starwaders v1-20718 Manual de usuario
.
Portable Solar
System Model
Instruction Manual
v1-20718
STARWADERS Portable Solar System Model
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Table of Contents
1PREFACE 4
1.1 The Structure of this Booklet? 4
1.2 Contact Starwaders 4
2The Design 5
2.1 Cutouts 5
2.2 The Planets 6
2.3 The Sun 6
3Assembling the Model 7
4Using the Model 9
4.1 Setting Up 9
4.2 The View from the Top – or the Bottom? 10
4.3 Orientation 10
4.4 Mimicking Sunset 11
4.5 Planet Positions 13
4.6 Early Evening Planet Positions 14
4.7 9pm Planet Positions 15
4.8 Midnight Planet Positions 16
4.9 3am Planet Positions 17
4.10 Dawn Planet Positions 18
4.11 The Morning and Evening Stars 19
4.12 Earth’s Moon 19
4.13 Venus Transit 20
4.14 Solar Eclipse 21
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4.15 Other Solar System Phenomena 21
5Packing Away 22
6A Short History of the PSSM 23
6.1 The Value of Understanding 23
6.2 Models 23
6.3 Traveling 24
Version History:
V1-20714 – Introduction of PVC model
V1-20714 – Added stabilizer cord
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1 PREFACE
This user manual shows how to build the model and how to use it to
explain why we see the planets where they appear in the sky.
1.1 The Structure of this Booklet?
•Following this introductory preface is a general description of the
model.
•Thereafter follow instructions on how to use the model.
1.2 Contact Starwaders
•www.starwaders.com
•Tel: 083 303 2840
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2 The Design
•The planet orbits are made of concentric hoops, which fit onto a
frame comprising four arms.
•The planets are made of hollow plastic balls with a slot halfway
through them, so that they can easily slide onto the concentric
hoops.
•There is no attempt to scale the orbits and planets proportionally.
When thought about carefully, this would require a model as
large as a football stadium and the smaller planets would be no
larger than the period at the end of this sentence. There is a LOT
of Space out there!
2.1 Cutouts
On the grey stiff board supplied with the model are cutouts of a rotation
ring and the rings of Saturn. See the instructions on the cutout boards.
A revealing analogy to show how much space there really is,
is to hold your hands outstretched to your sides with palms up.
If the Sun and the Earth were placed on opposite palms, what
size should they be in proportion to the distance between
them?
The Sun would be the size of a pea and the Earth would fit
inside the thickness of a standard sheet of 80gram printing
paper!
Venus would be about the same size and would be placed on
the shoulder closest to the Earth.
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2.2 The Planets
The objects representing the planets are balls of different sizes in
appropriate colours which allows a school child with a little
knowledge to identify them easily.
The planets each have a slot cut in one half of the sphere allowing
them to be mounted onto the hoop.
2.3 The Sun
The Sun is made from a yellow plastic hemisphere. It fits over the
central frame axis.
Planet Colour
Mercury Purple
Venus White
Earth Earth Map
Mars Red
Jupiter Orange
Saturn Apricot
Uranus Green
Neptune Blue
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3 Assembling the Model
When children are part of the audience, this is time for fun. They can
build the tripod, frame and attach the orbit hoops. Show them the
planets and tell them to get on with building the Solar System. This
activity provokes lively argument amongst the children as they put
the hoops into the correct slots and decide which planet goes where.
The structure is made from PVC pipe held in place by various PVC
joining pieces.
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The Parts of the PSSM
Follow these instructions to assemble the model:
•Build the stand by inserting the legs into the
base.
•Insert the lower upright into the neck on top of
the base. Align the hole near the bottom end of
the lower upright with the hole in the neck.
Insert the pin into the hole to lock the lower
upright in place. This allows the built model to
be picked up and moved if necessary, without
sliding off the base and legs. It also ensures
that the upright does not slide all the way through the base onto the
ground.
•Fit the upper upright into the top of the lower upright.
•Fit the axis into the top of the upper upright.
NOTE: Normally use the Tilted Mode axis. For use where the frame is
horizontal, use the Horizontal Mode axis.
•Fit the neck of the hub onto the axis with the side where the screws are
facing forwards.
Note that the height of the frame can be made lower for young children
by only using one of the uprights.
•Insert the arms into the sleeves around the hub. Ensure that the slits in
the arms are facing towards the front.
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The Hoops
•The folded hoops are springy and the tightly folded Mars hoop can
spring open. When loosening the strap that holds the hoops together,
take care that the Mars hoop does not spring open. For this reason,
mount the Mars hoop onto the arms first.
•Mount the hoops by centering them over the frame and press the hoop
into the corresponding slots on each arm. This can be made slightly
easier by gently but imperceptibly bending the arm backwards at the
slot. This opens the slot enough to allow the hoop to pop into the slot.
•Do the same with the other 7 orbit hoops.
•Fit the ‘Direction of Rotation’ sign over the hub and then mount the Sun
into the neck on the front of the hub.
•Mount the planets anywhere on the correct hoop. Fit the set of rings
onto Saturn.
An artificial horizon is included in the kit. It can also be used as a pointer.
Join the two halves using the pointer joining block. (Insert the end of the rods
with a slit into the joining piece.)
NOTE: In cases where a breeze perhaps sways the frame to and fro,
connect the supplied stabiliser cord from the small hole in foot to the
small hole in the axis.
4 Using the Model
4.1 Setting Up
Children have a lot of fun fitting the
hoops onto the frame, determining which
ball represents which planet and then
placing the planets on the hoops. They
have to know the order of the planets
and must be careful not to skip a hoop
or to put two planets on one hoop. They
find it amusing when it is pointed out to
them that two planets in the same orbit
will crash into each other.
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4.2 The View from the Top – or the Bottom?
We are in the Southern Hemisphere. The classical view of the Solar
System is looking down from above the North Pole, in which case
the planet’s orbits are anti-clockwise. Viewers looking towards the
ecliptic (the path along which the planets move) in the northern
hemisphere will stand with their backs facing the North Pole and be
able to imagine the planets moving against the background stars
along their orbits from west to east or right to left.
However, looking down on the Solar System from above the South
Pole, the planets orbit in a clockwise fashion. Thus, in the southern
hemisphere with our backs to the South Pole when viewing the
ecliptic, the planets will still move from west to east but now from left
to right.
This instruction manual is applicable to a viewer in the southern
hemisphere.
4.3 Orientation
The whole idea behind this Solar System model is to help viewers to
relate their horizontal feet-on-the-ground position on Earth to the
orbits of the planets ‘out in space’.
The frame is tilted so that its plane aligns roughly with the plane of
the real solar system. Consider the following situations. At the
equator, the plane of the the model orbits would then stand vertically
like a wall. Viewing from the poles (not likely!) the plane of the model
orbits would be positioned horizontally like a tabletop. The tilt for you
varies according to your latitude between those two extremes. The
tilt of the model is designed for approximately 30º. In the southern
hemisphere, when facing the model with your back to the south, the
left hand side of the model will be to your west and the right hand
side of the model will be to your east.
Beware of confusing the movement across the night sky from dusk till
dawn with the motion of the planets along their orbits. The former daily
movement is due to the rotation of the Earth on its own axis. The latter
orbital movement is due to the movement of the planets in their orbits
around the Sun.
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