Unit 3 WebQuest - Internet Project

Out of this World

Introduction | Task | Process | Guidance | Conclusion | Questions

Introduction
You can probably name the planets in the solar system, but can you name planets outside of our system? In recent years, planets in other systems have been discovered. In August, 2004, a team of astronomers discovered a small planet orbiting a star known as 55 Cancri. Star 55 Cancri has three other planets, making it the first known four-planet system outside our system.

In this project, you will examine how scientific notation, factors, and graphs are useful in presenting information about planets.

The Task
Since 1997, NASA has sponsored an annual Space Day in which schools everywhere can participate. Your school will be joining in the celebration this coming year by investigating space and technology for the entire day. Your class has been assigned to design a display about the planets in our solar system. Each student in your class needs to contribute some type of planetary information that can be described using mathematics. For this project you need to present your information in a brochure, on a poster, or on a Web page. Be sure you include the following information:

• the data about planets that you will use for your project;
• three graphs, tables, or calculations that present the data you are using in some way. You can use all graphs, all tables, all calculations, or a combination of the three methods;
• diagrams or pictures that will make your project visually appealing.

• Find data about the planets of the solar system. For help, try these Web sites.
  www.nasa.gov
  nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov
  nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/planetfact.html
• Brainstorm with several other students. Make a list of ideas for projects. Visit this Web site to learn more about Space Day.
  www.spaceday.com
  quest.arc.nasa.gov/projects/space/spaceday/2003
• Consider various types of graphs that you could use to display planetary data.
• See the exercises in Unit 3 to help you with ideas for your project.
• Investigate other information about the planets. Visit these Web sites for additional space information.
  www.infoplease.com and search for planets
  observe.arc.nasa.gov/nasa/education/reference/orbits/orbit_sim.html
  csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/history/kepler.html
  home.cvc.org/science/kepler.htm
  btc.montana.edu/ceres
  www.space.com
  www.howstuffworks.com
  www.whitehousecyberlib.org/astronomy.html
• Be creative. Add some additional data, information, or even pictures to your brochure, poster, or Web page.

1. What missions to investigate the planets of our solar system have been completed or are in progress? What were the results of these missions?
2. How many moons do the various planets have? Have there been any space missions to these moons?
3. Have other solar systems been located? If so, how far are they located from Earth?
4. How do telescopes work? What is the history of telescopes? What are the various types of telescopes?
5. How do the missions and research conducted by NASA benefit people on Earth?
6. Have any companies begun to develop plans for space travel for civilians? What are the advantages and disadvantages of such programs?
7. Investigate Kepler's Laws. Verify the third law for each of the nine planets.
8. What is a light-year?
9. What discoveries have been made by the Hubble Space Telescope?
10. What is the eccentricity of an orbit? How is it calculated? Find the eccentricity of the orbit of each planet.

• Present your project to your class or at a family night.
• Present the information on a Web page. Have other students critique your project and help you to make improvements to your project.
• Write a one-page summary of what you have learned from completing this project.

Lesson 7–1
For her project, Priscilla finds these data about the planets on a Web site. The table shows the perihelion (closest point to the Sun), the aphelion (furthest point from the Sun), and the average surface temperature for each planet. Notice that all distances are given as 10⁶ miles.

1. Copy the table and rewrite all the distances in scientific notation.
2. For which planet is the difference between the aphelion and perihelion the greatest?
3. Draw a scatter plot for the perihelion distance and the average temperature. Let distance be on the horizontal axis and temperature on the vertical axis.
4. Describe the scatter plot.

1. Fill in the average distance column. Write your answers as values in 10⁶ miles.
2. What is a common factor of all the distances in column four?
3. Suppose you round each value in column 4 to the nearest 10. What is the greatest common factor of each distance then?
4. How can factoring the values for the distances help Tyler to make a scale model of the solar system?

1. In a reference book, Ingrid finds that the surface area of a sphere is found by multiplying 4 times p times the radius squared. The formula is written SA = 4 x p x r². Fill in column three by finding the radius of each planet. Then fill in column four by finding the surface area of each planet. Use 3.14 for p and round each answer to the nearest whole number.
2. Next, Ingrid decides to make a scatter plot of the data. She writes the ordered pairs (radius, surface area) and plots the points. Draw this scatter plot. Describe the scatter plot.
3. Ingrid uses graphing software to find an equation for the scatter plot. The equation is y = 12.56x². Explain why this equation fits the data.
4. The graph of y = 12.56x² lies in Quadrants I and II. In which quadrant does the graph have no meaning for the surface area of the planets? Explain.

TEACHER NOTES

In this project, students will research statistics about the planets of the solar system and present these statistics in some manner. They can use any type of graphs, tables, or calculations to present the statistics. Students should examine the ideas in the Exercises presented in Lessons 7-1, 8-1, and 9-2 for ideas. Encourage students to brainstorm with others to find a suitable project. If students are having trouble deciding upon a topic, just have them make graphs of various statistics about the planets, such as distance from the Sun, and/or make scatter plots of various statistics to look for relationships. Another option for this project is to have all students make a table to show the distances that could be used to make a model of the solar system (See Lesson 8-1.). Students would probably all choose different scales to use. Spreadsheet software would be helpful for students making scale models and for students who want to compare various statistics about the planets with scatter plots as was done in Exercise 3 in Lesson 7-1.

The Guidance section of the Cross Curricular Project contains questions that would be good for a whole-class discussion and for providing interdisciplinary connections. You may want to collaborate with a science teacher at your school for this project. If you prefer, have each student research one of the questions in the Guidance section and add the information they find to the final presentation of their Cross Curricular Project.

Several Web sites are included in the project to help students in completing this Cross Curricular Project. Encourage students to find additional sites and to share those sites with other students.

Students will work on this project in Unit 3.

Lesson	7–1	8–1	9–2
Page	362	421	484

ANSWERS
Lesson 7–1

1. 
   

   Planet	Perihelion (106miles)	Aphelion (106miles)	Difference in Distances
   Mercury	2.86 x 107	4.34 x 107	1.48 x 107
   Venus	6.68 x 107	6.77 x 107	0.09 x 107
   Earth	9.14 x 107	9.45 x 107	0.31 x 107
   Mars	1.284 x 108	1.549 x 108	0.265 x 108
   Jupiter	5.074 x 108	4.331 x 109	3.8236 x 109
   Saturn	9.411 x 108	1.0747 x 1010	9.8059 x 109
   Uranus	1.8664 x 109	3.0589 x 1010	2.87226 x 1010
   Neptune	2.8245 x 109	5.98 x 1010	5.69755 x 1010
   Pluto	4.5387 x 109	9.0588 x 1010	8.60493 x 1010

2. Pluto
3. 
   
4. If the points were connected, the graph would be a curve. As distance increases, temperature decreases.

1. 
   

   Planet	Average Distance (106miles)
   Mercury	36
   Venus	67.25
   Earth	92.95
   Mars	141.65
   Jupiter	2419.2
   Saturn	5844.05
   Uranus	16,227.7
   Neptune	31,312.25
   Pluto	47,563.35

2. 10⁶
3. 
   

   Planet	Average Distance (106 miles)
   Mercury	40
   Venus	70
   Earth	90
   Mars	140
   Jupiter	2420
   Saturn	5840
   Uranus	16,230
   Neptune	31,310
   Pluto	47,560

   10⁷
4. Sample answer: Tyler could factor 10⁷ out of each distance and let 1 cm be equal to 10⁷ miles. For example, the distance from the Sun to Mercury would then be 4 cm and the distance from Earth to the Sum would be 9 cm.

1. 
   

   Planet	Radius (miles)	Surface Area (square miles)
   Mercury	1516	28,866,095
   Venus	3760.5	177,615,485
   Earth	3963	197,259,435
   Mars	2111	55,971,392
   Jupiter	44,423	24,785,940,790
   Saturn	37,448.5	17,614,020,310
   Uranus	15,881.5	3,167,908,851
   Neptune	15,387.5	2,973,895,963
   Pluto	742.5	6,924,407

2. 
   
   If the points were connected, the graph would be a curve. It looks like part of the graph of a parabola.
3. If y is the surface area of a sphere and x is the radius, then an equation relating the two variables is y = 4 • 3.14 • x². If you multiply the two constants, you get y = 12.56x²
4. The graph has no meaning for this situation in Quadrant II. The values of x are negative in Quadrant II. The radius is represented by x and you cannot have negative values for the radius.