Activity+1+Our+Place+in+Space

=﻿Activity 1 The History and Scale of the Solar System pg E4= -Clara B - Sam Sanneman =Goals=
 * Produce a scale model of the solar system.
 * Identify some strengths and limitations of scale models.

- Katie C. Think about it pg E4 Many objects that are included in our solar system include planets, asteroids, comets, stars, and moons. Our planets are split up into two groups: Gas Giants and Terrestrial Planets. Asteroids are objects that are mainly found between the two groups. The distance between the planets are measured in lightyears. All planets have moon(s) and some have much more then others. There is now basically 8 planets because Pluto is not classified as a planet anymore. - Katie C.
 * Calculate distances to objects in the solar system in astronomical units (AU), light years, and parsecs.
 * Explain, in your own words, the nebula theory of the formation of the solar system.
 * Explain the formation of the universe.
 * What Objects make up the solar system? **

-Clara B These objects in relation to earth are located out of earths atmosphere, millions of light years away from earth.Other planets are measured by AU, AU is a astronomical unit that is equal to 93 million miles away. Objects such as comets and asteroids are constantly moving outside of the earths atmosphere and are many AU away. Stars can be seen through a telescope but are really light years away, a light year is the amount of distance light travels in a year, it is indeed a measure of length not time. so although you can use a telescope to see these objects they are millions and millions of miles away from earth. - ﻿ Charles Putnam Rivera
 * Where are they located in relation to Earth? **

An AU or astronomical unit is the distance between the sun and Earth. It is one of the shortest measurements used to describe the distances between objects in space. - Amanda Manning

Investigate p E5 1. a & b 1. c) When you look at the numbers, there is a drawback to using the scale of 1 m= 150,000,000. The numbers of the diameter are way to small to draw on paper. For example when you write out the diameter for Saturn it is..0008035 meters. That is impossible to draw on paper. - emily soupal
 * scale: 1 m= 150,000,000 km ||
 * object || distance from the sun (m) || diameter(m) ||
 * sun || 0 || 0.009 ||
 * mercury || 0.386 || 3.252 E -5 ||
 * Venus || 0.721 || 8.07 E-5 ||
 * earth || 0.997 || 8.504 E -5 ||
 * mars || 1.519 || 4.529 E-5 ||
 * jupiter || 5.188 || 9.53 E -4 ||
 * saturn || 9.528 || 8.035 E -4 ||
 * uranus || 19.167 || 3.407 E -4 ||
 * neptune || 30.029 || 3.301 E -4 ||
 * pluto || 39.439 || 1.534 E -4 ||

2. a& b

(m) ||
 * scale: 1 m= 3,000,000 km ||
 * object || distance from the sun (m) || diameter
 * sun || 0 || 0.4638 ||
 * mercury || 19.3 || .001626 ||
 * venus || 36.069 || .00403 ||
 * earth || 49.866 || .004252 ||
 * mars || 75. 967 || .002264 ||
 * jupiter || 259.4 || .04766 ||
 * saturn || 476.4 || .04017 ||
 * uranus || 958.33 || .01703 ||
 * neptune || 1501.467 || .01650 ||
 * pluto || 1971.933 || 7.67 E -4 ||

2. c) There are also drawbacks to this scale. The distances are way to large to draw on a sheet of paper. We would need the whole school campus to do a scale drawing of the solar system with this scale. - emily soupal =Digging Deeper Outline notes=

Birth of our planets

 * Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars are called Terrestrial Planets("Earth-Like")
 * They formed in the inner part of our Solar Sysytem
 * The "Earth-Like" planets are small and have rocky bodies
 * Some Terrestrial Planets have mollen centers
 * Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune- consist of dense fluids
 * Their called Gas Giants
 * Gas Giants are formed in the colder, outer parts
 * They have solid rocky cores, covered with hydrogen
 * They lie far from the sun and their surfaces are exteremly cold
 * the Rocky Cores are covered with hydrogen in both gas/liquid-> Esmeralda o

asteroids are small planetary bodies in orbit around the Sun, they are larger then a meteoroid but smaller than a planet. Many of the asteroids in our solarsystem are found in the asteroid belt, a mass, compact ring asteroids, represented in the picture as the glowing ring inbetween Mars and Jupiter. -﻿Theresa Duncan Comets are chunks of frozen ice, gases, and rocky debris. These comets orbit the sun. If comets come close to the sun the ice making up the comets melts a little bit and it creates the tail effect people can see coming off the end of the comets. Comets enter and exit our atmosphere at random times.- Austin Adams

Distances in the Universe __The Nebular Theory__
 * astronomers often study objects far from the earth, they use kilometers or miles.
 * the nearest sun is called proxima centauri.
 * when discussing distances inside a solar system they use a measurement called a light year. a light year is how fast light travles in a year.
 * The sun contains 99% of our solar syatems mass. -Lauren Cowart
 * the astronomical unit is for distance inside the solar system. the lightyear is for asteroids, galaxies, and stars.->Kayla Rosa
 * gravity caused the gases and dust to be drawn together into a denser cloud.
 * the same time, the rate of rotation of the entire nebula increased.
 * when the nebular cloud collapses and spins faster it flattens to a disk.
 * planetesimals is matter in the rest of the disk clumped together.
 * protoplanetary bodies were formed larger, because of colliding. - Kelsey Lester
 * the solar system evolved from a swirling cloud of dust the theory is called the Nebular Theory.
 * Birthplace of our solar system began in the Nebula.
 * 4.5 billion years ago nebular started forming stars and planets.
 * Nebular Fusion is when Celsius, hydrogen atoms in the gas combines or fuses to create helium atoms.
 * Nebular Fusion is what created the Sun.-Raina J.

__Life On Other Planets amd comets and asteriods__ - Jennifer Tipton
 * There is no proof of life on any other planet.
 * Water may have once existed on Mars.
 * Europa (Jupiter's moon) may be able to support life.
 * Craters are where asteroids and comets hit.
 * There are trillion comets and asteriods.
 * Comets and asteriods are left overs from the formation of planets.
 * Comets are a mixture of ice and dust.
 * Asteriods can be found in between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
 * Comets melt because of the the orbiting and the closeness to the Sun.

__Where is the Solar System in our Galaxy?__
 * The Milky Way is a region of light formed by the glow of billions of stars.
 * It is easy to see the Milky Way from dark-sky viewing areas, and you can not see it from places with light pollution.
 * The Milky Way galaxy is spiral shaped and our solar system is located on one of the spiral's arms.-Dalton Goss
 * Our Milky Way Galaxy formed about 10 billion years ago and is one of the billions of galaxies in the universe. - Daniel Nguon

__The Big Bang Theory__

There are many theories on how the universe came to be. The most common of them is known as "The Big Bang Theory". This theory stated that the universe started as a very small, hot, and dense agglomeration of matter that exploded and eventually expanded to form millions of galaxies 20 billion years ago. Many scientists today believe that the universe is no longer infinite, what is beyond it is under high speculation. - Amanda Medina

__Geo Words__ __Birth of Planets__ Swirling disk of material surrounding the newborn sun. "Earth like planets" are called terrestrial planets. Terrestrial planets formed in inner parts of the solar system. Earth is based on Carbon and water. Gas giants form about the size of Earth, sometimes they can become larger than Earth itself. - Mary Kate Ponder __Check Your Understanding__
 * Astronomical unit- a unit of measurement equal to the average distance between the Sun and Earth; (1.496 x 10^8) km.
 * Light-year- a unit of measurement equal to the distance light travels in one year; 9.46 x 10^12 km.
 * Parsec- a unit used in astronomy to describe large distances. One parsec equals 3.26 light-years.
 * Nebula- general term used for any "fuzzy" patch on the sky, either light or dark; a cloud of interstellar gas and dust.
 * Constellation- a grouping of stars in the night sky into a recognizable pattern.
 * Planetesimal- one of the small bodies that formed from the solar nebula and grew into protoplanets.
 * Protoplanetary body- a clump of material formed from leftover matter of the early stages of the solar system that were the forerunner of our current planets.
 * Nuclear fusion- a nuclear process that releases energy, it's the source of the energy from the Sun.
 * Terrestrial planets- Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. The planets in our solar system that are similar in size, composition, and density to the Earth.
 * Gas giant planets- Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. The outer solar system planets which are composed of mostly hydrogen, helium, and methane.
 * Comet- a relatively small, icy mass in the Solar System, usually larger than a meteoroid.
 * Asteroid- a small planetary body in orbit around the Sun which is larger than a meteoroid.
 * Cosmologist- a scientist who studies the cosmos, or origin of the universe. -Trudy Morse
 * 1) What are the distances represented by a light-year, an astronomical unit, and a parsec?
 * A light-year is a unit used for distances to stars and galaxies. This measurement unit is equal to the distance light travels in one year. Since light travels at a speed of 300,000 km/s, that makes a light year equal 9.46 x 1012 (9,460,000,000,000) km. An astronomical unit is used for distances inside the solar system. One astronomical unit is equal to the average distance between the Sun and Earth, which is 149,598,770 km. A parsec is a unit used to describe even larger distances. One parsec equals 3.26 light-years. -Barbara V.

2. Which of the units in Question 1 would you describe each of the following? Justify your choice. a) Distances to other stars (but not our sun)? b) Distances to various planets within our solar system? c) Widths of Galaxies?
 * LIght years would be the optimal unit of measurement beacause an astronomical unit would be to large and it is more accurate then a parsec.
 * Astronomical Units are the widely used system of measure in our solar system, they are defined by distances in our solar system.
 * Parsecs, which are the largest unit of the universe. -Hannah Johnson

3.In your own words, explain the nebular theory for the beginning of our solar system?

 The nebula theory is a theory that explains the formation of our galaxy. The galaxy was started by a cloud of dust and gas that came from other stars that were in the area of the galaxy. 4.5 billion years ago the nebula started to form into the stars and planets. The idea was made that our solar system/galaxy was formed by the nebular theory. by Ashley Thomas

4.Briefly describe the origin of the universe.
 * Most scientists agree that the origin of the universe was the Big Bang. This is when an extremely small grain that contained all the matter and energy in the universe rapidly expanded to create what we see as our universe. Others believe in a more biblical origin; this would be that the universe was created by God. > Tanner A.

__Check Your Understanding 4__ Briefly describe the origin of the universe. The main theory of the origin of the universe is the Big Bang Theory. This theory basically states that one day so much energy was built up in a volume smaller than a grain of sand. That the heat of it was so intense that the energy finally expanded and cooled very rapidly. With that, matter was formed and so did all the galaxies, milky ways, planets, stars, etc. The Big Bang is still expanding to this day. -Diana Kangaroooo-

__//Where is the solar system in our galexy? (More info not from the book)//__
-Well our sun Sol is just one of the many many stars that make up our home galexy which is the Milky way. -Our galexy has an equator just like our earth does. -We are only 14 light years (which is a whole lot in space) above the equatorial symmetry plane. - Scientists assme that we are 26,000 to 28,000 light years from the very center of our galexy.



---> By: Meghan Miller

//__Orion Nebula__ (extra information, not in the book)// //- You can see an example of a nebula in the winter **constellation** Orion.// //- The orion nebula is very similar to the one that formed the sun, our star.// //- From the naked eye the orion nebula looks like a faint green path of dusty light, but if you had a telescope and technology to assist you, you could see the magnificent details of this nebula in the dust clouds and gas.// //- Orion is a well known constellation in the night sky.// //- There are many different kinds of nebula's, like the orion nebula, scattered around our galaxy as well.// By Justine Gomez, p. 3a

__Inquiring Further__ During the process of nuclear fusion, two protons and a hydrogen nuclei collide into one. One of the protons is converted into a neutron and together with the proton, form a hydrogen isotope. This isotope known in calculations is “deuterium” The process of the proton converting into a neutron emits a “neutrino” which escapes from the Sun. The deuterium collides with another proton, resulting in a helium isotope, two protons and a neutron. The equation E=MC^2 is used to calculate the binding energies of nuclear fusion when the elements of low atomic numbers join to become a heavy element and release energy. E, is energy measured in joules, m is mass, and c is the speed of light. -Elizabeth Moreno
 * 1) 3) Nuclear Fusion

__**inv. #3 data table**__

Planet diameters Drawn to Scale on paper (except sun) use scale: 1 cm=12,756 km diameter values from table 1 pg E-5 -Amanda Balzano
 * **object** || **object diameter (km)** || **diameter to scale (cm)** ||
 * sun || 1,391,400 || 109.8 cm ||
 * mercury || 4,878 || 0.382 cm ||
 * venus || 12,104 || 0.949 cm ||
 * earth || 12,756 || 1 cm ||
 * mars || 6,794 || 0.532 cm ||
 * jupiter || 142,984 || 11.209 cm ||
 * saturn || 120,536 || 9.449 cm ||
 * uranus || 51,118 || 4.007 cm ||
 * neptune || 49,528 || 3.882 cm ||
 * pluto || 2,302 || 0.18 cm ||

Distance from sun drawn to scale on paper strip use scale: 1 m = 6,000,000,000 km distance values from table 1, pg E-5
 * __inv. #4 data table__**

-Amanda Balzano
 * **object** || **distance from sun (km)** || **distance to scale (m)** || **distance in (cm)** ||
 * sun || 0 || 0 || 0 ||
 * mercury || 57,900,000 || 0.00965 m || 0.965 cm ||
 * venus || 108,209,000 || 0.018 m || 1.8 cm ||
 * earth || 149,598,770 || 0.025 m || 2.5 cm ||
 * mars || 227,900,000 || 0.038 m || 3.8 cm ||
 * jupiter || 778,200,000 || 0.1297 m || 12.97 cm ||
 * saturn || 1,429,200,000 || 0.2382 m || 23.82 cm ||
 * uranus || 2,875,000,000 || 0.479 m || 47.9 cm ||
 * neptune || 4,504,400,000 || 0.751 m || 3.827 cm ||
 * pluto || 5,915,800,000 || 0.986 m || 98.6 cm ||

Digging Deeper Where is the solar system in our galaxy continued -Courtney M
 * galaxies are classified to their shape: elliptical, spiral, or irregular.
 * when you look at the the Milky Way you are looking throughthe galaxy parallel to the plane on its disk.
 * The individual stars you seein the sky are the ones closest to Earth in the galaxy.
 * the galaxies and stars are visible evidence of the Big Bang
 * cosmic background raiation isr radiation that is left over from the initial moments of the Big Bang.

Inquiring Further The distances to the five stars nearest to the sun are too long for my attention span to write. Honestly, if I were to draw a scale model of the stars, the sun and earth, i would be using a huge scale. the earth would be very tiny and the sun would probably be the size of your finger nail. You would not only need a map of the world, but also the whole solar system. - Sam Sanneman
 * 1) 2. __Scaling the nearest Stars__

__Preparing for the chapter challenge.__ In my own words, my community's prosition relitive to the earth, is like a flea's position relitive to a forest, and not a small forest. We are so tiny compared to the solar system. I can not even begin explain how huge space is. Just think, we used to belive the earth was flat. What if there is something bigger? What if we are the flea relitive to something we can not even imagine. Now that's what we need to be looking into, not what sports to cut in highschools. -Sam Sanneman

Inquiring Further is the process where two or more atomic nuclei join together, and form a denser nucleus. This process is accompanied by the absorption or release of large quantities of energy. Nuclear Fusion needs two main factors (high temperatures, and very high densities) Which is why it is mostly common as a energy source for stars __//**- BLAKE WEIL**//__
 * 1) 3 __Nuclear Fusion__