Moon!!! How Big Is the Moon and Sun? Whitchurch High School Year 8.
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Moon!!! Moon!!! How Big Is the Moon and How Big Is the Moon and Sun? Sun? Whitchurch High School Whitchurch High School Year 8 Year 8
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Transcript of Moon!!! How Big Is the Moon and Sun? Whitchurch High School Year 8.
Moon!!!Moon!!!
How Big Is the Moon and Sun?How Big Is the Moon and Sun?
Whitchurch High SchoolWhitchurch High School
Year 8Year 8
Earth to the MoonEarth to the Moon
The Moon is 384,403 kilometres The Moon is 384,403 kilometres (238,857 miles) distant from the Earth!(238,857 miles) distant from the Earth!
Its diameter is 3,476 kilometres (2,160 Its diameter is 3,476 kilometres (2,160 miles). miles).
Both the rotation of the Moon and its Both the rotation of the Moon and its revolution around Earth takes 27 days, 7 revolution around Earth takes 27 days, 7 hours, and 43 minutes.hours, and 43 minutes.
The Moon’s orbit is not perfectly The Moon’s orbit is not perfectly circular.circular.
So the distance is an average!So the distance is an average!
How we carried out our experiment!How we carried out our experiment!
Moon Distance ExperimentMoon Distance ExperimentCard Card DiameterDiameter
(m)(m)
Average Average Distance to Distance to card (m)card (m)
Average Average Distance to Distance to Moon (m)Moon (m)
Diameter Diameter of Moonof Moon
(m)(m)
0.0400.040 4.274.27 384,000,000384,000,000 3,600,0003,600,000
0.0500.050 5.395.39 384,000,000384,000,000 3,560,0003,560,000
0.0600.060 6.686.68 384,000,000384,000,000 3,450,0003,450,000
AveragesAverages
The average diameter of the moon is The average diameter of the moon is 3,536,667metres3,536,667metres
The Distance to the Moon is The Distance to the Moon is 384,000,000 metres!384,000,000 metres!
The Ball ExperimentThe Ball ExperimentThis will test the ratio This will test the ratio
equationequationthat has just been usedthat has just been used
to find the moon diameter.to find the moon diameter.
How to do the ball experimentHow to do the ball experiment 1 large ball1 large ball 1 small ball1 small ball A rulerA ruler Paper and PenPaper and Pen
Place your measuring stick Place your measuring stick with the 0 edge on the side with the 0 edge on the side of the tableof the table
Then place the large ball at Then place the large ball at the other end of the meter the other end of the meter stickstick
Place the small ball in front Place the small ball in front of the large ball at the of the large ball at the point where the small ball point where the small ball eclipses the large ball from eclipses the large ball from eye leveleye level
Look at the end of the Look at the end of the measuring stick and record measuring stick and record how far the small ball was how far the small ball was away from the big ball.away from the big ball.
A
B
Z
EYEBALL 1
BALL 2
XY
KEY (NOTE MEASUREMENTS ALL IN cm)
A=BALL 1 DIAMETER B=BALL 2 DIAMETER
X=DIST TO BALL 1 Y=DIST TO BALL 2
our resultsour resultsB
(cm)A
(cm)Z
(cm)X
(cm)
3.5
3.5
3.5
3.5
9.5
9 .5
9.5
9.5
50.0
100.0
150.0
200.0
17.9
37.0
60.0
76.5
B/A Z/X
2.7
2.7
2.7
2.7
2.8
2.7
2.5
2.6
From our results we have concluded that :
The ratio of the two distances and the ratio of the two diameters is the same at about 2.7
B/A = Z/X
So this means the method we just used to measure the diameter of the Moon is valid.
Measuring The Sea of Measuring The Sea of CrisisCrisis
BY: Thomas Pacey and BY: Thomas Pacey and Hugo VineHugo Vine
What is the ‘Sea of Crisis’What is the ‘Sea of Crisis’
The Sea of Crisis is a crater/sea The Sea of Crisis is a crater/sea on the moonon the moon
It looks like this: It looks like this: This is a picture we took of the Sea of Crisis. We took it by placing a web-cam on the back of a telescope and videoed our findings. We used a computer program to stack up the frames and come out with a brilliant picture like this.
The Sea of Crisis
MethodMethod
1. We cut a semicircular hole in a piece of cardboard that measured 1cm in diameter.
2. We then stuck this up.
3. We then slowly stepped back until the Sea of Crisis fitted into the hole.
4. We measured the distance from us to the cardboard
5. We did the experiment four times over and took an average result
6. We then used the other groups results to work out the approx
size of the Sea of Crisis
The ResultsThe Results
(X) The diameter of the hole in the (X) The diameter of the hole in the cardboard, 0.01m (1cm)cardboard, 0.01m (1cm)
(Y) The diameter of the Sea of Crisis (Y) The diameter of the Sea of Crisis in metresin metres
(A) The average distance from us to (A) The average distance from us to the cardboard semicircle was 7.00mthe cardboard semicircle was 7.00m
(B) The distance from the Moon to the (B) The distance from the Moon to the Earth, 384,000,000mEarth, 384,000,000m
The Answer!The Answer! B/A = Y/X ,
This is a ratio standing for distance from earth to moon divided by the distance from us to cardboard is equivalent to the diameter of the Sea of Crisis divided by the size of the semicircle in the cardboard.
The diameter of the Sea of Crisis = B / A x X = Y
The diameter is 550,000m
( Y ) – this is to 2 significant figures
ConclusionConclusion Using ratios we calculated the diameter of Using ratios we calculated the diameter of
the Sea of Crisis.the Sea of Crisis.
We discovered that the diameter of the Sea We discovered that the diameter of the Sea of Crisis is 550,000m of Crisis is 550,000m
We used the distance from Earth to Sun - We used the distance from Earth to Sun - 384,000,000m 384,000,000m
EndEnd
The Pinhole CameraThe Pinhole Camera
We used a pinhole camera to We used a pinhole camera to take measurements of the sun.take measurements of the sun.
What is a Pinhole What is a Pinhole ProjectorProjector
A pinhole projector is a box that has a black surface on 1 side, there is a hole a hole in the middle of the black surface. On the
other side there is a translucent surface.
Object
This is a pinhole camera
Image on screen
Hole
The EquationThe Equation
Diameter of the sun = height of sun imageDiameter of the sun = height of sun image
Sun to pinholeSun to pinhole image to pinhole image to pinhole
The Numbers BitThe Numbers Bit
Camera 1 Camera 1 Measurements:- Measurements:- Height of image:- 0.2cmHeight of image:- 0.2cm Distance from pinhole:- 16.7cmDistance from pinhole:- 16.7cm Distance to Sun:-1.496x10 Distance to Sun:-1.496x10 88kmkm
The AnswerThe Answer
0.2cm x 1.496x100.2cm x 1.496x1088 km km
16.7cm16.7cm
=1.8x10=1.8x1066 km =diameter of sun km =diameter of sun
The Numbers bit continuedThe Numbers bit continued
Camera 2Camera 2 Measurements:-Measurements:- Height of Image:- 0.1cmHeight of Image:- 0.1cm Distance from Pinhole:-14.0cmDistance from Pinhole:-14.0cm Distance to Sun:-1.5x10 Distance to Sun:-1.5x10 8 8 km km
The AnswerThe Answer
0.1cm x 1.496x100.1cm x 1.496x1088 km km
14.0cm14.0cm
Diameter of Sun:-1.1x10 Diameter of Sun:-1.1x10 6 6 kmkm
The Average Size of the SunThe Average Size of the Sun
1.8x101.8x1066km+1.1x10km+1.1x1066km=1.45x10km=1.45x1066 km km
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The Actual AnswerThe Actual Answer
The Sun diameter isThe Sun diameter is
1,391,980 km1,391,980 km
Reference GCSE AstronomyReference GCSE Astronomy
