Thursday, February 23, 2012

Reflection on The moon

Moon Reflection:
When investigating the simulation, the moon clock, and/or the model, what did you notice about the phases of the moon? Why do we see different parts of the moon each night?
I noticed that whenever we would look at the moon from above it would always be half shaded. When we looked form aside it was always different. I think that we see different parts of the moon every day because the earth is rotating and therefore the moon must be to. I also think that we might see different parts because the sun and the moon rotate behind each other and the moon reflects different sun waves each time.

How well did making a model help you understand the phases of the moon? What are some disadvantages of using models?
Making the model with Hannah really helped me understand how the light would shine of the moon and then how it would also reflect onto our earth. It also helped me see and visualize or imagine how the moon travels and makes different light. The only disadvantage of making a model is that it can't give you a straight forward answer or even a complete answer to your question.

Scientists are thinking all the time about how they can make models of objects that are too small or too large to see: Can you think of another way to make a model to represent the various phases of the moon?
I think it would be really cool to actually be on the moon or in the earths atmosphere and closely observe with cameras of course how the moon cycle changes and how light affects the earth and the changes that occur at every moon cycle.

What is a lunar month?
So when I first look at this question without looking online I think; a lunar month is a month without the moon. Is it true? No. A lunar month is, "A month measured between successive new moons (roughly 291/2 days)."

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

How does the tilt of Earth’s axis affect the light received by Earth as it revolves around the sun?


Guiding Question- How does the tilt of Earth’s axis affect the light received by Earth as it revolves around the sun? 
Hypothesis- I think when the earth is tilted more towards the sun it is summer because we get more sunlight and heat, therefore we have longer days which means that we have summer. When the earth is tilted away from the sun we have less sunlight and heat, shorter days and therefore it is winter. 
Observations- Summer
When we made our earth and its axis we had a grid and a light. We were shining the light into the grid which then reflected its squares onto the ball or earth. We noticed that when you move the grid closer it becomes bigger and when it is further away it becomes smaller and in a way shrinks and covers less space of the earth. We also noticed that the squares at the equator are more in the square shape then further up in the poles. Up in the poles the squares expand and then look like right angles. In conclusion I think that in summer the earth is tilted toward the sun which is why it gets more sunlight. Because we get more sunlight in summer our days are longer and our nights much shorter all due to sunlight.
Observations- Winter
When we did our observations for winter this time the squares were much more stretched out but also look more like squares on both the equator and the poles. Also when the grid is further away the grid looks like it does without light. It looks like squares. When we put it closer with light it extends and becomes bugger and wider but still looks like a perfect square only a big wider on each side. In winter the earth is tilted away from the sun which is also why we have less sunlight during winter and have shorter days and longer nights. All that is caused by the amount of sunlight that we receive.