Scale Model of the Solar System
Note the there is a paper version (linked below) and the following web version that relies on a Bill Nye video on YouTube.
What should be fairly obvious to you from these first lectures and your text readings this week is that space is BIG! It's so big, that most of us have a hard time visualizing just how big things are - it's even hard for your Astro 150 Team members to visualize, and we work on this stuff!! In the next lesson we'll start talking about the solar system and the objects within it. What a lot of students do not realize is just how big (and empty) the solar system really is. Please watch this enlightening video by Bill Nye the Science Guy!
After watching the video, I'd like you to take a shot at answering the following two questions. We don't expect you to necessarily get the right answer at this point (certainly great, if you do!), but give it your best shot. The points you receive for answering these questions will be given for effort (e.g. did you write a well thought-out, college-level response and make a reasonable attempt at the math) not for if you got the math right or wrong (no really, we won't take off points for your math being wildly wrong, so relax and give it the "ol' college try")..
With these and any questions we ask, unless otherwise stated, we are expecting more than a one-word answer - always explain your reasoning. Again, we are more interested in seeing how you reason, versus whether or not you get the math right here so suppress your urge to "ask Google" for the answers and just give the questions an honest shot! You are of course, welcome to query Google for unit conversions or whatever you need to understand the numbers/scale.
Question 1: Using the scale of the solar system presented in the video (Hint: Bill uses a 1 meter diameter weather balloon as the Sun), where on Earth would Bill have to bike (or drive or fly), in order to get to the closest star to the Sun? The nearest star, Alpha Centauri, is 4.24 ly from our Sun. Your answer can be a city, state, country, or somewhere out in space, etc. If you are able to work out the math - fantastic!! If not and you want to make an educated guess, that's fine too BUT please remember to explain your answer for full credit.
Question 2: If I were to replace Bill's weather balloon-Sun with a tennis ball, how would the relative sizes of the planets and the distances between them change? Where (approximately) would the nearest star now be on this model?