Lesson: Life on the Moon
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Figure 1. Is there life on the Moon? click for copyright |
Summary |
Engineering Connection |
Contents
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| Grade Level: 8 (6-8) | Lesson #: 2 of 3 |
Lesson Dependency  :None |
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| Keywords: moon, Lunar Month, orbit, lunar phases, natural satellite, Apollo project, International Space Station, ISS | |
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Related Curriculum
| subject areas |
Earth and Space Science and Technology |
| curricular units |
Space |
| activities |
My Moon Colony |
Learning Objectives (Return to Contents)
After this lesson, students should be able to:
- Describe important physical properties of the Moon.
- Predict ways in which life on the Moon would be different than life on Earth.
- Anticipate three problems that engineers would need to solve for people to be able to live on the Moon.
Introduction/Motivation (Return to Contents)
Man first stepped foot on the Moon on July 20, 1969. Now forty years later, engineers and scientists are trying to figure out a way that people could actually live on the Moon for as long as six months! As construction of the International Space Station (ISS) progresses, Earth's inhabitants are another step closer to a permanent Moon base and further exploration of our nearest neighbor in the solar system. Today's eighth graders may very well have a chance to visit the Moon at some point in their lifetime.
Today we are going to think about what life would be like on the Moon. I can see from your list on the board that we already have a good start. (Pause here to review things students already know about the Moon. Make corrections if needed. Point out questions under the "Want to Know" section that relate to the lesson.) We are going to find out the answers to many of your questions.
How big is the Moon as compared to Earth? (Answer: Allow students to brainstorm possible answers. Then, offer the following comparison to students.) Probably the easiest comparison to make is between a tennis ball and a full-size basketball. A tennis ball is about ¼ the size of a basketball in terms of their radius/diameter (2.25 in. vs. 9 in.). This is about the size difference between the Moon and the Earth (the Moon is about 27% of the size of Earth, 1738.1 km vs. 6378.1 km). The moon is about 380,000 km away, the equivalent of about 60 Earths strewn out end to end.
What would it feel like to stand on the Moon? Two main factors would make it feel very different than what you experience on Earth. First, since the Moon is much smaller than Earth, the force of gravity is much less. What does this mean for you? Well, if you weighed 100 lbs on Earth, you would weigh only 1/6 that amount, or only 17 lbs, on the Moon. Take a moment to figure out exactly how much you would weigh there. (Note: Remind students who are having difficulty figuring this out to multiply their weight x .17, or 1/6 rounded up.)
The second major reason that the Moon would feel quite strange to you is that there is no atmosphere. This has several consequences: not only is there no oxygen for you to breathe, but there also is no wind to blow your hair around, and there are far greater temperature differences — from -280° F at night to 260° F during the day at the lunar equator. Because there is no atmosphere, there is no weather. And, it is sunny on the Moon for about two weeks at a time, resulting in a very intense heat because there is nothing to dim the light.
A few other properties of the Moon would also affect what you would experience there. For one thing, the Moon takes much longer to spin on its axis. How long does it take the Earth to make one complete rotation? That's right - 24 hours. So when we see the sunrise in the morning, we know it will be another 24 hours before it comes up again. Does anyone know how long it would be from one sunrise to the next on the Moon? (Allow students times to brainstorm.) It takes 29½ days! That would sure mess up your sleep cycle! In addition to longer days and nights, the Moon also has no water (except for a small amount of ice at the poles that is permanently frozen).
Furthermore, it has no life (except for you humans who will live there in the future!). How would you eat and drink there?
Engineers made it possible for humans to take their first steps on the Moon, and it will be engineers who design and build a way for us to live safely under the Moon's very strange conditions.
Lesson Background & Concepts for Teachers (Return to Contents)
The Moon is the Earth's only natural satellite. (A satellite is defined as an object that orbits around another object.) It is made of similar rock as the Earth: igneous rock with a core of iron and sulfur, and a rocky crust made mostly of aluminum and calcium. As the Moon is constantly bombarded with small meteorites, a fine-grained "soil" or dust, sometimes referred to as regolith, is formed from the lunar rocks and covers the surface. The Moon does not have an atmosphere, and therefore sound does not carry and there is no weather. The temperature on the Moon is about -200oC on average — more than twice as cold as our Earth's South Pole, which ranges between -20oC and -80oC on average. Having no weather means that there are no winds on the Moon, and the footprints the astronauts made when they first stepped on the Moon's surface on July 20, 1969, are still there today.
Since the Moon is such a close neighbor, averaging only 380,000 kilometers from Earth, its main features are quite visible from Earth with the naked eye. Most noticeable are the maria or "seas" of the Moon ("mare" is the Latin word for "sea"). These seas are wide sunken plains that are thought to have been formed when basalt flooded the area after a huge impact with an asteroid or comet. Although scientists have determined that the Moon has no surface water, early observers thought these dark areas were indeed seas on the surface. Light-colored areas on the Moon's surface are also visible from Earth, which are illuminated highlands or mountains that were uplifted as a result of meteor impacts. With the aid of a good pair of binoculars it is also possible to view craters on the surface caused by such impacts.
There are a few main theories as to how the Moon came to be in orbit around the Earth. Many believe it was formed along with the Earth from the cloud of dust and gas that originally formed the solar system. Another explanation could be that a large chunk broke off while the molten Earth was forming and stayed in orbit after it had solidified. Two of the less accepted theories are that the Moon was a small planet in the solar system that came near the Earth and was captured by Earth's gravity, becoming its satellite, or that a large planet about the size of Mars struck the Earth and the molten material that resulted from the impact hardened to form the Moon.
The Moon does not produce its own light, despite the fact that it is the second brightest object in the sky after the Sun. It reflects light from the Sun back at the Earth. Because the Moon's period of rotation is the same as its period of revolution around the Earth — 27.3 days — the Moon always shows the same side to the Earth. Therefore, we are unable to see the other half, the "dark side" of the Moon, with our naked eye. Fortunately, we have seen images of this part of the Moon, taken via satellites and spacecraft that travel to the "dark side."
Depending on the angle at which the Sun's light strikes the Moon, the Moon appears to go through phases in the course of a lunar month, which is actually 29.5 days because the Earth also moves in relation to the Sun. The eight phases of the Moon are: waxing crescent, first quarter, waxing gibbous, full Moon, waning gibbous, third quarter (last quarter), waning crescent, and new Moon (not visible), as shown in Figure 2.
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Figure 2. The Moon phases as seen from Earth. click for copyright |
Moon Mission
On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin became the first human beings to step foot on the Moon (see Figure 3). The Apollo 11 mission was the result of the largest engineering project ever undertaken.
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Figure 3. Buzz Aldrin walks on the Moon! click for copyright |
The Apollo program, which ran from 1963 until 1972, was designed to land humans on the Moon and bring them safely back to Earth. The program was a direct result of President Kennedy's 1962 challenge to NASA to land a human on the Moon by the end of the decade. That mission, Apollo 11, and five other successful missions to the moon (Apollo missions 12, 14, 15, 16 and 17) brought about 400 kilograms of lunar samples as well as countless other pieces of scientific data and information back to Earth.
How to Tell if the Moon is Waxing or Waning
There are two rhymes to help students tell if the Moon is waxing (a full Moon is on the way) or waning (a new Moon is on the way).
If you see the Moon at the end of the day
A bright Full Moon is on its way
If you see the Moon in the early dawn
Look real quick, it will soon be gone.
Incomplete to the West
The Moon will disappear and hide in its nest
Incomplete to the East
Soon it's as big as a Christmas feast.
Vocabulary/Definitions (Return to Contents)
| Gravity: | A force of attraction that causes objects to be drawn to the center of a body. |
| Lunar Month: | The Moon revolves around the Earth every 27.3 days; because the Earth is also moving around the Sun, the actual lunar month is 29.5 days. |
| Lunar Phases: | The eight stages marked as the Moon's shape appears to change through the course of the lunar month; stages are: waxing crescent, first quarter, waxing gibbous, full Moon, waning gibbous, third quarter (last quarter), waning crescent, new Moon (not visible). |
| Maria: | Large sunken plains on the surface of the Moon that look like seas that are thought to have been formed when basalt flooded the area after a huge impact with an asteroid or comet. |
| Orbit: | The path of a celestial body or man-made satellite as it revolves around another body. |
| Regolith: | The fine-grained soil that makes up much of the Moon's surface, formed from small meteorite collisions with the lunar surface. |
| Satellite: | An object, natural or artificial, that orbits around a larger object; the Moon is a natural satellite of the Earth. |
| Waning: | To become smaller in appearance. |
| Waxing: | To become larger in appearance. |
Associated Activities (Return to Contents)
- My Moon Colony - Students design and power a self-sufficient Moon colony. They then write a proposal to NASA and present their ideas to the class.
Lesson Closure (Return to Contents)
The Moon would be a very strange place to live, indeed. With no atmosphere, no water, and no life, engineers will have to help us find new ways to take care of our basic needs of breathing, drinking and eating.
Assessment (Return to Contents)
Pre-Lesson Assessment
Know / Want to Know / Learn (KWL) Chart: Tell students to imagine that they are going to live on the Moon for a month. By the end of the lesson, you want them to be able to clearly describe what life would be like for them, based on what they know about the Moon's properties. At the start of the lesson, ask students to divide a piece of paper into thirds by drawing a horizontal line across the center of their paper and a vertical line down the center of the top half (splitting that half into two sections). Ask them to write in the top left square under the title, Know, all the things they already know about the Moon. Next, in the top right square under the title, Want to Know, ask students to write down anything they want to know about the Moon. Now have students come up to the board and write down at least one thing from each list.
At the end of the Introduction, ask students to list in the bottom half of the page under the title, Learned, all of the things that they have learned about the Moon. Ask students to name a few items and write them on the board.
Post-Introduction Assessment
Know / Want to Know / Learn (KWL) Chart: Have each student complete the Learned section of the KWL chart on his/her paper. Call on students to share what they learned.
Lesson Summary Assessment
Brainstorming: As a class, have the students engage in open discussion. Remind students that in brainstorming, no idea or suggestion is "silly." All ideas should be respectfully heard. Encourage wild ideas and discourage criticism of ideas. Have them raise their hands to respond. Write answers on the board. Ask the students:
- What are some problems that engineers would need to solve in order for us to live comfortably on the Moon?
Lesson Extension Activities (Return to Contents)
Have students watch the film "Apollo 13." They should take note of the major obstacles that engineers had to overcome in order to rescue the astronauts. Students can write a summary of what they have learned from the movie.
Hoax busters: Did the Apollo astronauts really land on the Moon? As with many scientific and technological achievements, there will be the occasional person who thinks it is all a hoax. Ask students to research the claims made against the validity of the Moon landing and compare these to the compelling evidence that the landing was real. Analysis of this "controversy" can be framed in the context of understanding the nature of science and what it means for something to be a scientific fact. NASA recommends the following websites for debunking this myth: http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/misc/apollohoax.html and http://www.redzero.demon.co.uk/Moonhoax/
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References (Return to Contents)
Armstrong, Neil. Library of Congress, America's Story, "Jump Back in Time, Modern Era (1946 - present)," accessed November 6, 2008. http://www.americaslibrary.gov/jb/modern/jb_modern_subj_e.html
Arnett, William A. The Nine (Eight) Planets, "A Multimedia Tour of the Solar System: one star, eight planets, and more," February 3, 2008, accessed November 6, 2008. http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/nineplanets/nineplanets/luna.html
Gib, Meredith and The National Aeronautic and Space Administration, Goddard Space Flight Center, High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center, Astrophysics Science Division, accessed November 6, 2008. http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/Images/StarChild/icons/moon_from_earth.gif
Lunar and Planetary Institute, "Exploring the Moon," November 20, 2000, accessed November 6, 2008. http://www.lpi.usra.edu/expmoon/
MoonPhase.java, "Moon Phases," accessed November 6, 2008. http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/java/MoonPhase.html
National Aeronautic and Space Administration, Science@NASA, "Ocean Tides Lost and Found," June 15, 2000, accessed November 6, 2008. http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2000/ast15jun_2.htm
National Space Science Data Center, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, accessed November 6, 2008 http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/image/planetary/moon/gal_moon_color.jpg
National Space Science Data Center, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, accessed November 6, 2008. http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/imgcat/html/object_page/a11_h_40_5878.html
Spudis, Paul D. "Moon." World Book Online Reference Center. 2004. World Book, Inc. World Book at NASA, accessed November 6, 2008. http://www.nasa.gov/worldbook/moon_worldbook.html
U.S. Naval Observatory, Virtual Reality Moon Phase Pictures, accessed November 6, 2008. http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/apollo.html
Contributors
Brian Kay, Jessica Todd, Jane Evenson, Sam Semakula, Jessica Butterfield, Karen King, Janet YowellCopyright
© 2008 by Regents of the University of Colorado. This digital library content was developed by the Integrated Teaching and Learning Program under National Science Foundation GK-12 grant no. 0338326. However, these contents do not necessarily represent the policies of the National Science Foundation, and you should not assume endorsement by the federal government.Supporting Program (Return to Contents)
Integrated Teaching and Learning Program, College of Engineering, University of Colorado at BoulderLast Modified: February 17, 2009