Sun, moon, and StarsESCI 215

Chapter 14

Big BangSeveral hypotheses and observations have

been made about the universe; the biggest theory being the Big Bang theoryStarted in 1916 with Albert Einstein1927 Belgian priest suggested the universe

began with an explosion of an atom 1929 Edwin Hubble found evidence to support

the big bang theory all galaxies in every direction are going away

from Earth at speeds proportional to their distance

Big Bang12 – 15 billion years ago a gigantic explosion

of an “primeval” atom created the universeHigh temperature and density of the primeval

atom caused the universe to expand rapidly Why all objects in space are moving away from

other

Over 1 billion years the chemical elements cooled and condensed into stars and galaxies

Our Expanding NeighborhoodAdvancements in transportation have allowed

us to expand our concept of “neighbourhood”

Community – country – planet - space

Changing Concept of NumberEvent 14-A Concept of Number has students consider

if it is possible to ever count all stars and why notThere are too many stars for our brains to even

comprehendMore stars than all the grains of sand on all the beaches

in the world 1 grain of sand represents our solar system (sun,

moons, planets) If you lost that grain, would it be missed?

Consider all the other planets that exist in each of those grains of sand, how possible is it that life exists on other planets? Mathematically there must be life on other planets

Changing Concept of SizeThe only scale that can be shown accurately

in books is one that compares sizes only, or one that compares distances only.

If the scale is reduced to show both on a single page, the planets become too small to be seen.

Page 273The scales used on that Table 14.2 is:1 mm = 5000 km1 m = 5 000 000 km

Changing Concept of DistanceLook at TABLE 14.3Take sometime to think about the time it

takes to travel these distances.

The Earth and MoonThere are several events in the text that can

be used to explain the relationship between the Earth and the Moon.

Check out the following link for an explanation on the phases of the moon;

http://www.moonconnection.com/moon_phases.phtml

Measuring the Distance Around the EarthThe earliest calculation was performed by

Eratosthenes in 200B.C.Try and follow the calculation on Page 277

EclipsesLunar Eclipse: The Earth gets between the

sun and Moon, blocking sunlight to the moon.Solar Eclipse: The Moon gets directly

between the Sun and the Earth, blocking sunlight to the Earth.

Solar eclipse is less likely to occur…why??

Why Do We Have Seasons?Some teachers choose to include the seasons

of the year in this unitSeasons are discussed in chapter 12 of text

Other teachers cover the seasons separately

Assessment and InstructionStudents keep a moon journal for 5 weeks

Students make a journal with at least 20 sheets of paper and decorate the cover at home

Include drawings and descriptions of shape and position of moon in relation to other objects in view www.learner.org/channel/workshops/lala/

moonjinstruct.htmlRecord any patterns they see about the path or

position of the moonSummarize what they learned about the phases of

the moonEvaluation: see list in text on page 281