Solar System Scroll
Please read the procedure before beginning! After reading, please watch the video. Some activities require more time and cleanup than others. You also have the choice of performing these activities in a way that suits your needs.
Materials
· Receipt Paper (2)
· Solar System Stickers (2)
· Scissors
· Marker
Procedure
1. Using the scissors, cut out the Sun, planets, and belts from both of your sticker sheets.
2. On one of your pieces of receipt paper, stick the Sun against one end and the Kuiper Belt against the other.
3. Predict the distances between the planets by placing them in order from the Sun to the Kuiper Belt along the receipt paper.
4. The other piece of receipt paper and set of stickers will be used to demonstrate the actual distances between objects in the solar system, scaled down to 1 meter. Repeat step 2 with the unused piece of receipt paper.
5. Fold the receipt paper in half and unfold it. Place Uranus on the crease—an optional step is to outline the orbit by drawing a line along the crease and label the name of the planet.
6. Fold the paper in half, then fold it in half again. Unfold it. There should be two new creases. Place Saturn on the crease closest to the Sun, and place Neptune on the crease between Uranus and the Kuiper Belt.
7. Fold the Sun to meet Saturn. Unfold. Place Jupiter along the new crease.
8. Fold the Sun to meet Jupiter. Unfold. Place the Asteroid Belt along the new crease.
9. Fold the Sun to meet the Asteroid Belt. Unfold. Place Mars along the new crease.
10. Fold the Sun to meet Mars. Fold in half once more. Unfold. There should be 3 new creases. Place Mercury closest to the Sun. Place Venus on the next crease, and Earth on the final crease. Your Solar System is complete! Was your prediction about the distances between the planets accurate? What is different between your prediction and the actual scale of the distances between the planets?
Science Behind it!
The planets in the Solar System are up to billions of miles apart, which is very difficult to comprehend! By scaling the distances down to less than a meter, we can get a better understanding of the relative distances between the planets. What do you notice? The inner planets (called the terrestrial planets) are much closer together than the outer planets (called the jovian planets, or gas giants).
Note that the planets normally aren’t in a perfect line like this—they circle the Sun in paths called orbits, and are at varying positions on their orbital paths at any given time. The Solar System Scroll only shows the relative distances between the planets’ orbits.