Lesson 10 of 84 · Space
Experiment⭐ 30 XP🚀 StarbaseHow Far Is a Light-Year?
How Far Is a Light-Year?.
🎯 Your mission
Set it up. Test it. Be amazed.
⚡ The twist
Up there, the rules of down here stop working.
Mind = Blown
🪐 A day on Venus is longer than a year on Venus.
Make a hypothesis first
Predict: what would happen on the moon vs. on Earth?
What You'll Learn
Light from the sun takes about 8 minutes to reach Earth. A light-year is the distance light travels in one year—about 9.5 trillion kilometers.
Key Words
- asteroid
- comet
- solar system
Materials Needed
- compass
- black paper
- foil
- scissors
- flashlight
- ball (Earth)
Safety First
- Protect your work surface with newspaper or plastic.
- Adult supervision recommended.
- Do not taste any materials.
Steps
Study the diagram and label the parts you recognize.
Use a flashlight, a large ball, and a small ball to model eclipses. Show both a solar eclipse and a lunar eclipse.
Use your senses (except taste) to describe what you notice.
Write a summary of your findings in 3-5 sentences.
Check Your Understanding
Question 1
1 of 3Which planet is known as the Red Planet?
Where you see this in real life
Every sunrise and every shadow is this idea in action.
Stretch Challenge
Try this in real life this week.
Look at the moon tonight. Notice its shape. Look again in 3 days.
For the dinner table
“If you could visit any planet, which would you pick and why?”
Next Smart Experiment
We'll pick an experiment that matches exactly how you're thinking right now.
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Send it to a parent who's looking for a 10-minute kitchen science win.
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