Colmanweb

Colmanweb Planet Fact Pages. Use the links below:

Mathematics of a Total Solar Eclipse

A good 'similar triangles' activity to explain the shadow of a total solar eclipse. Harder examples of the main activity.

Lesson plan Bulletpoints for lesson Supporting presentation SOHO image of Sun Eclipse map SOHO website

Solar System Fact Sheet

MS Excel sheet that gives info to make a scale model of the distances between the planets for any size room (or peice of paper etc) that you choose

Gravity & the Inverse Square Law

An applied use of inverse proportion. Good but difficult example!

Seasons On Saturn

A great trigonometrical activity to find Saturns orbital period and when it will next appear edge-on. Use the essential files below:

Further useful files:

Orbiting Our Sun

Use circle and speed/distance/time formula to work out the speeds at which the planets go around our Sun.

This downloads as 4 files zipped up. However, you can dowload just the teachers notes and other files separately Powerpoint in miles, Powerpoint in Km and Excel info sheet & answers!

These files are headed with the Sun|Trek logo for which I produced them. I will link to the Sun|Trek website as soon as it comes online.

Mars Exploration Rover Animation

Link to a NASA page from where you can download the MER Animation showing take-off, cruise and landing on Mars plus some off the science that the Rovers have been doing. There's a new RealVideo of this animation too. Pages of other Mars Exploration Rover resources are at:

Russian Mars

Simple 7 slide Powerpoint show of Russian plans to go to Mars. These plans are quite advanced and have been around since the 1980's! Worth a look! www.energia.ru.

Mars Crash

Pupils decide what 'tools' would be useful and which wouldn't following a crash landing on Mars. (Written by Mr Cripps of Neatherd High School.)

Mars Animation

Uses Hubble pictures to show the apparent size of Mars at different times of the 2 year cycle between Mars appearing large and appearing small in the sky. Use with the 'Mars Orbit' file below.

Mars Activities 1 and Mars Activities 2

Two Mars Activity Guides that take pupils through various aspects of the Red Planet (getting there, living there, mapping the surface to name just a few). The first guide is aimed at slightly older pupils than the second but have a look at both to choose your favourite activities from each. (These both download from external sources.)

Mars Orbit

'Flash' animation to show the comparative orbits of Earth & Mars. Demonstrates why Mars appears larger in the sky every two years.