Tag Archives: space
Check out the Solar System!
This model of the solar system is (almost) to scale – except for the sun, which should be much much much bigger. In our model everything is closer than it really is too, but you can get an idea of where everything is and how big they are compared to each other. You can also see the posters we made when studying different planets and dwarf planets.
Space Colony
This term, we have been learning all about space and our solar system. As part of this, we had to choose a planet we could colonise and figure out what jobs and buildings would be needed to get this colony set up. We made 3D models of these facilities.
The World in our Hands
To make these amazing pictures, we sketched our own hand holding a softball. We decorated the ball to look like a planet, and added wrinkles and veins to our hands to make them look realistic. The background was decorated using scratchback. This is done by covering the whole backgrouond in small sections of bright colour, then painting over it in black paint, and while the paint is wet, scratching stars and patterns out of the paint.
Otherworld Landscapes
We found a beautiful drawing of an artist impression of another planet. We made our version by adding vine covered cliffs on one side, a jagged cliff on the other and the cratered surface of the planet in the middle. Each area was drawn in different colours and patterns and blended a little. Then, we made a rocket of our own design and stuck it over the picture.
Optical Illusion Artworks
We created black hole optical illusions by making concentric circles, adding curved lines going from the middle to the edge, and putting in astronauts of three different sizes.
Space colonisation discussion
Where Should We Colonise In Our Solar System?
Imagine that Earth is overcrowded. There isn’t enough room for all of us to live here. We will have to find another place in our solar system to live or else people will start to die!
The sun is right out because the temperature is so high you would burn yourself up.
Mercury wouldn’t work either. It’s also too hot and has no oxygen.
Venus is not suitable. The surface is very hazardous with volcanoes and earthquakes. Also, the atmosphere is poisonous.
Earth is great, that’s why we live here. But, it’s too crowded so on to the moon. We could live here with some work. It has a solid surface. It would be fun for kids to play because of the low gravity. There is ice for water. The only problem is that there is no oxygen, so we would need to find a way to take some with us.
Mars is the next closest option. The temperature is suitable because it is not too hot or cold. It is a good size so there is plenty or room to live. If we live on Mars, scientists could study there and prove if there are aliens. Just like the moon, there is no oxygen so we would have to take some or make some. The water is frozen so we would need to melt it.
We could not live on Jupiter. The temperature is too cold and it has a Great Red Spot which is a hurricane. It doesn’t have a solid surface.
Saturn is unliveable. It is made of gas which means there is no oxygen or a solid surface. When travelling to Saturn, our space ship or rocket might get damaged by the rocky rings.
Uranus is just as bad as Saturn. The atmosphere is methane, also known as fart gas! It spins on its side so it would be like living on a treadmill. It is really far away from Earth so its cold and hard to get to.
Neptune is also a bad place because you would freeze to death. The gravity will suck you in to the planet or its big storm. Neptune’s strong winds would also blow you away before you had the chance to arrive!
Pluto is a bad place too because its too small as a dwarf planet. It would be freezing cold and you get pulled off course by Neptune’s gravity on the way.
We have decided that the best place in our solar system to live (other than Earth of course!) would be Earth’s moon (Luna) or Mars. The moon is closer and we’ve been there before, but Mars has a bigger area to expand over.
Space Projects
This term, we’ve been working hard on our space research projects. We used books from the library and the internet to find our facts which were recorded on to big charts. Next, we used the information to make posters to display in class. After that, we put our information into PowerPoint slide-shows. Finally, we wrote some expositions talking about whether our place in the solar system would be suitable for colonisation, which we added to our slide-shows.
Below are the amazing results! You will need PowerPoint to view these at home.