Before we jump into Unit 4, please rate yourself on the Unit 4 objectives from 1 (just starting) to 5 (mastered it!)
You may need to scroll horizontally to see all options
1 - getting started | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 - mastered it | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Analyze the components of the solar system, exploring their formation processes and interrelationships. | |||||
Evaluate and compare the historical theories of geocentrism and heliocentrism, assessing their impact on our understanding of the universe. | |||||
Apply and interpret Kepler's three laws of planetary motion in real-world scenarios. | |||||
Differentiate between asteroids, meteroids, meteors, meteorites, and comets. | |||||
Investigate the Earth and Moon's formation and early history |
Questions #2-5 thinking questions-- no penalty for wrong answers 😄
What is the purpose of scientific models?
Give an example of a scientific model.
How do models connect what happens on a small scale (like molecules, cells, or parts of a machine) to what happens on a larger scale (like ecosystems, human health, or whole devices)?
Categorize the statements about scientific models into two categories by dragging the statement to each correct category. (Statements can only be used once and all are used)
oversimplify reality
guide experiments
be uncertain
represent complex phenomena in understandable ways
predict outcomes
be incomplete
Limitation (Weakness)
Advantage (Strength)
Sometimes models are oversimplified, incomplete, or uncertain.
When we talk about models of the solar system, you might think of something like the image to the left.
How might this model lead us to form incorrect ideas about the solar system?
Use the interactive above or visit If the Moon Were Only One Pixel.
In a true-to-scale model like "If the Moon Were Only One Pixel," most of the solar system appears .
A common misleading impression from a typical model is that planets are .
Models can change based on new observations and better explanations.
Observe the differences between two different models of the solar system:
The Ancient Greeks observed that the Sun, Moon, planets, and stars appear to move around a stationary Earth.
Their geocentric model placed at the center of the solar system.
Except there was a problem... the geocentric model couldn't explain why the planet Mars appears to move backward in the sky:
This is called apparent retrograde motion, and the Ancient Greeks' solution was complicated:
In the 16th century, Nicolaus Copernicus proposed the heliocentric model, which placed at the center of the solar system. Galileo later confirmed Copernicus' theory with his telescope observations.
Models can change with new information and better definitions.
In your own words, describe one advantage and one disadvantage of scientific models.