Stage 2 Preparation 20/01/10

Jas and I are now working together as a pair to create an orrery. An orrery is a model of our solar system so below I have written a table of each planet and researched on the internet using secondary research how far each planet are to the Sun. Furthermore, I have tried to complete a scale in order to work out how long the overall orrery is going to be. However, it seem more difficult than that! Below is the table I made and as you can see, shows 3 different scale sizes that I could use. But, as the Sun is so big compared to some of the smaller planets such as Pluto and Mercury. Because of this, I have come to the conclusion that the planets cannot be scaled down exactly. Instead, using the research Jas did of the materials, I looked up spheres made from wood to use as planets and I think that if we get 5 size balls, they can replicate the size of the planet roughly to another planet. For example: Mercury, Mars, and Pluto will all be the smallest ball shape whereas Jupiter will be the biggest, and Uranus and Neptune in the middle.

Planet	Distance from the Sun	Size of planet scaled down (a lot!)
Mercury	36 million miles	4.9 (9.8mm) 0.98cm
Venus	67.2 million miles	12.1 (24.2mm) 2.4cm
Earth	93 million miles	12.7 (25.4mm) 2.5cm
Mars	141.6 million miles	6.7 (13.4mm) 1.3cm
Jupiter	483.6 million miles	142.8 (285.6mm) 28.5cm
Saturn	886.7 million miles	120.6 (241.2mm) 24.1cm
Uranus	1,784 million miles	51.3 (102.6mm) 10.2cm
Neptune	2,794.4 million miles	49.1 (98.2mm) 9.8cm
Pluto	3,674.5 million miles	2.3 (4.6mm) 0.46cm
Total	9,961 million miles	402.5 (80.5mm) 8cm

I have also sketched a few designs on paper to show our client. These include; materials used, stand shape, planet line, sun position, etc and we have come to these conclusions together as using secondary research (internet), these designs will fit the criteria needed and will not be too difficult to make. We have also had to think of pricing and availability when we think of our materials. I feel I did well today as I got a lot done, and thought of all the aspects we need to in order to prepare for the making of our orrery. To improve, Jas and I could of written all our ideas on a mind map rather than talknig to each other about our ideas.