Intergalactic Planetary

The project:

This project was based off the improvement on an original model based off minimal facts of what we, in our groups already knew about the solar system. Throughout the project we produced four different models each one more complicated than the last adding more information and the limitations that the model held. We also had to make a connection from different data and figure out the correlation between them. We were then given pieces of data from a new planet that was discovered not too long ago that our teacher named Planet X, we were then expected to provide a third data point from the planet that we produced through the correlation we found in other planets data. We also were expected to explain our thought process throughout the project.

Model one was an individual assignment where each person drew out their own diagram of the solar system with the knowledge they already had of the solar system. For model two my group and I started off with a simple design. It wasn't really drawn to scale, but we just drew out what we knew, and it did look kind of accurate color wise. Before model three we were given information about the solar system and improved what we could from what we did on model two, we couldn't make a difference in how we drew it, so we wrote important facts around each planet like the distance from the sun, mass, and the density. For model four we were given an already existing planet that our teacher called planet x, we as a group were suppose to figure certain things with a specific phenomenon that we come up with based off of evidence from the solar system. After we chose the phenomenon our teacher gave us useful information on planet x that would help us prove our phenomenon. And Model five was another individual model activity of solving and calculating specific things about Earth, planet x, and planet y.

As a phenomenon my group and I decided to make it mean temperature based, meaning we found a relationship between all the average temperatures of each planet in our solar system in our data. The data and evidence was clear but one thing threw off our data a bit, which was the planet Venus, although Mercury was the closest to the sun, Venus has a hotter mean temperature. We thought this may be due to the fact that Venus has a very slow rotation, but after our research we realized it was mainly due to the gases the atmosphere consisted of. But other than that we concluded that that farther the distance a planet is from the sun, the colder the mean temperature gets.

Those were models two, three, and four. I don't have a picture of model one because it's a practice model but here is a picture of model 5, and the directions for it:

Content:

The big idea and goal of this project was to be able to show on a model and describe that gravity causes orbital motion and layers of the Earth and can be described using scientific models. As you can see I managed to calculate using Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation (F=Gm1m2/d*d) in my model four. I also have a model in my notes of the Earth's interior and surface movement by describing the cycling of matter by thermal convection. And I learned how to predict the orbit of an object in the solar system in this unit. I also learned key vocabulary such as:

Universal Law of Gravitation- Every particle attracts every other particle in the universe. Directly proportional to their masses and inversely to the distance between the center of their masses squared.

Gravitational Force- The force or natural phenomenon that causes objects to attract to each other.

Inverse square law- The law that states the affects such as light and gravity are inversely proportional to their distance from the object squared.

Orbital Period- How long it takes a planet to travel around their sun once.

Orbital Velocity- The average speed in which the planet travels around their sun.

Distance to the Sun- How far the planet is from the sun.

Radius- Distance from surface of the planet to the core, half the diameter.

Rotation- The spin of the planet.

Revolution- The Earth revolves around the sun and the moon revolves around the Earth.

Gravitational Constant- A number Einstein discovered to give the math he was solving a pause button, makes it so the universe is not moving.

Convection- The movement caused by the cycle of a material heating, cooling, and movement which is caused by the force of gravity to pull denser objects closer. (heat causes objects to become less dense)

Earth's Magnetic Field- Believed to be caused by the liquid outer core, flips every 500,000 years(very loose approximation, it is quite random)

Radioactive Decay- the process by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy

Density- The measure of how compact an object is.

Crust- The most outer layer of the earth and the thinnest, it is what we are on. It is solid, mostly made up of low density materials (silicon.)

Mantle- The layer below the crust and also the largest layer. This is the layer that convection occurs.

Liquid Outer Core- Believed source of Earth's magnetic field, surround the inner core.

Solid Inner Core- Inner most part of the planet.

Reflection:

This project was difficult and quick, it was hard to put in the neatest quality of work at times. Two of the 6C's that I think I excelled in during this project is Collaboration and Conscientious Learner. I did a fair share of work and always collaborated with my group to make sure we all had the same understanding and for conscientious learner I made sure that we all stayed all on the topic, that the the project was a bit more organized, and I had good time management skills. I think I did do a lot of the project though, I did the writing and contributed to a lot of the poster, so maybe next time I should let my group mates contribute more to the project. I also didn't really use my critical thinking skills too much during this project, and I kind of listened to my groups ideas instead, because I had a hard time coming up with my own ideas for this project. But overall our project turned out pretty well and I learned a lot of new things during this unit.