Intergalactic Planetary
For the first step of this project, we created 3 models of the Solar System on a google jamboard with each model adding more onto our original ideas. Below is an image of what our model looked like at the end of model 3.
Our model included facts about each planet like how far each planet is from the sun, orbital period, diameter of planet, and acc. due to gravity on each planet. There is a mass post it note in the key but we never got to adding the masses of the planets.
Model 4 was a lot different from the previous models. This one was not a picture or colorful representation of planets, it was a google slides predicting a data point of a planet called Planet X. We predicted this data point with some factors that were given to us such as the mass of the planet, diameter of the planet, and the distance from the sun. My group chose predicting the planet's surface temperature based on distance from the sun and surface pressure. Surface pressure affects the temperature because if the planet has a very high surface pressure it will trap heat and gasses in. That is how our atmosphere is made. Planets like Venus with high surface pressure had a very high surface temperature. We then used google sheets to find a trend line to calculate Planet X's surface temperature. We came up with -300 degrees celsius which is impossible since nothing can go below absolute zero (-273 degrees). Below is the google slide presentation we created. The three separate slides are all the same except for the graph in the middle. One graph shows the data with Venus, the data without venus, and the data without Venus and with a line of best fit.
Our prediction was wildly off, so for model 5 our goal was to predict values accurately using equations instead of google sheets or an equation we made up. This time we were given values and equations and used them to find different things. We created a mini diagram for each of the factors and found accurate numbers. One of the limitations for our model is that our model only works with planets in our solar system. We also don't know the obliquity to orbit of Planet X so that may skew the data for orbital period. Below is the google doc that we worked on for Model 5.
Key Terms
Obliquity to Orbit: The tilt of the planet's axis. The Earth has a tilt of about 22 degrees.
Radius of planet (km): Distance from center of planet to the surface of the planet. We used this to find force of universal gravitation.
Mass of Planet (kg): How much mass planet has. Used to find force of universal gravitation.
Orbital Speed (km/s or m/s): How fast planet is orbiting. Used to find Orbital Period.
Distance from Sun (km or AU): How far planet is from the sun. Can be measured in kilometers or Astronomical Units.
Atmospheric Pressure: The atmospheric pressure at the surface of the planet. Measured in bars.
Orbital Period (days): How long it takes for a planet to revolve one time around the sun. Calculated by taking 2 times p x π x d/v. D= distance from sun. V= Orbital Velocity/Speed.
Force of Universal Gravitation (N): Every object is attracted to every other object in the universe. This is directly proportional to their masses and inversely proportional to the distance between the two objects squared. The equation is G x m1 x m2 all divided by the distance squared. G= gravitational constant (6.67 x 10^-11. M1= mass of first object. M2= Mass of second object.
Reflection
This project went really well. I think that I learned a lot from this project since it was our first project working with just one other person. This meant that each person was responsible for more and had to make sure to carry out their part. I had my teammate absent for the entire week when Model 4 was supposed to be worked on. This left me to do my part and his. It was ok though since I just finished it as best as I could. I learned that team members can be absent sometimes it is a part of life, I just have to be able to adapt and fix the situation. I think I could have done better at some things like attention to detail and research. In model 4 I overlooked that absolute zero is a thing and that the line of best fit google sheets drew didn't seem right. In the future I should remember to be more thorough double checking work and facts to make sure the final project is something I can be proud of.