Model of the Solar System Using Toilet Paper!

The 4th graders have been learning about the planets in the Solar System-- what makes them similar and different, what makes a planet a planet, etc.

Check out this video from NOVA: Definition of a Planet.

Today, we concentrated on the "space" in space, asking ourselves how far apart the planets are (on average) from each other. We constructed an 84-foot model, using 200 sheets of toilet paper. In this shaky video, you can see how closely the Terrestrial Planets (planets more like Earth-- Mercury, Venus, and Mars) are grouped together and how far apart the Jovian Planets (the "Gas Giants"- Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune) are. The white wall to the right approximately represents the Sun. The very last person to the right represents Pluto, now classified as a dwarf planet.

It's important to remember that even though this model seems very big, we would need a much bigger model to represent the relative sizes of the planets. In our 84-foot TP model, Jupiter would be the size of a grain of salt.

The students are singing "The Family of the Sun" song.



Thanks to Suzanne Chippindale and the Astronomical Society of the Pacific for putting out this terrific lesson. You can click on the pic below to see the full lesson.