Solar System Exploration: Solar System 101: Homework Helper

HOMEWORK HELPER

The Swiftest Planet
Sun-scorched Mercury is only slightly larger than Earth's Moon. Like the Moon, Mercury has very little atmosphere to stop impacts, and it is covered with craters. Mercury's dayside is super-heated by the sun, but at night temperatures drop hundreds of degrees below freezing. Ice may even exist in craters. Mercury's egg-shaped orbit takes it around the sun every 88 days.

Explore Mercury in 3D

Activities

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Alka-Seltzer Rockets
Topic: Modeling Solar System Objects
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Asteroids, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Comets, Kuiper Belt & Oort Cloud, Earth's Moon

Short Description: Using baking soda and vinegar, propel an object across the floor to introduce the idea of how things move through space.

Analyzing Elemental Abundances
Grade Level: 9-12
Body: Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Asteroids, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Comets, Kuiper Belt & Oort Cloud
Mission: Genesis (Our Solar System)

Short Description: Participants will practice and understand the use of ratios in describing the abundances of isotopes.

Cooling with Sunshades
Topic: Light and Spectra
Grade Level: 9-12
Body: Mercury
Mission: MESSENGER (Mercury)

Short Description: Participants understand the MESSENGER spacecraft's cooling system through modeling a simple device to measure the effectiveness of different shielding materials against sunlight.

Design Challenge: How do you keep things from getting too hot?
Topic: Modeling Solar System Objects
Grade Level: K-4
Body: Mercury
Mission: MESSENGER (Mercury)

Short Description: Part of the "Staying Cool" education unit which investigates how MESSENGER can study Mercury without being damaged by the harsh high-temperature, high-radiation environment; in this activity, students design, build and test a model of MESSENGER and a sunshade.

Make a Mission
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Mercury

Short Description: Design your own cosmic bridges, as you build a spacecraft to explore the planet Mercury.

Mars Pathfinder: Egg Drop and Landing
Topic: Modeling Solar System Objects
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Asteroids, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Comets, Kuiper Belt & Oort Cloud, Earth's Moon, Pluto
Mission: Mars Pathfinder (Mars)

Short Description: Design, build, and test a system for landing on the surface of Mars without breaking the cargo, an egg.

Measuring Solar Activity
Topic: Light and Spectra
Grade Level: 9-12
Body: Our Solar System, Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Asteroids, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Comets, Kuiper Belt & Oort Cloud

Short Description: Measuring Solar Activity is a multi-part exercise in math and physics for high school students and above. Students will learn graphing, pattern recognition by looking at satellite images and 250 years worth of data, making predictions, and recognizing spacial relationships.

Modeling the Solar System
Topic: Modeling Solar System Objects
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Asteroids, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Comets, Kuiper Belt & Oort Cloud, Earth's Moon

Short Description: This PDF contains four lessons:

1) Modeling Orbits in the Solar System. This lesson models the orbital distances between the planets and shows that the solar system is mostly empty space.

2) Modeling Sizes of Planets. This lesson compares the relative sizes of the planets to those of familiar fruits and vegetables. It also uses size to calculate density and planet composition.

3) Looking Inside Planets. This lesson involves modeling the interior structures of the planets and shows that the solid cores of the gas giants are similar in size to the Earth or Venus.

4) Search for A Habitable Planet. This lesson looks at the characteristics of planets that make them livable, their temperature, and compositions of atmosphere and surface instead of size
or orbit.

Mud Splat Craters
Topic: Planetary Surface Processes
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Asteroids, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Comets, Kuiper Belt & Oort Cloud, Earth's Moon, Pluto

Short Description: Observe crater formation in mud to introduce the idea of fluidized craters as seen on the surface of Mars.

Sensing the Invisible
Topic: Light and Spectra
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Mercury
Mission: MESSENGER (Mercury)

Short Description: Participants experiment with infrared sensing and discover that there is a radiation other than visible light arriving from the sun.

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1 2 3

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Short Description: Using baking soda and vinegar, propel an object across the floor to introduce the idea of how things move through space.

Short Description: Participants will practice and understand the use of ratios in describing the abundances of isotopes.

Cooling with Sunshades
Topic: Light and Spectra
Grade Level: 9-12
Body: Mercury
Mission: MESSENGER (Mercury)

Design Challenge: How do you keep things from getting too hot?
Topic: Modeling Solar System Objects
Grade Level: K-4
Body: Mercury
Mission: MESSENGER (Mercury)

Make a Mission
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Mercury

Short Description: Design your own cosmic bridges, as you build a spacecraft to explore the planet Mercury.

Short Description: Design, build, and test a system for landing on the surface of Mars without breaking the cargo, an egg.

Short Description: This PDF contains four lessons:

1) Modeling Orbits in the Solar System. This lesson models the orbital distances between the planets and shows that the solar system is mostly empty space.

2) Modeling Sizes of Planets. This lesson compares the relative sizes of the planets to those of familiar fruits and vegetables. It also uses size to calculate density and planet composition.

3) Looking Inside Planets. This lesson involves modeling the interior structures of the planets and shows that the solid cores of the gas giants are similar in size to the Earth or Venus.

4) Search for A Habitable Planet. This lesson looks at the characteristics of planets that make them livable, their temperature, and compositions of atmosphere and surface instead of size
or orbit.

Short Description: Observe crater formation in mud to introduce the idea of fluidized craters as seen on the surface of Mars.

Sensing the Invisible
Topic: Light and Spectra
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Mercury
Mission: MESSENGER (Mercury)

Short Description: Participants experiment with infrared sensing and discover that there is a radiation other than visible light arriving from the sun.

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Show All