How do you explain abstract situations where several bodies are moving around and affecting each other?<\/p>\n
Well, it\u2019s easier than you think! These six experiments will help illuminate some of the complex principles of space science for the young\u2026 and the young at heart.<\/p>\n
Read more kids\u2019 astronomy guides:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n You will need: a basin, some flour, cocoa and pebbles or marbles of varying sizes.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Have you ever enjoyed a view of the Moon? Its scarred surface is dominated by large basins and craters of varying size and shape. But how did these craters form and why are some of them deeper or longer than others?<\/p>\n The following experiment will show you what has been happening to the Moon\u2019s surface over millions of years.<\/p>\n Fill the basin with flour about 2-3cm deep. Then, sprinkle some cocoa on the surface. The cocoa is just there to help the crater stand out, so any dark power will do.<\/p>\n Find a floor or table that\u2019s easy to clean up and set down your basin. Then, drop your pebble into the flour. Congratulations \u2013 you\u2019ve created your first crater!<\/p>\n Trying changing the speed of the pebble by dropping it from different heights, or see if you can gently throw it in from an angle (careful though, you don\u2019t want to splash flour all over the floor). By doing so you can see how the angle and speed of impact affect the shape of the crater.<\/p>\n Throw a handful of smaller pebbles in with a bit of a swing and you can even create impact crater chains that resemble those on the Moon.<\/p>\n You will need: a shoebox, some aluminium foil, sticky tape, a sheet of white paper, a ruler and a pin or needle.<\/strong><\/p>\n Although The Sun is nearly 150 million km away from us and huge, you can measure its size from your living room.<\/p>\n You\u2019re going to build a simple pinhole camera. Cut a 2x2cm square out of the centre of one of the short sides of the shoebox. Place the aluminium foil over the cut-out and tape it down.<\/p>\n Then, use the pin or needle to pierce the foil. Line the inside of the opposite end of the box with the white paper.<\/p>\n You now have a pinhole camera. Measure the length of the box, from the hole to the sheet of paper.<\/p>\n Point the foil-covered front end towards the Sun, being careful to never look directly at it!<\/p>\n An image of the Sun will appear on the piece of paper and you can measure it with a ruler. With that measurement and a bit of simple maths, you can calculate the Sun\u2019s diameter:<\/p>\n As 149,600,000km is the distance to the Sun and the ratio of size to distance from the hole is the same for both, this should give you a decent estimate of the Sun\u2019s size.<\/p>\n You can use the same method for the Moon, but replace the number at the end with 384,000km.<\/p>\n Check your result when you\u2019ve finished to see how close you are. The bigger the box, the more accurate you\u2019ll be.<\/p>\n You will need: a stick, some card, scissors, a ruler, glue and a pair of compasses.<\/strong><\/p>\n Planets are not perfect spheres. They bulge out at the equator and flatten at their poles. The bigger the planet, the bigger the effect.<\/p>\n Planets are deformed this way because they spin, and this experiment will show you how.<\/p>\n First you need to build a model planet. Cut out three discs from the card \u2013 two need to be 4cm in diameter (we\u2019ll call those A and B) and one should be 3cm in diameter (called C).<\/p>\n Next, make a hole in discs A and C just big enough for them to sit firmly on the stick. Then make a larger hole into B so that it can easily slide up and down the stick.<\/p>\n Now cut out eight strips of the card (each about 1.25x30cm). Glue one end of each strip around the edge of disc A so that it looks like spider.\u00a0Then put it on the stick.<\/p>\n Next fix C on the stick about 15cm away from A as a reference point. Finally, put B on the stick beneath C and glue the ends of the strips around its edge so that it looks like the model planet on the right. Ensure that B can easily move along the stick.<\/p>\n Now, hold the stick between your hands and spin it. Try changing how fast you spin the stick and see what happens. You should find the faster you spin the stick the more the \u2018planet\u2019 bulges.<\/p>\n You will need: cardboard, a pair of compasses and a roll of toilet paper.<\/strong><\/p>\n The sizes of the planets in our Solar System and the distances between them can be hard to grasp, but this experiment will help you put things into perspective.<\/p>\n Start by drawing circles on pieces of card using the scale radii in the table below to make your planets (remember to label them as you go).<\/p>\n As a starting point we\u2019ve given Earth a radius of 1cm and left out the Sun, as it would be 2.2m wide at this scale!<\/p>\n To represent the distances between planets we\u2019ll use the toilet paper, as it is conveniently separated into sheets of the same size.<\/p>\n This time we say that one sheet is equal to the distance to Mercury. Unfortunately, this is a different scale to the planet sizes \u2013 if they were on the same scale, Neptune would be 7km away!<\/p>\n Then roll out the toilet paper and count the sheets until you reach the relevant number and put a planet on it. Isn\u2019t it impressive how much space there is in between?<\/p>\n And that\u2019s not even the whole Solar System. If you wanted to incorporate the Oort Cloud into this model, you\u2019d need about 250,000 sheets of toilet paper.<\/p>\n You will need: a lamp (for the Sun), an orange (for Earth) and a stick.<\/strong><\/p>\n We have four seasons on Earth due to the inclination of the Earth\u2019s rotational axis. But why does the tilt affect the weather?<\/p>\n Skewer the orange onto the stick, then draw around the equator of the orange. Like in the eclipse experiment, find a dark room and hold the orange up to the light so that half of it is illuminated.<\/p>\n Instead of holding the stick so it\u2019s vertical, tilt it so that it\u2019s at roughly the same angle as the Earth\u2019s rotational axis, which is 23.5\u00b0.<\/p>\n Now take a closer look at how that angle affects Earth\u2019s exposure to the Sun. At point A the top of the stick is tipped towards the lamp.<\/p>\n There\u2019s more sunlight shining on the northern hemisphere, which in turn receives more energy and warms up. The north is experiencing summer, while in the south it is winter.<\/p>\n We have exactly the opposite situation when our Earth is on the other side of the lamp (at point C). At B and D the stick is neither pointing away nor towards the lamp \u2013 both hemisphere\u2019s are lit by the same amount. These points are spring and autumn.<\/p>\n It\u2019s worth noting that this experiment works much better with a lamp that\u2019s designed to light in all directions, rather than one that\u2019s directional, such as a desk lamp.<\/p>\n You will need: a lamp, a smaller ball (for the Moon) and a larger ball (for Earth).<\/strong><\/p>\n One of the most amazing astronomical observations we can witness is a solar eclipse. But how do they happen?<\/p>\n As the Moon orbits our planet, sometimes it passes between Earth and the Sun, casting a shadow.\u00a0This experiment shows you how that works.<\/p>\n Find a dark room and switch on the lamp, then place \u2018Earth\u2019 a few metres away so that half of it is in the light. Hold the \u2018Moon\u2019 about 20cm above the lit side of the \u2018Earth\u2019 so it casts a shadow on the surface.<\/p>\n It\u2019ll only be a small shadow, which explains why a solar eclipse can only be seen within a small corridor on Earth determined by the size of the shadow and the rotation of our planet.<\/p>\nHow do craters form?<\/h3>\n<\/div>
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Measuring the size of the Sun and Moon<\/h3>\n<\/div>
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>How does spinning change the shape of planets?<\/h3>\n<\/div>
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Measuring the size of the Solar System<\/h3>\n<\/div>
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Why does Earth experience seasons?<\/h3>\n<\/div>
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Why do eclipses happen?<\/h3>\n<\/div>
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