Do you know how big the Sun is? The Sun is 400 times as big as the Moon and 400 times as far away.
The Moon: 2.5mm diameter
a) How big would the Sun be if the Moon were the size shown above?
b) The Sun is actually about 865,000 miles in diameter, so 1 cm of the model represents how many miles?
c) The Moon is about 250,000 miles away from the Earth. To the nearest centimetre, how far would it be from the Earth in our scale model?
d) In this model, how far away from the Earth would the Sun be?
a) If you are building a scale model in which the moon's diameter were 2.5 mm, the sun should be 400 times larger, according to what you have stated.
b) The answer depends upon the scale of your model. You have stated that the moon is 2.5 mm dia in your model. The sun is therefore 1 meter in diameter in the model. 1 cm = 8650 miles
c) Divide 250,000 miles by 8650 miles/cm for the scale model distance.
d) Convert 93,000,000 miles to the scale model distance using the scale factor 8650 miles/cm. (Hint: divide)
Dear drwls,
Thank you soo much for your help! Now I understand how to solve them :) thank you!
a) To find out how big the Sun would be if the Moon were represented by a diameter of 2.5mm, we need to multiply the Moon's diameter by the scale factor of 400.
Using the formula: Sun's size = Moon's size * scale factor
Sun's size = 2.5mm * 400 = 1000mm
Therefore, if the Moon were the size shown above, the Sun would be 1000mm in diameter.
b) To determine how many miles 1 cm represents in the model, we need to divide the actual diameter of the Sun (865,000 miles) by the model's diameter of 1000mm.
First, we need to convert 1000mm to cm. Since there are 10mm in 1cm, 1000mm is equal to 100cm.
Now, using the formula: 1cm in model = Actual diameter of the Sun / Model's diameter
1cm in model = 865,000 miles / 100cm = 8650 miles
Therefore, 1cm in this model represents 8650 miles.
c) To find out how far the Moon would be from the Earth in our scale model, we need to divide the actual distance (250,000 miles) by the scale factor.
Using the formula: Distance in model = Actual distance / Scale factor
Distance in model = 250,000 miles / 400 = 625 miles
Therefore, in our scale model, the Moon would be approximately 625 miles away from the Earth.
d) Finally, to determine how far away from the Earth the Sun would be in this model, we need to multiply the actual distance (400 times) by the scale factor.
Using the formula: Distance in model = Actual distance * Scale factor
Distance in model = 400 * 250,000 miles = 100,000,000 miles
Therefore, in our scale model, the Sun would be approximately 100,000,000 miles away from the Earth.