In Chapter 2, read the portions of section 2.2 called
"What Causes the Seasons"
and "How do we Mark the Progression of the Seasons" and read section 2.4.
If you missed the classroom discussion of the phases of the moon, then
also read the portion of section 2.3
called "Why Do We See Phases of the Moon".
Read Chapter 3, sections 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, and 3.4
1.)
In this
diagram (click here), the yellow region on the right represents the
Sun, the blue circle represents the Earth, and the white circle represents
the Moon.
When the Sun, Earth, and Moon are in this orientation, what phase of
the moon will people on Earth see?
3.) If you could change the Earth's motion, which of the following changes would cause the Earth to cease having seasons?
5.)
In the earliest version of the geocentric model, the other planets moved in
perfect circles around the Earth (in the earliest version, the other planets
did not move in circles nested
in circles, etc.) How did the predictions from this model disagree
with observations?
6.)
Eudoxus (400 - 347 BC) and Kepler (1571 - 1630 AD) both worked on
conceptual models in which the planets moved in perfect circles around the
center of the solar system. There are 2 important differences
between their stories. 1.) Eudoxus thought the Earth was at
the center of the solar system, while Kepler thought the Sun was
at the center. 2.) When faced with the fact that the models
didn't correctly predict the observations, they found differing
"solutions". What were their solutions, i.e. how did they adjust
their models (in 2 to 4 sentences)?
7.) The distance between the Sun and Mars is 1.5 times the distance between the Sun and Earth. From Kepler's 3rd law, how long does it take for Mars to make an orbit around the Sun, in years?
8.) Galileo refuted the objections to the heliocentric model with elliptical orbits. List 3 of of his arguments (you don't have to explain all of the logic.)
9.) Regarding the Scientific Method
