I want to show some kids just how spread out the solar system is. I want to show an orange as the sun, some object of the correct relative size as the earth and tell them how far apart they would be.
2006-07-29 13:46:14 · 5 answers · asked by science_curious 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Earth is about 100 times smaller than the Sun, so if the Sun was 3" wide, Earth would be about 0.03" wide, which is much smaller than a pea. And it would be about 27 feet away. Use the source below to calculate any scale. I like to use a 10" basketball for the Sun.
2006-07-29 15:50:12 · answer #1 · answered by campbelp2002 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
i dont know about an orange, but my teacher used one of those color-swirled balls you buy at the dollar store, and the earth was a the size of a pinhead. He said that he did the math, and the sizes were an acurate model, but that pluto would be somewhere in china (i live in the chicago area). If you put the sun in a corner, i think mercury is the only planet that will fit in the classroom.
p.s. its fun to do this with a flashlight and the lights off, so its good if you have a power-outtage
2006-07-29 14:01:56 · answer #2 · answered by ashley 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The earth would be more like the size of a BB or large grain of sand. And they would be about 100 yards apart. (And, on that scale, the nearest star would be about fifty miles away!)
2006-07-29 14:11:47 · answer #3 · answered by cdf-rom 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't know about the distance..... but try this one.... if the sun were the size of a basketball, earth would be a grape
2006-07-29 13:56:48 · answer #4 · answered by ghoul12001 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If the orange is about 3" across, the earth would be about .01" across (pretty small) and about 27 feet away.
Ooops, it should be .03" across. Still pretty small.
2006-07-29 13:59:17 · answer #5 · answered by mathematician 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋