1. Sun/Earth/Moon Model diameter distance from…. ~ 800,000 mi. Sun Earth
~ 100,000,000 mi. from sun
~ 8,000 mi.
~ 250,000 mi. from earth
~ 2,000 mi.
TEACHER NOTES below
Materials per student: Student Handout, calculator
*For the sun/earth/moon model you’ll also need a ruler, meter stick, basketball (standard size), clay (a tiny amount), and string (to hang the clay “earth” from). Also think about how you’re going to measure the 27.5 meter distance between the sun and earth, and where to do that.
Super-simple teacher notes: Have students copy/do everything shown on the screen!
Notes:
To prepare yourself, go through this just like your students will. This will help you be more descriptive and clear in your presentation, especially when you’re explaining the lower section; that’s where the math gets more complicated.
Print a set of ppt notes for yourself. Click print  under “Print what:” select Handouts  then in the Handouts box select 6 Slides per page. Having that will help you know what’s coming up on the next click (very important).
Change any wording on this you like. Or if you decide to use something other than a basketball for your sun, the numbers will need to be changed.
More comments in notes area of later slides.
Title first at the top.
Then hand-draw the table. Notice that column 3 is about twice the width of the first 2
You’ll notice the numbers here are VERY rounded off. That keeps the numbers a little easier to manage mathematically; plus, we still wouldn’t end up with an exact model at the end even if the numbers here were.

2. ~ 250,000 mi. from earth Moon ~ 2,000 mi. Sun = basketball 22 cm 22 cm
100x smaller than sun
= .22cm
= 2.2 mm
diameter
100
(some info. In ppt above removed in preview version of this ppt)

3. Now let’s go build this thing!
Sun
= basketball
22 cm
22 cm
diameter
Earth
100x smaller than sun
= .22cm
= 2.2 mm
100
2.2 mm
Moon
4x smaller than earth
= .55 mm 4
Sun
-at center
earth’s dist. from sun
sun’s diameter
100,000,000 mi.
800,000 mi.
Earth 1.
Scale:
= 125 2.
This means earth is 125 “sun lengths/basketballs” from sun 3.
If our sun is a basketball (22 cm) then…
distance
(some info. In ppt above removed in preview version of this ppt)
Now let’s go build this thing!
(We need to convert to the unit of “basketballs”)