Name:________
Date:___________
Moon, Sun and Earth
In this laboratory, we will further consider the relationship between the Moon, Sun, and Earth in understanding day/night, seasons, and moon phases. This lab focuses on your ability to consider how to construct models. You will be using both physical and drawn models in this lab.
Resources/Materials:
You need the following from your kit:
Flashlight
Small Styrofoam ball from your kit
Large stryrofoam ball from your kit
You will also need a piece of paper.
Georgia Standards of Excellence
S4E2. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to model the effects of the position and motion of the Earth and the moon in relation to the sun as observed from the Earth.
a. Develop a model to support an explanation of why the length of day and night change throughout the year.
b. Develop a model based on observations to describe the repeating pattern of the phases of the moon (new, crescent, quarter, gibbous, and full).
c. Construct an explanation of how the Earth’s orbit, with its consistent tilt, affects seasonal changes.
S2E2. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to develop an understanding of the patterns of the sun and the moon and the sun’s effect on Earth.
a. Plan and carry out an investigation to determine the effect of the position of the sun in relation to a fixed object on Earth at various times of the day.
b. Design and build a structure that demonstrates how shadows change throughout the day.
Section 1: Modeling Day/Night
Stick a pencil or pen into the bottom of your larger Styrofoam ball. This ball will represent the Earth. The pencil or pen is the location of the axis of the Earth.
Mark a place on the Earth where you live. I suggest thinking about how we live North of the Equator, but this place does not need to exact
Using the flashlight to model day and night.
Use pictures, photographs, drawing, or writing to show how you modeled day and night. (If you draw, take a picture of your work and place it in this spot.)
Why does your model show how day and night happens?
Go to this website: https://www.schoolsobservatory.org/learn/astro/esm/daynight/shadows to learn about how our shadows change over the course of a day.
How do our shadows change?
Stick an item (e.g., paper clip, pushpin, rolled up paper) into your Styrofoam Earth at location of where we live. This item should stick out about thumb’s width. Here is my example:
Place your flashlight on the table and shine it at the Earth like this:
Turn the Earth to model day and night. You should notice what happens to the shadow of your item:
What happens to the shadow as you turn the ball to model day and night? In particular, how does the shadow change size over the course of the day (or one turning of the ball)?
How would you explain to someone else why our shadow changes sizes over the course of a day?
Section 2: Modeling Seasons
Visit this Sepup simulation web page: http://sepuplhs.org/middle/iaes/students/simulations/sepup_seasons5.html
Read the first page and click to continue to the interaction.
Click through the different seasons of the year and notice how the weather changes for the cities for the Earth’s tilt at 23.5°. Then, do the same thing for 0°
Which tilt, 23.5° or 0°, shows the seasons for the Northern Hemisphere that you would expect (look at Chicago)? Why does it make sense that having this tilt might be part of the cause of seasons?
The Sun is higher in the sky in the summer than in the winter. How would the tilt of the Earth you saw in question 1 lead to this difference in the height of the Sun? (if you need help check out this simulation: PBS simulation).
How does the distance between the Earth and the Sun change between June and December? (look at the picture in the right corner of the Sepup simulation) How does this disapprove that being closer to the Sun in the Summer is what causes Season for Chicago and Kennesaw?
Explain: Why would the results for the Southern Hemisphere be opposite of what you found for the Northern Hemisphere? How is this related to the seasons in these Northern and Southern Hemisphere?
During the summer solstice the North Pole has a whole day of sunlight. In what month does the North Pole have a full day of sunlight? Why does this happen?
Gather data: Use this Time and Date Website Link to complete this task. Record the times of sunrise (solar intensity begins to rise) and sunset (solar intensity returns to zero) for Kennesaw, GA. Based on these times, calculate the hours of daylight for these data.
Date
Sunrise
Sunset
Hours of Daylight
March 21
7:40am
7:51
12:10
June 21
September 23
December 21
Analyze: Use the table to compare the hours of daylight on the equinoxes (March 21 and September 23) and solstices (June 21 and December 21).
What is the longest day of the year? _______________ Shortest? ______________
Equinox has the prefix “equi” for equal in it. Why do you think this is the case?
Summarize: Seasonal changes are related to the length of a day and the height of the Sun in the sky. Describe how these two factors change throughout a year, and how this relates to the seasonal changes you observe in your home town.
Use your “Earth” Styrofoam ball and “Sun” flashlight to model the seasons. What did you do to show how the seasons happen? (Be sure to think about where the Earth should be in its revolution for the Summer and the Winter). Include a picture or a description of how you show the Winter and Summer equinox using your model.
Section 3: Moon Phases
Use this website to find out the Moon Phases for the last month: https://www.weatherforyou.com/reports/index.php?forecast=solunar&zipcode=30144&pands=&place=kennesaw&state=ga&country=us&smon=9&syear=2020&submit=Go
In the chart, write in the day and copy and paste a picture of the phases of the moon – you will need to go back to find the last new moon. Your chart should show pictures of the 8 different phases of the moon.
Phase
Date(s)
Picture
Description
New Moon
Waxing Crescent
Use your completed chart to answer these questions:
How many days does it take for the Moon to move through all the phases?
Given this information, how many days do you think the orbit of the moon is?
What’s the difference between waning and waxing?
What’s the difference between a crescent and a gibbous?
Go to the Moon Phases Gizmo.
Activity A:
Moon phases
Get the Gizmo ready:
Click Reset ().
Question: Why do we see phases of the Moon?
Run Gizmo:
Click Play. As the Moon goes around Earth, notice what the Moon looks like on the right side of the Gizmo. (This shows what an observer on the North Pole would see.)
Turn on Show view area to see which part of the Moon is visible from Earth.
Observe: How does the Moon’s appearance change as the Moon revolves around Earth?
Analyze: Look at the overhead view of the Moon and Earth and notice that only one half of the moon is always illuminated by the Sun. Why does this happen?
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Model the moon phases using your materials. In this case your head will be the Earth, the moon will be the ball, and the flashlight will be the Sun. Try to move your Styrofoam moon around your head so that the different amounts of the moon are illuminated. You will likely need to put the flashlight on a table and sit on the floor (or find a spot for the flashlight so that it is above your head). Then, move the ball around your body. This website shows how to do this: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/teach/activity/moon-phases/ (you just need to look at the changing pictures as guides).
How does this model show the different phases of the moon that you saw in your chart above and in the simulation?
How would you explain to someone else what cause the moon phases? Use pages 838-839 in the textbook for help or this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQ5vty8f9Xc