5.+The+Moon

=The Moon=







=DEFINITIONS – accurately define the following terms=

a) axis
It is an imaginary line that allows an object to rotate. E.g. the moon revolves on its axis once every 24 hours. b) Ellipse An oval shaped orbit  c) Eclipse An eclipse is an astronomical event that occurs when one celestial object moves into the shadow of another. d) Orbit The curved path of a celestial object or a spacecraft around a star, planet or moon.  e) Spin Turn or cause to turn or whirl around f) Rotation Circular movement of an object an imaginary line called rotation axies  g) Luminosity The brightness of star compared to earth h) Escape velocity The lowest velocity that a body must have in order to escape the gravitational attraction of a particular planet or other object.

WRITING a) Why are there many more craters in the moon than on earth? There are more craters on the moon then on the Earth due to the moon having a weak atmosphere and is unable to burn up any incoming comets or asteroids. This makes the moon an easy target for being hit, which will leave behind craters.  b) About how far away is the moon from us? About how many times would you have to walk around the earth at the equator to walk that same distance?

The average distance of the moon from the earth is 384,400km Apogee: 405,503 Perigee: 353,000

Equator: 407,074 Has to walk approximately 10 times.

c) About how far away is the sun from us?
The distance from the sun to Earth is approximately 150 million. Also known as 1 astronomical unit (au) d) What is special about December 21 and June 21 in a 12-month calendar, and how do these relate to the tilt of our planet? December 21st is the Winter Solstice, a point in time when the sun is pointing directly at the tropic of Capricorn. It is the shortest day of the year and marks the beginning of winter. 23*26 June 21st is the Summer Solstice, a point in time when the sun is pointing directly at the tropic of Cancer. It is the longest day of the year and marks the beginning of summer. 23*26

This applies to countries in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Southern Hemisphere, the solstices are opposite. June 21st being the Winter Solstice and December 21st being the Summer Solstice.

e) What is the moon made of, roughly, and how old is it?
Scientists aren’t exactly sure what the composition of the moon is. However they believe that the moon is like the Earth, it consists of layers. **They believe the lunar core is made of metallic iron, with small amounts of sulfur and nickel. The section outside the core consists of different types of minerals. The outermost layer is composed mostly of oxygen, silicon, magnesium, iron, calcium, and aluminium.** It is said that the moon is approximately **four and a half billion years old.** f) Give two different theories of how the moon was created and explain which one you believe in.

The Giant Impact Theory:
This theory states that a small mars like planet collided with the Earth as it was forming. Thus creating another celestial object from the amount of debris left over.

The Capture Theory:
Scientists believe that the moon was formed somewhere else in the solar system, and was later captured by the Earth’s gravitational force. I believe more in the Capture Theory, as it seems more probable for another object to be captured by the Earth’s gravitational force. Millions of years ago, the Earths gravitational force would have been strong enough to grab a smaller object for itself and use it as a moon. Similar to how Jupiter can capture many celestial objects and claim them as moons. g) Use different forms of the root word, ‘lun’ in three different sentences. Explain the meaning. The period of time that occurs between the moon passing over a point on Earth and the next high tide for that point is called a Lunitidal Interval. The point at which a spacecraft in lunar orbit is closest to the moon is called a Perilune. The point at which a spacecraft in lunar orbit is furthest to the moon is called a Apolune.

=PRESENTATION - Abdulrahman - Alhowra - Razan=

http://picasaweb.google.com/DZ.David.Zhang/MoonWatchingDec8th?authkey=Gv1sRgCP3h64qsuIU0# http://picasaweb.google.com/DZ.David.Zhang/2ndMoonObservation?authkey=Gv1sRgCIq-j7jIkeCZpwE#


 * With the Moon as our starting point to link the Ways of Knowing (WOK's - Think PERL) and the Areas of Knowing (AOK's - Think IB Hexogram - Math / Natural Sciences / Human Sciences / Arts / History) we will a) make sense of some of the Math questions raised in our Moon Perception exercise and b) have fun interpreting some quotations about Math as an AOK.**


 * A. Record here 3 Math Questions raised in class that interest you. Then under each write your answer/s and reflect on your process for expanding your knowledge in that area.**


 * Q1. What is the velocity of the Moon's Orbit?**

roughly 1km/s

Average Center to Center distance is 384.403 km
 * Q2. What is the average distance of the moon from the Earth?**

Just using their volumes and not taking shape into consideration, roughly 49 moons can be put into Earth
 * Q3. How many moons can you fit into the earth?**

**Q3. What is the diameter of the largest crater on the moon that can be from Earth with the naked eye? **
 * It cannot be seen with the naked eye. **

**Q2. How much light does the moon produce? **
 * None, it reflects light form the sun it does not produce light. **

How many craters are there in the moon? "Impact craters are the remains of collisions between an asteroid, comet, or meteorite and the Moon."[]. There are said to be indefinite amount of craters on the Moon and that it is impossible to count how many there are, because if we keep looking closer and closer at the Moon we will notice even more craters, even craters that are invisible to the naked eye! Also every now and again there are objects in space hitting the Moon causing more craters, and therefore leaves us with no definite answer!

In the moon, there are holes caused by the meteors that hit the surface of the moon due to the lack of the air hemisphere. On the moons' surface, the craters that have a diameter more than 1 km are approximately 300,000. Other craters that are smaller cannot really be counted, they are millions. The count for the 300 craters was approximated, by the scopes from the earth and by the satellites.
 * Question 2. How many craters are there in the moon **

What is the size of our moon compared to other moons? There are four other moons that are larger than our Moon in our solar system. They are Ganymede, which orbits around Jupiter, Titan, Callisto and Io. The moons named Callisto and Io orbit around Jupiter, while the moon Titan orbits around the planet Saturn. There is one moon that is known by the name of Europa, which is a moon of Jupiter. This last moon is one of the four largest moons in our solar system including those moons mentioned previously, yet Europa is known to be smaller than our Moon.

*What is the Escape Velocity of the moon?

2.38 km/s

.


 * B. Read the following Math quotations (some you may have heard before) and below three of them, write your interpretation of what you believe the author is trying to say.**


 * "Mathematics is neither physical nor mental, it's social." Reuben Hersh, 1927-**

Hersh is trying to say that, Maths isn't MERELY mental or physical, like the theorems created in the mind or the physical representation of maths, but it's actually social, a language that EVERYONE is able to speak. It's social in the sense that regardless of race, gender or age you can understand maths, and maths also brings people together.


 * "The useful combinations (in mathematics) are precisely the most beautiful." Henri Poincare, 1854-1912**

In Maths most people know individual concepts like trigonometry, algebra or speed and distance, What Poincare is trying to say is that when people are able to combine individual concepts and work out a much bigger concept or idea like distance of moon from earth or speed of moon orbit that the maths is most beautiful.


 * "Mathematics is the abstract key with turns the lock of the physical universe." John Polkinghorne, 1930 -**

The Physical universe that needs to be unlocked would be the Physics or Chemistry of the earth, whether it's engineering a new car or looking for new galaxies all of these ventures REQUIRES maths. Maths serves the most important tool that helps thinkers and scientists prove or devise new theories. Maths serves as the key, that everyone uses to devise or confirm the theories.


 * To speak freely, I am convinced that it (mathematics) is a more powerful instrument of knowledge than any other..." Rene Descaret, 1596-1650**


 * "Everything that can be counted does not count. Everything that counts cannot be counted." Albert Einstein, 1879-1955**


 * "The mark of a civilized man is the ability to look at a column of numbers and weep." Berterand Russell, 1872-1970**


 * "A mathematician is a machine for turning coffee into theorems." Paul Erdos, 1913-96**


 * "Mathematics began when it was discovered that a barce of pheasants, and a couple of days have something in common: the number two." Bertrand Russell, 1872-1970**


 * "Instead of having "answers" on a math test, they should just call them 'impressions", and if you got a different "impression", so what, cant' we all be brothers?| Jack Handy 1949-**