How Can the Little Moon Hide the Giant Sun?

This website is a great hands-on exploration of how distance can affect the way we perceive the size of an object. The model  represents the Sun's and Moon's sizes and distances from the Earth and the solar eclipses. Hands-on way for students to learn about relative distances and eclipses.

Lesson Variations

Blooms taxonomy level: 
Applying

Helpful Hints

What You’ll Need:

  • ping-pong balls, one for each participant
  • two larger balls in different sizes (e.g. a baseball and a basketball would work well) (optional) image of a total
  • solar eclipse (optional) scale model of Sun, Earth, and Moon 

References

Contributors: