Lyceum B - Astronomy - Week 29 - Saturn
- May 25, 2022
- 2 min read
Project - Simulating how we see Saturn’s rings change shape
Need white pasteboard, black foam sheet, drawing compass, wood skewer, colored pencils, protractor, large orange
Using compass - draw a circle 1 foot wide on black foam sheet and cut it out. This will be our base.
On white poster board, draw a 6 inch wide circle and cut it out. In the center of the white circle, trace the outline of the orange. We will insert the orange into this circle so we see only half of its sphere. Cut out this circle.
Use the colored pencils to draw Saturn’s rings on the white circle.
We want to have the orange (“Saturn”) standing up on the skewer in the center of the black base and will have the axis tilted at 27° angle. Then attach the “rings” onto “Saturn”.
Spin the base and watch the “rings” of “Saturn” change shape as it spins.
——————————————————
Project: Making a model of Saturn’s Rings
Need a rotating cake stand, white poster board, drawing compass, talcum powder and toothpick
Cut enough poster board to cover the cake stand
Evenly scatter talcum powder over the pasteboard on the cake stand.
Rotate the cake stand and sweep inward those loose particles on the edge of the cake stand with a small rectangle of poster board as the stand rotates. This action stimulates the effect of the moon Atlas.
Continue rotating the cake stand and lower a toothpick into the powder in one place as the cake stand rotates, creating a “ring”. Continue to do this at various positions in the talcum powder to make a great number of tiny “rings”. Then do the same with a pencil, two-thirds of the way from the center of the stand. This wider gap will be the “Cassini division”.
—————————————————————————
Project - Demonstrate How a Less Dense Saturn Would Float Compared to a Denser Earth
From How the Universe Works:
If there were an ocean large enough to hold it, you would find that Saturn would float. All the other planets would sink because they are denser than water, but Saturn, with a density of 70% of water, is the least substantial planet in the Solar System.
Need: bowl, marble, small plastic ball to float in bowl
Fill the bowl halfway with water.
Place the plastic ball (Saturn) in the water.
Place the marble (Earth) in the water. What happened to “Earth” and why?
-----------------------------------------
Videos
Professor Dave Explains Astronomy - 5:49 min
Saturn: Best Rings in the Solar System
Introduction to Astronomy Crash Course #19
Uranus & Neptune - 12:18 min
Comments