Week 6 lab questions

Big questions: What are the phases of the moon? What causes the seasons? What causes a lunar eclipse?
What we did in lab: We got to explore the phases of the moon using a globe, moon object thingy, and a lightbulb. 

Initial Predictions:
  1. I think the phases of the moon occur from its rotation around the sun.
  2. The earth's rotation causes the seasons.
  3. The lunar eclipse is caused when the moon and sun and earth align in their orbit.
Lab Notes:
Helio-Sun
Geo-Earth
Copernicus- Sun is in the middle. Earth goes around the sun.
Galileo- Sun is in the center of the solar system.
Plane of the ecliptic. Pluto was kicked out because it wasn't aligned with the other planets.
365 days for Earth to go around the sun
Earth is tipped
North pole is tipped to the North Star
Southern cross
Summer solstice when sunlight hits cancer
winter solstice when sunlight hits capricorn
Arctic circle no sun for a long time
Antarctic circle- never dark
takes a month for moon to go around earth
new moon is dark moon

What did I learn in lecture?
I learned about how the phases of the moon occurs. The moon orbits around the earth, and the earth orbits around the sun. Depending on where the moon is in its orbit, the sunlight hits the moon at different angles. It takes about 28 days for a new moon to occur (half the moon is lit up and not visible to the Earth). We also learned how the tilt of the Earth causes seasons.

Textbook Reading:
  1. The textbook gave me more information on how the moon phases occur. I learned about why days are longer in a summer solstice. The Northern Hemisphere receives more sunlight for a longer period of time due to the tilt.
  2. The most helpful in the textbook was the Khan Academy videos describing the moon phases and the video created by the students describing shadows. The videos about the solstices and eclipses were also very helpful.
  3. I need more information on how I know what the moon phase is during a certain time of the day. I still struggle to understand those questions.
  4. Is the new moon a solar eclipse? What phase is the moon in during a lunar eclipse?


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