Student Exploration: Solar System Explorer

Student Exploration: Solar System Explorer Reminders: either print out this assignment and fill it out by hand OR use lined paper to label the sections and questions and write your answers. In either case, then take a picture of your work, insert it into a document and submit the work in Dropbox. Prior Knowledge Questions (Do these BEFORE using the Gizmo.) 1. List all of the planets you can think of in our solar system. Try to list them in order from closest to farthest from the Sun. Mercury Venue, Earth Mars Jupiter , Saturn, Uranus Neptune 2. Which planets are most like Earth? Which are most different from Earth? Explain. close Venus Mars Different Jupiter Saturn Similar of Uranus, and size , density , mass, and surface neptune = large amounts of gas Coz gravity and hydrogen riched planets Gizmo Warm-up The Solar System Explorer Gizmo shows a model of the solar system. All of the distances, but not the sizes of the planets, are shown to scale. To begin, turn on Show orbital paths and click Play ( ). You are looking at the four inner planets. 1. In which direction do planets go around the Sun, clockwise or counterclockwise? Clockwise 2. An orbit is the path of a body around another body. What is the shape of the planetary orbits around the Sun? circle 3. Click Pause ( ). You can see the name of each planet by holding your cursor over the planet. What is the order of the eight planets, starting from the Sun? Click the “zoom out” button ( ) to see the outer planets and Pluto, which is classified as a dwarf planet. Sun mercury venus Activity A: earth mars jupiter Saturn, Get the Gizmo ready: Classifying planets Question: How are planets classified? 1. Think about it: How do you think astronomers group planets? Dwarfs gas giants and hard rock Uranus, neptune, pluto 2. Gather data: Select Mercury from the Solar system menu at left. Turn on Additional data. In the table below, record Mercury’s Mass, Mean radius, and Density. Then repeat for each of the other planets as well as the dwarf planet Pluto. Include units. Planet Mass (×1023 kg) Mean radius (km) Density (g/cm3) Mercury Venus 48 Earth Sa ] Mars .4 6 . 7 . S SIS . 3 933 3399 18990 71490 Saturn 5680 60270 Uranus 869 25500 Neptune 1020 24760 . 0 723 6378 Jupiter 0 . 60S2 . Pluto (dwarf planet) S 427 2440 3 . 1 326 . 0 687 . 1 27 . 1 638 . 119( 1 1 75 . 3. Analyze: What patterns do you notice in your data table? Bigger planet= More mass 4. Analyze: Based on the data you have collected, how would you divide the planets into two groups? Explain your reasoning. (Note: Do not include Pluto in these groups.) Amount of mean radius it has 5. Classify: Astronomers classify the eight planets in our solar system into two groups: terrestrial planets and gas giants. Terrestrial planets have rocky surfaces, while gas giants are composed mainly of gas. Based on your data, classify each planet as a terrestrial planet or a gas giant. (Hint: Look at the density of each planet.) Mercury: Terrestial Jupiter: Gas Giant Venus: Terrestial Saturn: Gas Giant Earth: Terrestial Uranus: Gas Giant Mars: Terrestial Neptune: Gas Giant 6. Summarize: Compare the masses, radii, and densities of the terrestrial planets and the gas giants. A. What do the terrestrial planets have in common? B. the gas giants have in common? Able to stand No on them standable surface 7. Extend your thinking: Why doesn’t Pluto fit into either the terrestrial planet group or the gas giant group? Too small 8. Think: Why do you think the inner planets are small and dense, while the outer planets are gas giants? Closer to the san + gravitational pull = A lot of density Get the Gizmo ready: Activity B: ● Click Reset. ● Click the “zoom in” button ( zoom in as far as possible. Planetary orbits ) several times to Introduction: Johannes Kepler (1571–1630) was a German astronomer who spent years poring over a vast store of planetary data compiled by his predecessor, Tycho Brahe. After many incorrect theories and other setbacks, Kepler at last determined the beautifully simple physical laws that govern orbiting bodies. These rules are now known as Kepler’s laws. Question: What rules describe the size and shape of planetary orbits? 1. Observe: Select Mercury from the Solar system menu. Look at Mercury’s orbit. A. What do you notice? Not B. Is Mercury always the same distance from the Sun? even as Earth No Kepler’s first law states that an orbit is in the shape of a slightly flattened circle, or ellipse. While a circle contains a single point at its center, an ellipse contains two critical points, called foci. The Sun is located at one focus of a planet’s orbit. 2. Gather data: The eccentricity of an ellipse describes how “flattened” it is. A circle has an eccentricity of 0, and a flat line segment has an eccentricity of 1. A. Look at the data displayed at left. What is the eccentricity of Mercury’s orbit? 0 206 . B. Zoom out to look at the other orbits. Which object’s orbit is even more eccentric than the orbit of Mercury? Pluto 3. Observe: Zoom in all the way, and select Mercury again. Check that the simulation speed is Slow and click Play. Observe the speed of Mercury as it goes around the Sun. What do you notice? Mercury's orbit is the fastest Kepler’s second law states that a planet speeds up as it gets closer to the Sun, and slows down as it moves farther away. 4. Confirm: Charge the speed to Fast and zoom out to observe Pluto. Does Pluto follow Kepler’s second law? Explain. Activity C: NO sun is not in middle of the orbit Get the Gizmo ready: ● Click Reset. ● Zoom out as far as possible. Planetary periods ● Set the speed to Fast. Introduction: Kepler’s third law describes the relationship between a planet’s orbital radius, or its mean distance from the Sun, and the planet’s period, or amount of time to complete an orbit. Question: How does a planet’s orbital radius relate to its period? 1. Predict: How do you think the period of a planet will change as its distance from the Sun increases? Sun moves Planets will move with the sun 2. Observe: Click Play, and observe the orbits of all the planets. What is the relationship between the speed of planets and their distance from the Sun? Further away Planet is = Longer full orbit 3. Measure: Click Reset and zoom in as far as possible. Click Play, and then Pause when Earth is aligned with either the grid’s x-axis or y-axis. Note the starting time below. Then click Play, and then click Pause again when Earth is in exactly the same position. Note the ending time below. Starting time Month: O Day: Ending time Month: 3 Day: O 25 I 4. Calculate: What is Earth’s period? Year: O Year: 1600 year Earth takes 12 months to complete an orbit, so Earth’s period is 12 months, or one year. 5. Measure: The distance units shown are the grid are called astronomical units (AU). Look at Earth’s orbit. How far is Earth from the Sun in AU? 1 0 As you can see, one astronomical unit is equal to the mean Earth-Sun distance, which is approximately 150,000,000 kilometers. 6. Gather data: Use the Additional data display to find the orbital radius and period of each planet. Record this data in the first two columns of the table below. Include units. Mean orbital Period Mean Radius Period Planet radius (AU) (Earth years) = R3 squared = T 2 Mercury Venus 0 387 0 24 723 0 62 0 Earth 1. O Mars 1 Jupiter 1 S 2 S Saturn Neptune 19 24 6 11 86 9 9 29 46 10 longer 8. How do the numbers in the “R 3” and “T 2” columns compare? end up adding up after multiplying by itself. 7 17 2 16 7. Analyze: What happens to the period as the orbital radius increases? They Period gets IS 164 79 30 . 464 1 88 84 01 2 833 167 23 A a SS Uranus 0 2 S · 1407 - GS 110 140 195 200