Lyceum B - Astronomy - Week 24 - Mars
- Apr 19, 2022
- 3 min read
Project - Building a Shield Volcano
Need blue poster board and orange poster board, drawing compass, plaster of Paris with blue and orange powder paint
Weigh each piece of poster board
On the orange piece (“Mars”), draw a circle with a 6 inch radius. On the blue piece (“Earth”), draw a circle with a 2 inch radius.
For “Mars” cut out a strip of paper 1/2 inch long, for “Earth” cut it 1/4 inch. These will show us the height each model will be when we build them up. These will act like stakes so we know how high to build our model of each. Using putty, stand each “stake” in the center of its respective circle.
We are now going to make our mounds (volcanoes) on Earth and on Mars. (They will build up to the volcano height in the center and spread out from there. The height is in the center.)
After you have made you container of blue plaster of Paris, fill in the circle of the Earth circle to the height of the 1/4 inch stake.
After you have made you container of orange plaster of Paris, fill in the circle of the Mars circle to the height of the 1/2 inch stake.
(Use the spray bottle to dampen the outside of each volcano and leave both to dry)
Paint a blue border around Mauna Kea on Earth.
How much more massive is Olympus Mons on Mars than Mauna Kea on Earth?
Weigh each mound on its base of poster board. Subtract the original weight of the poster board to get the weight of the volcano itself.
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Project - Why is Mars Red?
Need baking dish, sand, steel wool, dishwashing gloves and a pitcher of water
Fill a baking dish with sand. Wearing gloves, snip the steel wool into 1 inch pieces and mix into the sand.
Pour enough water into the pan just to cover the sand and steel-wool mixture.
Leave the pan in a safe place. Check on the pan every pan. As the water evaporates, add enough just to keep the mixture moist.
After three days, check the color. How long do you have to leave the mixture until it is the same color as Mars?
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Project - Canals on Mars - Optical Illusion
Need red paper, black paint, drawing compass and binoculars
Use a paintbrush to flick black paint onto the red paper. We are looking for many dots of paint in various sizes.
When the paint dries, use the compass to draw a 6 inch wide circle. Cut out the circle. This will represent Mars.
Tape “Mars” to the wall about 10 feet away.
View “Mars” through an out of focus binoculars, so we get the same perspective as early astronomers had when looking at Mars thorough the blur of our atmosphere with early telescopes.
What do you see? (“Canals”?)
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Experiment - Testing for Life Forms
Need 3 glass jars the same size, commercially clean sand, 2 tsp salt, 2 tsp baking powder, 3 different colored labels ( yellow, red, blue), to put one on each jar, 1/2 cup sugar, 2 cups warm water
Fill the jars 1/3 full with sand and put a different color label on each. Mix the salt in the red jar, Mix the baking powder in the yellow jar. Put the yeast in the blue jar.
Place the jars in the refrigerator overnight to imitate the cold on Mars.
In the pitcher of warm water - mix in the sugar so that the sugar dissolves.
The next day, pour an equal amount of sugar water into each jar. Set the jars aside and watch what reactions happen.
Within an hour, the mixtures will start reacting and we will see which jar contains life forms.
The soil in the blue jar with yeast will bubble up.
The soil in the yellow jar with baking powder will get a quick reaction, but that is it - a chemical reaction.
The soil in the red jar with salt will not react at all.
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Experiment - How dust blowing around changes the view of Mars from Earth
When dust on Mars blows back and forth over the Martian dessert, rocks are covered and uncovered, changing the way the planet looks to us.
To copy this effect, you will need a large tray, plaster of Paris and powdered cocoa.
Spoon an equal amount of plaster of Paris and powdered cocoa with enough water to form a paste.
Spread this paste unevenly on a tray to represent the surface of Mars.
Let this dry.
Now sprinkle a handful of sugar evenly over the tray.
Stand at one end and blow across the tray too reveal the dark surface below.
Now go to the other end of the tray and do the same from that end. This is what happens halfway through the Martian year when the winds change direction.
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Videos
Professor Dave Explains - Astronomy
Mercury: The Innermost Planet - 6:04 min
Venus: Crash Course Astronomy #14 - 10:49 min
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