A Model For Primary School Children
Relating the size of objects to the planets can be difficult for children, particularly if the objects are so small that they cannot be seen. The Scale below is 10 x (times) the scale above, which is a convenient size, virtually all of the objects can be seen. At this scale the distance from the sun to Pluto is just under 1 km (metric units only). At this scale, the speed of light would be about 50 mm per second. Light takes about 5.5 hours to go from the Sun to Pluto. The scale is approximately 1:6 470 000 000. At this scale the Sun could be represented by a children's soccer ball, and α Centauri A is about the size of an adult soccer ball. The smaller planets are about the size of "ice cream sprinkles" (which vary in size from less than 1mm to close to 2mm). Even at this scale α Centauri A is on another continent or at the centre of the earth, a distance of about 6,300 km.
| Body | Diameter | Semi-major axis |
|---|---|---|
| Sun | (215 mm) | zero |
| Mercury | (0.8 mm) | (9 m) |
| Venus | (1.9 mm) | (17 m) |
| Earth | (2 mm) | (23 m) |
| Mars | (1 mm) | (35 m) |
| Ceres | (0.2 mm) | (64 m) |
| Jupiter | (21.6 mm) | (120 m) |
| Saturn | (18 mm) | (221 m) |
| Uranus | (7.3 mm) | (444 m) |
| Neptune | (7 mm) | (696 m) |
| Pluto | (0.5 mm) | (914 m) |
| Eris | (0.5 mm) | (1 567 m) |
| α Centauri A | (239 mm) | (6 370 km) |
Children can have some fun with this model, for example Mercury could be a small red sprinkle while Earth might be a larger blue sprinkle. Venus might be smaller. Children can look for two small red sprinkles for Mercury and Mars. To maintain relativities, Mercury should be slightly smaller than Mars etc. The objects can be assembled in the classroom and then taken outside to a large park.
Read more about this topic: Solar System Model
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