To build a scale model of the solar system outdoors:
- Use a basketball for the sun (9.5″ diameter)
- Sun: place the basketball on the ground
- Earth: 86′ away from the sun is the earth at ~1/11 inch diameter
29 yard line
about half the diameter of a BB
paint it blue and green with tiny white icecaps - Mars: 131′ away from the sun at ~1/20 inch diameter
44 yard line
even smaller than Earth
paint it a rusty color - Jupiter: 447′ away from the sun at about 1 inch diameter
1.5 football fields
paint it striped orange yellow (maybe use a big marble) - Saturn: 821′ away from the sun at about 5/6 inch diameter
2.75 football fields
paint it hazy yellow-brown - Uranus: 0.31 miles away from the sun at about 1/3 inch diameter
5.5 football fields
paint it beautiful blue-green - Neptune: 0.49 miles away from the sun at about 1/3 inch diameter
8.6 football fields
paint it blue - Pluto: 0.64 miles away from the sun at about 1/50 inch diameter
11.3 football fields
paint it very light brown
dwarf planet
In the solar system, most bodies are relatively small and relatively far away.
The sun contains 99.8 percent of the mass of the entire solar system.
My Drawing
My Calculations
