Easy to remember scaled down Universe.
Discussion
Its a bit of a coincidence that there are 63241 Astronomical Units (AU) to 1 Light Year, and there are 63360 inches to a Mile.
So therefore if you reduce the Solar system in size so that Earth is just 1 inch from the sun, in one year, Light would travel 1 mile. At this scale Pluto is exactly 1 metre from the sun. Proxima Centauri a mere 4.2 miles.
So therefore if you reduce the Solar system in size so that Earth is just 1 inch from the sun, in one year, Light would travel 1 mile. At this scale Pluto is exactly 1 metre from the sun. Proxima Centauri a mere 4.2 miles.
standards said:
These are very useful for me when covering science n religion topics with humanities type folk.
Got any more?
Yes, Sir. Try this link. Got any more?
https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/seuforum/download/2inc...
It is interesting none the less. Started looking at scale and came across this.
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120312.html
Apparently the universe is rectangular......
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120312.html
Apparently the universe is rectangular......
Vanguard21 said:
Its a bit of a coincidence that there are 63241 Astronomical Units (AU) to 1 Light Year, and there are 63360 inches to a Mile.
So therefore if you reduce the Solar system in size so that Earth is just 1 inch from the sun, in one year, Light would travel 1 mile. At this scale Pluto is exactly 1 metre from the sun. Proxima Centauri a mere 4.2 miles.
how big would the sun and the earth be at this scale?So therefore if you reduce the Solar system in size so that Earth is just 1 inch from the sun, in one year, Light would travel 1 mile. At this scale Pluto is exactly 1 metre from the sun. Proxima Centauri a mere 4.2 miles.
in whatever units you like
I've banged on about this before I think. There are loads of online tools to help you build a scale solar system model. You just put in the size of your sun (we used a space hopper) and they work out the planet size and distances for you. If you have kids.... do it tomorrow. Do it anyway even if you dont. Its the only way I could get my head around the size of everything up there. It should be part of the national curriculum.
MTech535 said:
Vanguard21 said:
Its a bit of a coincidence that there are 63241 Astronomical Units (AU) to 1 Light Year, and there are 63360 inches to a Mile.
So therefore if you reduce the Solar system in size so that Earth is just 1 inch from the sun, in one year, Light would travel 1 mile. At this scale Pluto is exactly 1 metre from the sun. Proxima Centauri a mere 4.2 miles.
how big would the sun and the earth be at this scale?So therefore if you reduce the Solar system in size so that Earth is just 1 inch from the sun, in one year, Light would travel 1 mile. At this scale Pluto is exactly 1 metre from the sun. Proxima Centauri a mere 4.2 miles.
in whatever units you like
k, the sun about 110 gnat's bks.OK here's one my Dad wrote in a galaxy far far away years ago .......
Running Through Space.
Or….. The Universe in Perspective.
Got a minute? Good. Then you can understand the big picture, the Universe, once and for all, which is normally bloody difficult. The clever men from Oxford have been trying for ever and they wind up confusing us as comprehensively as the clever men from Cambridge. But I have it, we are going to run through it!
It’s easy, we don’t need any theories like Archie Medes making his bathroom floor wet or formulas from Einstein.
I will bring the Universe into easy comprehension for all, and it has never been done before. You see, IT ALL DEPENDS ON HOW BIG YOU ARE. To us humans, being too small you see, between five and six feet tall, (This is not an exact science, it doesn’t need to be.) the Universe is a vast gobblydegook of light years, and parsecs and red shifts. Only God, (If he made it) knows what it’s all about and how far it goes. Imagine now how big it would all seem to you if you were a cat, say one foot tall. Five to six times larger than it seems now, five to six times more passing the understanding, however clever a cat you were. Imagine now you are an ant, a microbe. It’s too much, it’s no go the anty-man, it’s no go Blavatsky.
Right, on we go. Microbes, ants, cats and people are all too small to understand the vastness of space so let us do a ‘thought experiment.’ No test tubes, no sparks on shiny balls, no hair all over our face. Einstein did them all the time and are we going to admit he would be any better at it than us. No.
How big is space? That’s our experiment.
Here we go. Put on your running shoes. The sun is one hundred million miles away from Earth. Near enough. If you want exact there are special books you can get, take a large bag to carry them.
WE BECOME HUGE GIANTS, now we can understand the vastness of space, at last. So we imagine we are two hundred million miles tall, and every long step we take is one hundred million miles long. It’s a familiar distance, we don’t do it every day but it’s roughly the distance to the Sun. What a stride! What huge trousers. Now to start running around the Universe.
We step out from Earth, bonk, one step and we are on the Sun. Bit hot, let us trot off to the furthermost planet in our Solar System, namely Pluto. Forty steps, a half minute stroll, not so far as the paper shop, and we are standing, smiling broadly on the planet Pluto.
Fine view from here, lots of stars, all over the place, they are our gang. The Galaxy of which the Sun is a member. We are called collectively The Milky Way. There are none very close, bit off-putting, might be in for a bit of a long walk here. We spot the closest to us, it has a name plate, Alpha Centauri, sounds posh, we’ll nip over there for some cucumber sandwiches. Five thousand heavy paces and two hours later we are there. Half a minute to cross the Solar System and two hours to the next star, still we can do it on a Sunday morning and get back home for tea.
The following weekend we are going to walk right across our Galaxy, The Milky Way. We do not get back home for tea because it takes twenty three years. Good job I took a drink.
We are now a familiar giant figure in space. The denizens of distant worlds, if such there are, remark, there he goes again, that huge bloke, wonderwhere he’s off to this time.
We are off to other Galaxies. Space is full of them. They are as far as we can see with telescopes or listen to with radios, if they have got Your Hundred Best Tunes going out.
There’s a nice close Galaxy over there. It’s just about the closest and is called Andromeda, I’ll walk over there, better not start off too quick, pace myself. Best foot forward. It takes me twenty five thousand years to walk to Andromeda.
We will finish our peregrinations by walking to the furthest Galaxy yet discovered. A complication is that Galaxies are walking away from us at a bit of a lick. As if I hadn’t got enough to do without playing catch-up. We shout at it, ‘Hoy, hold on.’ It stops and waits for us and we walk over. It takes us twenty five million years to get there.
Remember how big we are?
Now do you understand the size of The Universe?
Running Through Space.
Or….. The Universe in Perspective.
Got a minute? Good. Then you can understand the big picture, the Universe, once and for all, which is normally bloody difficult. The clever men from Oxford have been trying for ever and they wind up confusing us as comprehensively as the clever men from Cambridge. But I have it, we are going to run through it!
It’s easy, we don’t need any theories like Archie Medes making his bathroom floor wet or formulas from Einstein.
I will bring the Universe into easy comprehension for all, and it has never been done before. You see, IT ALL DEPENDS ON HOW BIG YOU ARE. To us humans, being too small you see, between five and six feet tall, (This is not an exact science, it doesn’t need to be.) the Universe is a vast gobblydegook of light years, and parsecs and red shifts. Only God, (If he made it) knows what it’s all about and how far it goes. Imagine now how big it would all seem to you if you were a cat, say one foot tall. Five to six times larger than it seems now, five to six times more passing the understanding, however clever a cat you were. Imagine now you are an ant, a microbe. It’s too much, it’s no go the anty-man, it’s no go Blavatsky.
Right, on we go. Microbes, ants, cats and people are all too small to understand the vastness of space so let us do a ‘thought experiment.’ No test tubes, no sparks on shiny balls, no hair all over our face. Einstein did them all the time and are we going to admit he would be any better at it than us. No.
How big is space? That’s our experiment.
Here we go. Put on your running shoes. The sun is one hundred million miles away from Earth. Near enough. If you want exact there are special books you can get, take a large bag to carry them.
WE BECOME HUGE GIANTS, now we can understand the vastness of space, at last. So we imagine we are two hundred million miles tall, and every long step we take is one hundred million miles long. It’s a familiar distance, we don’t do it every day but it’s roughly the distance to the Sun. What a stride! What huge trousers. Now to start running around the Universe.
We step out from Earth, bonk, one step and we are on the Sun. Bit hot, let us trot off to the furthermost planet in our Solar System, namely Pluto. Forty steps, a half minute stroll, not so far as the paper shop, and we are standing, smiling broadly on the planet Pluto.
Fine view from here, lots of stars, all over the place, they are our gang. The Galaxy of which the Sun is a member. We are called collectively The Milky Way. There are none very close, bit off-putting, might be in for a bit of a long walk here. We spot the closest to us, it has a name plate, Alpha Centauri, sounds posh, we’ll nip over there for some cucumber sandwiches. Five thousand heavy paces and two hours later we are there. Half a minute to cross the Solar System and two hours to the next star, still we can do it on a Sunday morning and get back home for tea.
The following weekend we are going to walk right across our Galaxy, The Milky Way. We do not get back home for tea because it takes twenty three years. Good job I took a drink.
We are now a familiar giant figure in space. The denizens of distant worlds, if such there are, remark, there he goes again, that huge bloke, wonderwhere he’s off to this time.
We are off to other Galaxies. Space is full of them. They are as far as we can see with telescopes or listen to with radios, if they have got Your Hundred Best Tunes going out.
There’s a nice close Galaxy over there. It’s just about the closest and is called Andromeda, I’ll walk over there, better not start off too quick, pace myself. Best foot forward. It takes me twenty five thousand years to walk to Andromeda.
We will finish our peregrinations by walking to the furthest Galaxy yet discovered. A complication is that Galaxies are walking away from us at a bit of a lick. As if I hadn’t got enough to do without playing catch-up. We shout at it, ‘Hoy, hold on.’ It stops and waits for us and we walk over. It takes us twenty five million years to get there.
Remember how big we are?
Now do you understand the size of The Universe?
QUOTE[Fine view from here, lots of stars, all over the place, they are our gang. The Galaxy of which the Sun is a member. We are called collectively The Milky Way. There are none very close, bit off-putting, might be in for a bit of a long walk here. We spot the closest to us, it has a name plate, Alpha Centauri, sounds posh, we’ll nip over there for some cucumber sandwiches. Five thousand heavy paces and two hours later we are there. Half a minute to cross the Solar System and two hours to the next star, still we can do it on a Sunday morning and get back home for tea.]
Not 5000 steps but 271,600 steps I'm afraid. It will take you a little longer.
Not 5000 steps but 271,600 steps I'm afraid. It will take you a little longer.
Edited by Vanguard21 on Saturday 18th June 15:53
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