2007-09-18 10:10:10 · 4 answers · asked by M.K 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Because the planets are so small compared to the distance between them. If the Sun is a 10 inch circle, then Earth is a 1/10 inch circle 89 feet away, Jupiter is a 1 inch circle 465 feet away and Pluto is a speck so small as to be difficult to draw correctly and is about 2/3 of a mile away.
2007-09-18 10:18:05 · answer #1 · answered by campbelp2002 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Size and distance. If you draw the planets large enough to be identifiable you can't then put them at the right distances on a single sheet of paper. If you draw the orbits to scale so you can fit them on a single sheet of paper the planets would be so small as to be invisible.
I once made a scale model of the solar system in a field, using a tennis ball as the Sun. On that scale, Earth is a small dot, and is still several feet from the tennis ball. I couldn't even get Neptune into the field.
2007-09-18 18:09:37 · answer #2 · answered by Jason T 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well, it's not all that difficult.... say you take 1" = 93 million miles. That would make the sun about 1/100 inch across, and the distance of the sun to the Earth (a dot about 1/10,000 of an inch across) is 1 inch.
Jupiter would be a dot about 1/1000 inch across, and about 10 inches out from the sun.
Pluto, on the other hand, would be a tiny dot 1/40,000 inch in diameter, and about 4 feet away.
You can't get it on an 8 1/2 X 11 sheet of paper (at this scale, anyway), but it's drawable.
2007-09-18 17:22:34 · answer #3 · answered by quantumclaustrophobe 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Size is most likely the issue. You'd either have to have scale diagram the size of a football field so you can make out every single planet/star in it, or make it so small you couldn't tell what any of it was.
2007-09-18 17:18:34 · answer #4 · answered by Deeder Magoo 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋