find out what really happens.
⚡ The twist
The light you see now started its trip a long time ago.
Mind = Blown
🪐 A day on Venus is longer than a year on Venus.
Make a hypothesis first
Guess: how big does that look from here vs. from there?
What You'll Learn
Planet diagrams almost never show true distances. If the Sun were a football, Earth would be a peppercorn about 26 metres away and Neptune would be nearly 800 metres off. Space is mostly empty, and diagrams that fit on a page hide that.
Key Words
Tap a word to see its definition.
Materials Needed
- football
- peppercorns and beads
- long tape measure
- open space
Safety First
- Small beads and peppercorns are a choking hazard — keep them away from young children.
- Go outdoors with an adult and stay clear of roads.
Steps
Read the explanation above and note the two key terms before you start.
Build a walking-scale solar system on a field or long corridor with the Sun as a football. Pace out each planet's distance to scale and photograph the line, then explain why textbook diagrams cannot do this.
Record what actually happened, including anything that did not match what you expected.
Write a conclusion that answers the question this lesson opened with, and state your uncertainty.
Check Your Understanding
Question 1
1 of 2One astronomical unit is roughly:
Where you see this in real life
GPS, weather forecasts, and the seasons all rely on this.
Stretch Challenge
Try this in real life this week.
Find a constellation in the sky. Look it up. Tell someone its story.
For the dinner table
“If you could visit any planet, which would you pick and why?”
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Ready?
Scale of the Solar System
Run the experiment. Find out what really happens.
Full screen — no distractions
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