Are We There Yet? Answer Sheet
It took astronauts about 4 days to get to the Moon. The recently launched New Horizons Pluto probe covered the Earth- Moon distance in 9 hours. It takes light or a radio beam about 1.3 seconds.
Planetary Parking Lot Answer Sheet
Follow the steps below to compute the diameter of the Sun, Jupiter and Saturn at the “Earth is a Basketball” scale.
Known factors:
Real Sun diameter = 873,600 miles
Real Earth diameter = 8,000 miles
Basketball Earth diameter = 9.46 inches
Sun / Earth = 436,800 x 2 = 873,600 / 8,000 = 109.2
This means that the Sun’s diameter is 109.2 times that of the Earth.
So at “Earth is a Basketball” scale the Sun is 109.2 x 9.46 inches. This is 1033.032 inches or 86 feet.
Jupiter
Jupiter’s diameter = 89,600 miles
89,600 / 8,000 = 11.2 (Jupiter is 11.2 times Earth’s diameter) so Jupiter is 8.83 feet or 106 inches at “Earth is a Basketball” scale.
Saturn
Saturn’s diameter = 75,760 miles
This is 9.47 times Earth’s diameter or 89.6 inches Or 7.47 feet at “Earth is a Basketball” scale.
Divide the diameter by 2 to get the radius for the Planetary Parking Lot Activity.
You can assign your students to calculate the other Planetary diameters and radii in a similar manner.
Could You Survive a Moon Crash? Answer Sheet
Group One: The essentials
One: Air is essential to sustaining life so it should be the #1 priority.
Two: Water is also necessary during your multi-day lunar hike so it is #2.
Three: A star map will help you find your way to the base; after basic survival it’s tops.
Four: Food will keep your strength up.
Five: The solar-powered radio may enable you to call for rescue, shortening your ordeal.
Group Two: Potentially useful
Six: 50 feet of rope could help you traverse difficult terrain.
Seven: The first aid kit could be a lifesaver.
Eight: You could make a sunshade with the parachute canopy, but there is no atmosphere on the Moon.
Nine: Signal flares might help you when you are very close to the base.
Ten: Dehydrated milk could add to your food but is not absolutely essential for the hike.
Group Three: Arguably deadweight on the Moon
Eleven: Self-inflating life raft. Some have argued to use the carbon dioxide bottle for propulsion. This might be true in weightlessness, but it isn’t large enough to use on the Moon.
Twelve: Solar-powered portable heating unit. The problem during the day will be too much heat!
Thirteen: Pistols. It has been suggested that you could use the pistols for propulsion but this will not work in the Moon’s gravity field.
Fourteen: Magnetic Compass. A compass will not work on the Moon because, unlike the Earth, it has no appreciable magnetic field.
Fifteen: Matches. These won’t work on the airless Moon.
Download complete guide as [
PDF ]
Subscribe
