Week 3: The Moon, Phases, and Different Sides

 

 1. What did you do in lab today?

·       The moon takes 28 days to rotate (turn on its axis).

o   Previously I had a misconception about this and thought that the moon doesn’t rotate. In lab, we learned that this doesn’t make sense because we modeled it with a demonstration.

·       We learned that the earth rotates counterclockwise because the sun rises in the East and sets in the West. We used our globe and sun model to understand this.

·       We reviewed that it takes 28 days for the moon to revolve around the earth.

·       Additionally, we discussed a graphic of the phases of the moon and showed the corresponding relationship between the moon and earth based on the phase. It was helpful for me to associate pictures with the technical phases.

·       It was interesting to look at the near side of the moon and discuss what we noticed and wondered. Something that we wondered about is what caused the craters and different landscapes of the moon.

·       Hypothesis from our experiment about the crust of the moon –

o   the size of the meatier effects the size of the crater

o   The darker side has thicker crust, so it isn’t as affected by hits

2. What was the big question?

The big question that we discussed was what are the phases of the moon, and what do they tell us?

3. What did you do in Thursdays discussion?

This is what we discussed and the notes I took in discussion:

Why different thicknesses in the moon?

·       Earth facing side: 200 degrees F warmer

·       Near side acts as a more plastic than solid substance

·       More prone to volcanic activity, including magma fields (the dark spots on the near side)

·       No active core so why did it have volcanoes?

o   Residual heat from radioactive decay?

o   Earth’s gravity due to tidal locking, pulled early molten material toward the observable side.

Sun-

·       Noon- directly overhead

·       Morning- rising in East

·       Nighttime- setting in West

Phases of the moon

·       New moon- not visible, 0 days

·       Full moon- fully visible, 14 days

·       Cresent- 3 days and 25 days

·       1st/2nd quarter- 7 days and 21 days

·       Gibbous – 11 days and 18 days 

·       The side facing the sun is in the light, the other half is in the dark

Where did the moon come from?

·       A mars sized object named Thea hit the earth

·       There are countless theories, but this is the most reliable one

*Reminder- the moon does rotate. It is just at the same rate as the earth, so it doesn’t appear to be

- The moon has a small amount of gravity

- The moon does not become larger because it is closer to the earth. It becomes “bigger” because there is more sunlight on it.

Question – In Mount Vernon the moon was a crescent., What will it be in South Africa?

Answer- It will also be a crescent in South Africa because we see the same moon. They will just see it hours later when it is night time there.

4. Read the online textbook chapter 2. 

  • What did you learn?

One thing I learned from this chapter is what the phases of the moon are. I have heard different terminology used for the phases before, but I never understood what they meant. Having the definitions of new, crescent, quarter, gibbous, and full explained was very helpful. I was able to compare them and learn the differences.

Another thing I learned is about the structure of the moon. I did not know that the moon had a core, mantle, and crust. I thought it was all made of the same material.

  • What was most helpful?

Something that was especially helpful to me was seeing the visual of the moon’s rotation around the Earth. The diagram also included the sun, which made it easy to see where the light was hitting the moon. It was also helpful that the moon was shown split in half and shaded to represent the illuminated and dark sides. All these visual elements helped me better understand the phases of the moon and when each phase is visible from Earth.

  • What do you need more information on?

Something I’d like to learn more about is the moon and human culture. I'm especially interested in the science behind how the moon’s phases might influence human behavior. I find it interesting that a full moon is often associated with unusual behavior. I’d like to explore whether there’s any scientific evidence to support that belief.

5. What questions, concerns, and/or comments do you have?

I do not have any further questions or comments at this time. 

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