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Tool Navigator   Choose a Grade  K-2  3-5  6-8  9-12   and   Choose a Benchmark Chapter 1. The Nature of Science  2. The Nature of Mathematics  3. The Nature of Technology  4. The Physical Setting  5. The Living Environment  6. The Human Organism  7. Human Society  8. The Designed World  9. The Mathematical World  10. Historical Perspectives  11. Common Themes  12. Habits of Mind

4A The Universe #3 Nine planets of very different size, composition, and surface features move around the sun in nearly circular orbits....  4G Forces of Nature #2 The sun's gravitational pull holds the earth and other planets in their orbits, just as the planets' gravitational pull keeps their moons in orbit around them....        10A Displacing the Earth from the Center of the Universe #2 Telescopes reveal that there are many more stars in the night sky than are evident to the unaided eye, the surface of the moon has many craters and mountains, the sun has dark spots, and Jupiter and some other planets have their own moons....        11B Models #1 Models are often used to think about processes that happen too slowly, too quickly, or on too small a scale to observe directly, or that are too vast to be changed deliberately, or that are potentially dangerous....        Science NetLinks Share Send us feedback  Print this tool

Related Tools'; Gravity and Black Holes Day on Mercury Orbit & Rotation Places in the Sun Planet Size Comparison Advanced Fast Fact Challenge Going Around the Sun Tech Topics: Electricity Tesla: Inside the Lab AC/DC What’s the Difference? Gravity Launch Mixing Primary Colors Mix-n-Match Interactive Sound Ruler What is Sound? Video Science of the Olympic Winter Games Simple Machines Yo-Yos Are Hoppin' Animated guide: Hurricanes Gravity Assist Simulator High Seas Science of a Tsunami Power Play The Cyber-rific Periodic Table of the Elements Heat A Question of Temperature Quicksilver Web Module Communicating and Learning about Global Climate Change USA Today’s Weather Basics  Shape It Up! Earthquakes Minerals, Crystals, and Gems: Stepping Stones to Inquiry Water Treatment Cycle The Water Cycle at Work Planet Mass Comparison Celebrating Space Exploration Star Search Sizing Up the Universe Fact Challenge GeoHunter            Planet Size Comparison http://www.sciencenetlinks.com/interactives/messenger/psc/PlanetSize.html Description Mercury is the second smallest planet; only Pluto is smaller. In fact, Mercury is not much larger than our moon. In this animation, you can find out how Mercury "sizes up" to Earth or any other planet. The first two planets that show up on the screen when you open this animation are Earth and Mercury. At the top of the screen, students can choose what planets they want to compare. At the bottom of the screen, students can see the dimensions for each planet as well as how they compare in size. This animation was created before scientists in the International Astronomical Union voted for a new definition of a planet, which effectively removed Pluto from the list. So, Pluto is included in this animation. You may want to alert students to this fact. You also could use this as an opportunity to discuss with your students how scientists reach these kinds of decisions and what constitutes a planet. Using the Resource Planet Size Comparison can be used to enhance students’ understanding of our solar system and to help them gain a better appreciation for the sizes of the nine planets, plus the sun and the earth’s moon. This animation would be useful when addressing the Physical Setting benchmarks that focus on the universe. It could also be used when doing lessons on scale, models, systems, or displacing the earth from the center of the universe. When doing a lesson on scale, for instance, this animation could be used to allow students to see the relative sizes of the planets by comparing any planet against another and viewing them at the same scale. So, students not only get a visual image of two planets next to each other, they also can see the diameters of the planets and a ratio in which the diameter of the smaller object is taken to be one unit. One feature of this animation of which you should be aware is that the size of the planets as they appear on the screen may vary depending on the size of the planets next to them. For instance, even if students keep the Earth in the left-hand screen as they compare it to other planets, its size may change from how large it appears when compared to Mercury versus the sun. This could cause some confusion among students so you may want to make sure that they understand that the size of a plant on the screen may vary simply due to the limitations of the animation itself. Related Science NetLinks Resources Exploring the Solar System 6-8 Lesson Mercury 6-8 Lesson Satellite Orbits 6-8 Lesson The Sun 6-8 Lesson Black Holes 9-12 Lesson How Old Are the Stars? 9-12 Lesson Tilted Earth Science Update The interactive used in this tool was created in colaboration with the MESSENGER project. Created :04/13/2004