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Multiple Intelligence Activities: Earth and Space Science Theme

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Multiple Intelligence Activities: Earth and Space Science Theme

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Grade K-2 Science Extended Standard:   Identify properties of the sun (temperature, brightness, size).

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Have the students collect and classify physical charecteristics of the sun.

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Characteristics of our Sun by Ron Kurtus - Succeed in Understanding Astronomy: School for Champions

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Explanation of the Characteristics of our Sun by Ron Kurtus - Succeed in Understanding Astronomy: School for Champions

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Have the students talk about how big the sun in in relation to other planets.

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(Image credit: Getty Images)

It is the largest object in the solar system, but how big is the sun when compared to the rest of the stars in the Milky Way galaxy? The sun is classified as medium-sized among these hundreds of billions of stars.

Radius, diameter and circumference

The sun is nearly a perfect sphere. Its equatorial diameter and its polar diameter differ by only 6.2 miles (10 km). The mean radius of the sun is 432,450 miles (696,000 kilometers), which makes its diameter about 864,938 miles (1.392 million km). You could line up 109 Earths across the face of the sun, according to NASA. The sun's circumference is about 2,715,396 miles (4,370,006 km).

It may be the biggest thing in this neighborhood, but the sun is just average compared to other stars. Betelgeuse, a red giant, is about 700 times bigger than the sun and about 14,000 times brighter.

"We have found stars that are 100 times bigger in diameter than our sun. Truly those stars are enormous," NASA says on its SpacePlace website. "We have also seen stars that are just a tenth the size of our sun."

According to NASA's solar scientist C. Alex Young, if the sun were hollow, it would take about one million Earths to fill it.

It's possible that the sun is even larger than previously thought. Xavier Jubier, an engineer and solar eclipse researcher, creates detailed models of solar and lunar eclipses to determine precisely where the moon's shadow would fall during the solar eclipse. But when he matched actual photos and historical observations with the models, he found precise eclipse shapes only made sense if he scaled up the sun's radius by a few hundred kilometers.

Even missions like NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) and measurements of the inner planets across the face of the sun don't refine the star's radius as precisely as desired.

(Image credit: NASA/SDO)

"It's harder than you think just to put a ruler on these images and figure out how big the sun is - [SDO] doesn't have enough precision to nail this down," NASA researcher Ernie Wright told Space.com. "Similarly, with the Mercury and Venus transits, it turns out [a measurement based on those is] not quite as precise as you'd like it to be."

Wright said different papers using a variety of methods have produced results that differ by as much as 930 miles (1,500 km). That could be a problem if you are planning to skirt the edges of the next solar eclipse.

"For most people, yes, it doesn't really matter; it won't change everything," Jubier said. "But the closer you get to the edge of the [eclipse] path, the more risk you take."

Mass and volume

The total volume of the sun is 1.4 x 10 ²⁷cubic meters. About 1.3 million Earths could fit inside the sun, according to NASA's statistics. The mass of the sun is 1.989 x 10 30 kilograms, about 333,000 times the mass of the Earth. The sun contains 99.8 percent of the mass of the entire solar system, leading astronomers Imke de Pater and Jack J. Lissauer, authors of the textbook Planetary Sciences, to refer to the solar system as "the sun plus some debris".

But the sun's weight isn't constant. Over time, the solar wind has carried particles, and thus mass, away from the star. According to astronomer Phil Plait, the sun loses an average 1.5 million tons of material every second to the solar wind.

Meanwhile, in the heart of the star, mass is converted into energy. The powerhouse of the star converts more than 4 million tons of solar material into energy every second, Plait said.

Altogether, Plait estimated that the sun has lost a total of 10 ²⁴ tons of material over its 4.5-billion-year lifetime, or more than 100 times the mass of the Earth. While that sounds like a lot, it's only about 0.05 percent of the star's total mass.

Yellow dwarf

(Image credit: Getty Images)

The sun is classified as a G-type main-sequence star, or G dwarf star, or more imprecisely, a yellow dwarf. Actually, the sun - like other G-type stars - is white, but appears yellow through Earth's atmosphere.

Stars generally get bigger as they grow older. In about 5 billion years, scientists think the sun will start to use up all of the hydrogen at its center, according to NASA. The sun will puff up into a red giant and expand past the orbit of the inner planets, including Earth. The sun's helium will get hot enough to burn into carbon, and the carbon will combine with the helium to form oxygen. These elements will collect in the center of the sun.

Later, the sun will shed its outer layers, forming a planetary nebula and leaving behind a dead core of mostly carbon and oxygen - a very dense and hot white dwarf star, about the size of the Earth.

While the sun is typical in most respects, it does have one quality that stands out from the majority of stars - it is a loner. Most stars have a companion, with some part of a triple or even a quadruple system.

But it may not have always been a solo star. Research suggests that all stars may have started out with a companion. The sun's companion may have been a wide binary, putting it as much as 17 times farther from the sun than Neptune and making it easier to be stripped away.

"The idea that many stars form with a companion has been suggested before, but the question is: how many?" the study's first author Sarah Sadavoy, a NASA Hubble fellow at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, said. "Based on our simple model, we say that nearly all stars form with a companion."

Additional resources

For more facts about the sun, read NASA's overview: 10 Need-to-Know Things About the Sun. Additionally you can check out their Sun Fact Sheet for more statistics.

Bibliography

De Pater, Imke, and Jack J. Lissauer. Planetary sciences. Cambridge University Press (2015). https://books.google.co.uk

Embedded binaries and their dense cores. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 469, Issue 4 (2017). https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/469/4/3881/3795556

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The sun is our solar system's most massive object, but what size is it?

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http://www.weatherwizkids.com/weather-climate.htmHave the students study a map of weather patterns of when the sun is out and when its not and why. Then have them create a poster on it.

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Climate

What is climate?
Climate is the average weather usually taken over a 30-year time period for a particular region and time period. Climate is not the same as weather, but rather, it is the average pattern of weather for a particular region. Weather describes the short-term state of the atmosphere.

What is our climate system?

Atmosphere

The atmosphere covers the Earth. It is a thin layer of mixed gases which make up the air we breathe. This thin layer also helps the Earth from becoming too hot or too cold.

Oceans

Oceans cover about 70 percent of Earth's surface. Their large size and thermal properties allow them to store a lot of heat.

Land

Land covers 27 percent of Earth's surface and land topography influences weather patterns.

Ice

Ice is the world's largest supply of freshwater. It covers the remaining 3 percent of Earth's surface including most of Antarctica and Greenland. Ice plays an important role in regulating climate, because it is highly reflective.

Biosphere

The biosphere is the part of Earth's atmosphere, land, and oceans that supports any living plant, animal, or organism. It is the place where plants and animals, including humans, live.

What is weather?
The weather is just the state of the atmosphere at any time, including things such as temperature, precipitation, air pressure and cloud cover. Daily changes in the weather are due to winds and storms. Seasonal changes are due to the Earth revolving around the sun.

What causes weather?
Because the Earth is round and not flat, the Sun's rays don't fall evenly on the land and oceans. The Sun shines more directly near the equator bringing these areas more warmth. However, the polar regions are at such an angle to the Sun that they get little or no sunlight during the winter, causing colder temperatures. These differences in temperature create a restless movement of air and water in great swirling currents to distribute heat energy from the Sun across the planet. When air in one region is warmer than the surrounding air, it becomes less dense and begins to rise, drawing more air in underneath. Elsewhere, cooler denser air sinks, pushing air outward to flow along the surface and complete the cycle.

Why do mountains affect weather and climate?
There are two sides to a mountain: wayward and leeward. Whenever it is raining, the wayward side gets the rain. As a cloud goes up the mountain, it keeps raining until there is no more water in the cloud. Now, as the cloud starts to go down the other side of the mountain, there is no more precipitation. So, the leeward side of the mountain doesn't get any rain. The flat ground on this side of the mountain is dry and humid. What is the Water Cycle?

Earth has a limited amount of water. So, that water keeps going around. We call it the water cycle. The water cycle begins with evaporation. Evaporation is when the sun heats up water in rivers, lakes or the ocean. Then turns it into water vapor or steam. The water vapor or steam leaves the body of water and goes into the air. Transpiration is the process by which plants lose water out of their leaves. Condensation is when water vapor in the air gets cold and changes back into water to form clouds. Think of it this way, when you open a cold soda on a hot summer day, your soda will start to sweat as water droplets form on the outside of the can. Precipitation occurs when so much water has condensed that the air can't hold it anymore. This is how we get rain or snow. Collection happens when the precipitation falls and is collected back in the oceans, lakes and rivers. When it falls to the ground, it will soak into the earth and become ground water. This is the water cycle and it just keeps repeating.
Click Here to learn more about the Earth's water cycle.

Why do we have seasons?

As the Earth spins on its axis, producing night and day, it also moves about the Sun in an elliptical (elongated circle) orbit that requires 365 1/4 days to complete. The Earth's axis is tilted at 23.5 degrees and is why we have seasons. When the Earth's axis points towards the Sun, it is summer for that hemisphere. When the Earth's axis points away, winter can be expected.

What is the significance of the Sun to the Earth?
Without the Sun, there would be no weather. Earth is positioned as the third planet, so our temperatures are sustainable for life. The average temperature of Mars is much colder, while Venus is much hotter.

How can you tell what time it is by looking at the Sun?

Why do we get more sunlight in the summer than in the winter?
You might not have noticed this, but the Earth tilts over slightly. If you have a globe at home or in school, you can see that the line between north and south poles, that goes through the center of the Earth, isn't vertical. It's actually tilting over by about 23 degrees. In our summer, the north pole is pointing towards the Sun so the Sun rises and sets roughly from due east to due west. In winter, the Earth is on the other side of the Sun so the North Pole is pointing away from the Sun. This means the Sun rises and sets more towards the southeast and southwest. You might notice this as you look out of the window. Think back to how high in the sky the sun was during the summer. Compare this to where the sun is during the winter and you'll see it's much lower down towards the horizon. Because the sun is lower down on the horizon, there's less time for it to travel between horizons. There's less distance for it to travel so the sun rises later and sets earlier meaning there's less daylight. What is the purpose of the Moon?
Because the sun ALWAYS rises in the east and sets in the west, you can tell the time just by looking at where the sun is. When you look east and the sun is on the horizon that means its approximately 6:00am. When the sun is directly above your head that means its noon. When you look to the west and the sun is on the horizon that means its approximately 6:00pm.

Why do the leaves change color?

The tidal effect of the moon helps to recirculate the oceans and keep them from becoming stagnated. The result of which would be catastrophic for advanced forms of life like humans.

What is Climate Change?
During the spring and summer the leaves have served as factories where most of the foods necessary for the tree's growth are manufactured. This food-making process takes place in the leaf in numerous cells containing chlorophyll, which gives the leaf its green color. Along with the green pigment are yellow to orange to red pigments as well. Most of the year these colors are masked by great amounts of green coloring. But in the fall, because of changes in the length of daylight and changes in temperature, the leaves stop their food-making process. The chlorophyll breaks down, the green color disappears, and the yellow to orange to red colors become visible and give the leaves part of their fall splendor. The best time to enjoy the autumn color would be on a clear, dry, and cool day.

What is Global Warming?
Climate change represents a change in long-term weather patterns. They can become warmer or colder. Annual amounts of rainfall or snowfall can increase or decrease.

Global warming refers to an average increase in the Earth's temperature, which in turn causes changes in climate. A warmer Earth may lead to changes in rainfall patterns, a rise in sea level, and a wide range of impacts on plants, wildlife, and humans. When scientists talk about the issue of climate change, their concern is about global warming caused by human activities . (Graphic Credit: World Almanac Education Group)

Is the Earth getting warmer?

Yes! The Earth has warmed by about 1ºF over the past 100 years. But why? Well, scientists are not exactly sure. The Earth could be getting warmer on its own, but many of the world's leading climate scientists think that things people do are helping to make the Earth warmer.
Click Here to learn more about Global Warming.

What is the Greenhouse Effect?
The greenhouse effect is the rise in temperature that the Earth experiences because certain gases in the atmosphere like water vapor, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane trap energy from the sun. Without these gases, heat would escape back into space and Earths average temperature would be about 60ºF colder and would not be warm enough for humans to live. But if the greenhouse effect becomes stronger, it could make the Earth warmer than usual. (Graphic Credit: EPA)

Global Warming may be a big problem, but can you make a difference?
Yes! There are several little things you can do to make a difference. Try carpooling. This will help reduce the amount of fossil fuels going into the atmosphere. Whenever you use electricity, you help put greenhouse gases into the air. Turning off lights, the television, and the computer when you are through with them. Also, planting trees is fun and a great way to reduce greenhouse gases. Trees absorb carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, from the air. Finally, don't forget about recycling.

In a normal year, the warmest water is in the far western Pacific. This forms thunderstorms.

(Graphic Credit:
USA TODAY)

In an El Niño year, the warmest water moves eastward across the Pacific. Thunderstorms disrupt the jet stream changing the weather pattern.

What is El Niño?
El Niño is a climate pattern where the water in the Pacific Ocean near the equator gets hotter than usual and affects the atmosphere and weather around the world. El Niño climate conditions occur every few years, and they are not predictable. El Niño is Spanish for The Little Boy. It refers to the Christ child and was named by Mexican fisherman, who noticed the climate pattern often formed around Christmastime.
What type of a climate pattern do we see with an El Niño?
The climate pattern can change the weather of the United States, particularly in California and the southern states. Usually, El Niño brings more rain and higher temperatures. Also, warm ocean currents come farther north and all kinds of tropical fish can be caught in the waters far north along the United States West Coast. El Niño may also bring warmer than normal winter temperatures to the eastern part of the United States.

What is La Niña?
La Niña is sort of the opposite of El Niño. During a La Niña, the water in the same area along the equator gets colder than usual. This, too, affects weather around the globe and in the U.S. According to scientists, La Niña cycles generally create a more active hurricane season in the Atlantic.

What type of climate pattern do we see with La Niña?
In the United States, La Niña is expected to bring above normal temperatures throughout most of the Southwest and southern Florida in the late summer and fall. These warmer conditions will extend across the Southeast during the winter months. Cooler than normal winter temperatures are expected in the Pacific Northwest. Cooler than normal temperatures are also expected across the Great Lakes and Northeast later in the winter into spring. In addition to temperature effects, La Niña is also expected to affect rainfall. Drier than normal conditions will persist in west Texas, New Mexico and Arizona into October. The late fall and early winter forecasts indicate continued dry conditions throughout much of the southern U.S. and into portions of the Midwest. Above normal precipitation is predicted for much of the Pacific Northwest throughout the fall and into the winter months, and in the Ohio and Tennessee River Valley in the winter.

What are the layers of the Earth's atmosphere?
The atmosphere is divided into five layers. It is thickest near the surface and thins out with height until it eventually merges with space.
Troposphere: The troposphere is the first layer above the surface and contains half of Earth's atmosphere. Weather occurs in this layer.

Stratosphere: The stratosphere is the second layer of the Earth's atmosphere. Many airplanes fly in the stratosphere, because it is very stable. Also, the ozone layer absorbs harmful rays from the Sun.

Mesosphere: The mesosphere is the third layer of the Earth's atmosphere. Meteors or rock fragments burn up in the mesosphere.

Thermosphere: The thermosphere is the fourth layer of the Earth's atmosphere. It's the layer with auroras and where the space shuttle orbits.

Exosphere: The exosphere is the fifth and last layer of the Earth's atmosphere. This is the layer where the atmosphere merges into space. This layer is extremely thin .

What is the tropopause? The tropopause is the atmospheric boundary located between the troposphere and stratosphere. Going up from the surface, its the point where air ceases to cool with height and becomes almost completely dry.

What is ozone?
Ozone is a natural gas that is found in two different layers of the atmosphere. In the layer around the Earth's surface, otherwise known as the troposphere, bad ozone dirties the air and helps make smog. The troposphere extends up to the stratosphere layer, where good ozone protects life on Earth by absorbing some of the sun's UV rays. Stratospheric ozone is found most often between six to 30 miles above the Earth's surface.
What is the ozone layer? The ozone layer forms a thin shield high up in the sky and is located in the stratosphere. It protects life on Earth from the sun's ultraviolet rays. In the 1980s, scientists began finding clues that the ozone layer was going away or being depleted. This allows more UV radiation to reach the Earth's surface. This can cause people to have a greater chance of getting too much UV radiation. Too much UV can cause bad health effects like skin cancer, eye damage, and get you sick easier.

What is deforestation?
Deforestation is the cutting down large numbers of trees to use the land for something instead of a forest. Cutting down trees can affect the climate. After rain falls on a forest, mist rises and new rain clouds form. When forests are cut down, this cycle is disrupted, and the area eventually grows drier, causing a change in the local climate. If huge areas of trees are cut down, the carbon dioxide they would have used builds up in the atmosphere and contributes to the greenhouse effect. And without trees to hold the soil and absorb water, rain washes topsoil away, a process called soil erosion.
What is erosion? Erosion is the wearing away of the land by water, ice or wind. Soil erosion is a natural process. It becomes a problem when human activity causes it to occur much faster than under natural conditions. Wind and water are the main agents of soil erosion.

Acid rain is rain, snow or fog that is polluted by acid in the atmosphere and damages the environment. Two common air pollutants acidify rain: sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide. When these substances are released into the atmosphere, they can be carried over long distances by prevailing winds before returning to earth as acidic rain, snow, fog or dust. When the environment cannot neutralize the acid being deposited, damage occurs. What is acid rain?

Climate Activities

Acid Rain Experiment: Here is a great experiment on acid rain. It lets kids see how destructive acid rain can be to statue and buildings.

Greenhouse Effect Experiment: Ozone Pollution Science Fair Project: Here are some great science fair project ideas to help kids understand ozone pollution and makes them aware of how it is formed.

Science Fair Project Ideas: Here is a complete list of science fair project ideas. Discover the science behind the weather that impacts us every day.

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Weather Wiz Kids weather information for kids

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Weather Wiz Kids is a fun and safe website for kids about all the weather info they need to know. It contains tools for weather education, including weather games, activities, experiments, photos, a glossary and educational teaching materials for the classroom.

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Have the students create a song about the suns properties and sing it infront of the class.

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songs about the sun for kids - Bing video

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Sun Rap Song Preschool Songs About Sun Real Sun Songs Sun Song YouTube 10 Songs About the Sun Songs About Sunshine Best Sunshine Songs Sun Ra Songs Rihanna Music of the Sun Songs About the World About the Solar System Song Songs About the Sun and Moon Songs About Sun or Sunshine Funny Song About the Sun Song Lyrics About the Sun

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In a group have the students demonstate the order of the planets by wearing costumes, dancing, and moving around orbiting the correct planets.

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Weather Forecast Dance Weather Song Dance Weather Dance Season Weather Dance 4th Period Weather Cartoon Dances Neighborhood Sweater Weather Dance Dance Lesson Plan Weather Wather Dance The Weather Song Weather Weather in Dallas Song Weather Sing Song People Dancing to Weather The Weather S People Dancing to the Song Sweater Weather

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Have a student write a paper that compares the temperature of one planet to the temperature of others.

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Do you love swimming at the beach or playing outdoors with friends? How about the change in seasons? All these things are made possible by the Sun. The Sun is a star made of burning gas. It is closer to us than any other star. Without the Sun, the Earth would be a frozen wasteland. No life could survive here.

The Sun controls our seasons. It controls how and when food grows. It even controls when we are asleep and awake. The Sun is the largest thing in our solar system. It makes up 98 percent of the matter in the solar system. Because of its size, it has a strong gravitational pull. It keeps the Earth, the stars, the moons and the other planets in line. Without the gravity of the Sun, the Earth would go spinning off into space.

Fun Facts about the Sun for Kids

The Sun is over 4.5 billion years old. It started as a cloud of dust and gas. It slowly formed a massive center and gained heat. It is made of hydrogen and helium gases.

The temperature of the Sun is around 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The inner core is much hotter. To put this in perspective, a day of 90 degree weather feels hot to us. Water boils at 212 degrees.

Some areas on the Sun's surface are cooler than others. These areas look darker. They are called sun spots.

Sometimes gases on the Sun's surface erupt, shooting far out into space. These eruptions look beautiful, but they can cause problems here on Earth. They can interfere with satellites. Our cell phones might not work. Our televisions might not work.

The Sun's light reaches the Earth in eight minutes. This is known as the speed of light.

Don't look directly at the Sun, which can hurt your eyes. Scientists study the Sun through special filtered telescopes.

Many ancient cultures thought the Sun was a god. The solar system is named for the ancient Roman word, Sol. Helio means sun in Greek.

Sun Vocabulary

Learn More All About the Sun, the Closest Star to Our Earth

Watch this fun video all about the Sun:

A video of fast facts about the Sun.

Sun Q&A

Question: How does the Sun burn?

Answer: The Sun burns through thermonuclear fusion. It is not on fire, but it is very hot. As the gas in the center heats up, it rises to the surface. There it cools and falls back to the center, where the process starts again.

Enjoyed the Easy Science for Kids Website all about the Sun info? Take the FREE & fun all about the Sun quiz and download FREE Sun worksheet for kids. For lengthy info click here.

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Do you love swimming at the beach or playing outdoors with friends? How about the change in seasons? All these things are made possible by the Sun. The Sun is a star made of burning gas. It is closer to us than any other star. Without the Sun, the Earth would be a frozen wasteland.