why is there never a straight answer?

Question

i just keep getting silly answers, all i want to know is what size people recommend making the sun if i am doing a model of the solar system with the largest planet being the size of an orange...i know the sun in comparison would be much much bigger but obviously i cant do that, what do people usually do?

Answer 1

People usually don't do the Sun to scale when they do their model. They do it smaller. And they'll use distances between planets that are not to scale for the real distances from the sun.

That's the straight answer. Use artistic license, since using scale is not practical.

Answer 2

http://www.exploratorium.edu/ronh/solar_system/

use this page. enter the size of of the sun that you want then press "calculate". this will give the scale sizes for the planets and their orbits. if jupiter is represented by a four inch orange then the sun would be represented by a forty inch ball. you might see how big those balls used for exercise are or use smaller balls. you will probably need to exaggerate the size of the planets by 100x or more compared to their orbits also. if the sun is one inch across then neptune will be 269 feet five inches away.

i used this page to do a model solar system with sidewalk chalk with my six year old nephew once. i drew a one-inch yellow sun on the sidewalk let my nephew draw the planets after i had measured the proper distance. he kept repeating "oh my god" because the planets kept getting farther and farther away. i did put the last planet, neptune, 269 feet, five inches away.

Answer 3

The largest planet in the solar system is Jupiter, with a diameter of 142,985 km. The Sun's diameter is 1,392,000 km. Which means the Sun is 9.73 times the diameter of Jupiter. You might consider having a beach ball for the Sun.

Answer 4

The diameter of the sun is roughly ten times the diameter of Jupiter. If your Jupiter, an orange, is about 4 inches in diameter, then you sun should be about 40 inches in diameter. Use the largest beach ball you can find.

Answer 5

A Canteloupe would seem appropriate to represent the sun, though the weight of it might be off-putting for your project. Perhaps taking a volleyball and painting it, or if there is a rather more significant difference in size, upgrade to a basketball. You may also consider bringing in one of those large round coffee cakes drizzled with orange and creamcheese frosting (that way they can eat it too!) Good luck!

Answer 6

A basketball should be the biggest representation..anything bigger would be too big. An orange is good for Jupiter. Good Luck

Answer 7

The sun will be ten oranges wide. Maybe a small beachball. The earth will be a grape.

Answer 8

you can make everything smaller.... for example get a ping pong ball for the largest planet, and use a basketball for the sun. for smaller planets you can use small marbles....

have fun and good luck

Answer 9

Here are some links to help you figure out the size relationship between the planets:
http://www.exploratorium.edu/ronh/solar_system/
http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/overview.html

Answer 10

if the largest is the size of an orange, I'd use a grapfruit, or maybe a smaller melon.