This week we spent a lot of time dicussing the topic of the centripital paths of the moon and the earth around the moon. We tried to get if the moon orbited around the earth or the sun. To demonstrate this we tried to use some kids from our class and have them move like cars passing each other in lanes.
So from all of the discussing that we did this week, we learned that the earth orbits the sun. The moon also orbits the sun. We learned that the path of the moon makes a certain "flower" shape if we trace it. It is constantly being pulled by the sun and then pulled back by the earth. So the path of the moon is not orbiting the earth, rather it's always "speeding" past the earth and then "slowing" down and getting back in the fast lane.
The demonstration that we did for this concept was we took kids from our class and we had one be the sun, and the other two be the moon and earth. We had the earth student orbit the sun at a constant speed. Then we had the moon student go on the outside and pass the earth, then move in between the earth and sun and slow down. This would continue to make the moons path.
This week was pretty successful I think. I now know that the moon, along with the earth, revolves around the sun. All of the other things that we were being taught this week I understand well, so I don't really have any questions yet. The coolest thing about this week is that we were talking about centripital motion with a car attached to a string and now we're talking about centripital motion with things as big as planets.
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