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Scaling the Solar System - Contenido educativo
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NASA Connect segment that explores how astronomers and scientists use astronomical units in measuring distances in the Solar System.
Now that you have a better understanding of scaling,
00:00:00
let's turn our attention to the focus of today's program,
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which is scaling the solar system.
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Dr. Stan Odenwald, an astronomer and scientist
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at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, has a scoop.
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Thanks, Jennifer.
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When we talk about the distances between points of interest,
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we instinctively use units that make sense to us
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and that are convenient.
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For example, what unit of measure would you use
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to describe the distance from Washington, D.C.
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to Los Angeles, California?
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Would you use miles, inches, kilometers, or meters?
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What about your height?
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Would you measure it in inches or feet?
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And how about the width of your classroom?
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Do you use kilometers, meters, or feet?
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You can choose any unit of measure you wish,
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as long as it's convenient for everyone to understand.
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When describing distances at the scale of the solar system,
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even units like miles and kilometers
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lead to numbers that are in the millions or the billions,
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and that makes it very hard to understand them.
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For example, the distance between the Earth and the Sun
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is about 149 million kilometers.
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Between the Sun and Pluto,
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the distance is about 5.9 billion kilometers.
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But suppose we wanted to compare these two numbers.
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It's not easy to see that Pluto
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is about 40 times as far from the Sun as Earth is.
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It would make sense to use a smaller scale
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in order to get a better idea of the distances between the planets.
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To come up with that scale, we have to define a baseline.
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The baseline that astronomers use
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is the distance between the Earth and the Sun.
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This distance is known as the astronomical unit.
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The astronomical unit, or AU,
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represents the distance between the Earth and the Sun,
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which is about 93 million miles.
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The astronomical unit is the baseline that astronomers use
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to determine the distances to the planets in our solar system
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and to the stars beyond.
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So let's have a look at the scale of the solar system
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where one astronomical unit equals 93 million miles.
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Based on the astronomical unit,
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it's easy to compare the distances
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between all the other objects in the solar system.
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The accompanying chart shows the distances to the planets from the Sun
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in terms of astronomical units.
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Let's look at Mars.
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We can quickly see that Mars
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is one and a half times further away from the Sun than Earth is.
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So how far is Mars from the Sun in miles?
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Remember the process Jennifer demonstrated earlier in the program
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to solve problems involving scaling?
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We can solve the Mars distance problem using a proportion.
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The first ratio is the scale,
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and the second ratio is the distance of Mars to the Sun.
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N miles represents the distance from Mars to the Sun.
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After setting these ratios equal to each other,
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let's find the cross products.
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The equation becomes 1 times N equals 93 million times 1.52.
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Multiplying, we get the distance from Mars to the Sun
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to be approximately 141 million miles.
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Using the astronomical unit instead of the mile or the kilometer
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makes it easier to compare the distances
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between the planets and the Sun.
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For example, it's easier to remember
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that Mars is one and a half times further away from the Sun than the Earth
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than it is to remember that it's 48 million miles
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farther away from the Sun than the Earth.
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If you recall from earlier in the program,
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the Voyager spacecraft is 8 billion miles
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or 13 billion kilometers from the Earth.
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It's at the far edge of our solar system,
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ready to head out into interstellar space.
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Based on what you've learned about scaling and the astronomical unit,
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can you estimate the distance of Voyager 1 from the Earth
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in astronomical units?
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Working with a partner, take a few minutes
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and see if you can solve this problem.
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Voyager 1 is over 8 billion miles away from Earth.
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Estimate how far, in astronomical units,
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Voyager 1 is from the Earth.
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Remember the scale is 1 astronomical unit equals 93 million miles.
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Teachers, you may now pause the program
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so students can answer the problem.
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Okay, so what did you come up with?
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If you said that Voyager was 86 astronomical units away from the Earth,
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you were correct.
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Do you have a sense for how far that is?
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The planet Pluto is 40 astronomical units away from the Earth.
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So that means Voyager is twice as far away from the Earth as the planet Pluto.
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Suppose that Voyager 1 were stationary
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and you were able to ride in a car traveling at 55 miles per hour to get to it.
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The trip would take you over 16,000 years just to reach the satellite.
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That would be quite a lengthy and expensive vacation.
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Jennifer, I think the students are ready for that hands-on activity now.
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Could you send them back to me when you're finished?
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I have a real tough question for them to answer.
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- Valoración:
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- Idioma/s:
- Materias:
- Matemáticas
- Niveles educativos:
- ▼ Mostrar / ocultar niveles
- Nivel Intermedio
- Autor/es:
- NASA LaRC Office of Education
- Subido por:
- EducaMadrid
- Licencia:
- Reconocimiento - No comercial - Sin obra derivada
- Visualizaciones:
- 287
- Fecha:
- 28 de mayo de 2007 - 16:52
- Visibilidad:
- Público
- Enlace Relacionado:
- NASAs center for distance learning
- Duración:
- 04′ 43″
- Relación de aspecto:
- 4:3 Hasta 2009 fue el estándar utilizado en la televisión PAL; muchas pantallas de ordenador y televisores usan este estándar, erróneamente llamado cuadrado, cuando en la realidad es rectangular o wide.
- Resolución:
- 480x360 píxeles
- Tamaño:
- 28.44 MBytes
