1) In the model, the pocket light represented the Sun,
and the Earth was a plastic foam ball, on a skewer, about the size of an adult’s
fist, and the Moon was a smaller one the size of a bottle cap.
2) When facing the lamp, you couldn’t see any of the
lighted part of the ball, because it was facing the lamp, too. You could only see
the dark side.
3) On the drawing, the circle that is empty represents
the full moon, and the one filled in, in black, is the new moon. The one that’s
almost all filled in except for the far right is the waking crescent, and the
one that’s the same but with a crescent on the far left is the waning crescent.
4) After each turn, more and more of the right side of
the Moon is visible. However, after the full moon, less and less of it can be
seen.
5) Always half of the Moon’s surface was lighted, whether
we could see it from our angle or not. The darkness of the new moon is not
caused by an eclipse, but by the fact that the lighted side of the Moon is
facing the other way, towards the Sun.
6) Making a model of the Moon’s phases helped me because
it showed me a visual of how the light is always shining on half of the Moon,
but whether we can see all of it depends. A disadvantage of using a model is
that it’s not accurate, but it’s better than nothing! Another way to make a
model to represent the various phases of the Moon could be to make your head
the Earth, so we can accurately see how much light is visible, and to have a
flash light that is not too powerful, so that’s it’s not dangerous to our
sight.
For number 3: What about the first quarter and last quarter? Weren't they signified by number 2 and 4 drawings?
ReplyDeleteOverall, a very good job in analyzing the data you collected and drawing conclusions from using the mode.. I like that you included neat drawings of the phases of the moon you would see from space and from Earth.