Traveling to the Moon

How high is The Earth's Atmosphere?

What would the initial speed have to be to fire a human from a cannon to exit the Earth's Atmosphere?

If fired from a cannon a projectile must have enough speed to break through a planet's Atmosphere but ontop of that it must have enough energy to fight its gravitational force that is pulling the object back down towards it. The speed needed to leave a planet is known as the escape volocity but can also be thought of as the escape speed. If you were to fire something from a cannon into space it would have to reach the excape volocity To see how fast you need to travel to escape Earth check the chart of escape speeds.

Rocket History

-Get into pairs and research the history of rockets and space exploration

-Each group needs to pick a significant event in space exploration history

Events in space exploration

-You will draw your historical event

-Read about your event and prepare to present your historical event to the class

-Teach us about the event and be sure to include what its significants to history is

What do you think the future of space exploration holds?

Clinometer

A clinometer is a tool used to measure the height of an object, its incline, or its decline.

We will be making our own clinometers and practice using them to measure trees and buildings around the school. Once we have practiced we will try to measure how high a rocket has launched.

On the last week of summer school when we launch our rockets we should be able to use our clinometers to measure how high our rockets traveled.

The way a clinometer works is by measuring a right triangle. Once we have our triangle measurements we can use the pythagorean theorem to obtain all the measurements including the height of the object we are looking at.

Here is a video to help with the Pythagorean Theorem

We will now go practice using our Clinometers to measure things around the campus.

-Take your partner and measure 3 things. For each of those 3 things you measure, you nee

-The angle, the distance to the thing, and your height.

-Once you have your 3 measurements come back to class where we will work out the geometry on graph paper and find the height of our 3 things.

Film canister Rockets!

We will now take film canisters and fill them half way with water. We will then quickly place half of an anti-acid tablet inside the canister placing the cap back on and flipping it over on the ground. A partner will be ready with their clinometer. The anti-acid tablet will release carbon dioxide inside the canister filling it with pressure. At one point the pressure will be too high and the canister will launch into the air. The partner with the clinometer will try and measure the highest point the film canister reaches. We will then practice measuring the hight of a rocket.

Lost on the Moon

“You are members of a scientific team bound for a permanent research station on the surface of the Moon. Unfortunately, your lunar craft malfunctions, forcing an emergency landing in Mare Crisium, approximately 300 km from the research station at Mare Serenitatis. Both you and the research station are currently on the lighted surface of the Moon. During the landing process, much of the equipment aboard has been damaged, and since survival depends on reaching the research station, only the most critical items must be chosen for the trek. Below you will find a list of the 15 items left intact following the emergency landing. As a group, you must reach consensus regarding the relative importance of these items in your mission to reach help at the research station.”

(1) Brainstorming: Write down as many ideas as possible regarding the potential use of the 15 items for your trek to the research station. At this time, do not discuss or evaluate the merit of these ideas.

(2) Analysis: Review the maps, photos, movies and data on the Moon. Record the similarities and differences between the Earth and the Moon with respect to gravity, atmosphere, lighting, radiation, magnetic field, visibility, surface, etc.

Moon Fact Sheet

(3) Evaluation and consensus building: Discuss the merits of the ideas presented during the brainstorming session and develop a consensus within your group regarding the relative value of each of the items. Place a “1” by the item you value most, and a “15” by the item you value least, recording the rationale for your ranking.

(4) Discussion and defense of position: Compare your ranking with that of other groups. If there are differences, discuss them, presenting reasoned arguments for your ranking. The instructor will lead this discussion.