Janice VanCleave's 204 Sticky, Gloppy, Wacky, and Wonderful Experiments
Chapter One
Astronomy
1. More or Less
Purpose To determine how the masses of other planets
compare to the mass of Earth.
Materials pen sheet of white copy paper
ruler calculator
Procedure
1. Use the pen, ruler, and paper to make a table like the
one shown here.
MASS RATIOS OF THE PLANETS TO EARTH
Mass Mass Ratio
Planet (trillion trillion kg) (planet/Earth)
Mercury 0.33 0.06/1
Venus 4.87
Earth 5.986
Mars 0.64
Jupiter 1,899.0
Saturn 569.0
Uranus 86.9
Neptune 103.0
Pluto 0.012
2. Complete the table by calculating each planet's mass
ratio, which is the ratio of a planet's mass to the mass
of Earth.
NOTE: The mass of planets is measured in trillion trillion
kilograms. For example, the mass ratio of Mercury is:
mass ratio = planet's mass ÷ Earth's mass
= 0.33 ÷ 5.986
= 0.06/1
Mercu ... read full excerpt from Janice VanCleave's 204 Sticky, Gloppy, Wacky, and Wonderful Experiments ebook
