Moon Phases: Oreo Lab



The Moon

The Moon travels around the Earth in a circle called an orbit. The Moon takes about 27 days (27 days, 7 hours, 43 minutes, 11.6 seconds) to go all the way around the Earth and return to its starting position. The Moon's orbit around the Earth is a slightly squashed circle called an ellipse.

A lunar month is the time the moon takes to pass through a complete cycle of its phases and is measured from New Moon to New Moon. A lunar month is about 29.5 days (29 days, 12 hours, 43 minutes, 11.6 seconds). While the Moon is orbiting the Earth, the Earth is constantly moving because it is orbiting the sun. The Moon therefore travels slightly more than 360° to get from one new moon to the next. Thus the lunar month is longer.

The Moon is 4.5 billion years old and about 250,000 miles (384,400 kilometers) from Earth.

To get to the moon it would take:

|   Travelling by car: |130 days |

|   Travelling by rocket: |13 hours |

|   Travelling by light speed: |1.52 sec |

The moon orbits Earth at an average speed of 2,288 miles per hour (3,683 kilometers per hour). The surface of the Moon has about the same area as the continent of Africa. The surface of the moon has many things on it such as craters, lava plains, mountains, and valleys. Scientists believe the craters were formed around 3.5 to 4.5 billion years ago by meteors hitting the moon's surface.

The Moon has no atmosphere. Water was discovered on the moon in November 2009. There is no wind or weather on the moon. Footprints left on the Moon by Apollo astronauts will remain visible for at least 10 million years because there is no erosion on the Moon.

The Moon is not a light source; it does not make its own light. The moon reflects light from the sun. If the Sun wasn't there, we wouldn't be able to see the Moon. The Sun always lights up (illuminates) one side of the Moon. The Moon appears to change shape but what we are actually seeing is the Moon lit up by the light from the Sun in different ways on different days.

The moon causes many of the tides in the Earth's oceans. This is because of the gravity force between the Earth and Moon. During full and new moons the gravitational forces of the Sun and Moon combine to produce the highest tides. During quarter moons the gravitational forces of the Sun and the Moon oppose each other to produce the lowest tides. We always see the same side of the moon. The Moon always keeps the same side pointing towards us so we can never see the 'back' of the Moon from the Earth. As the moon revolves around the earth, it also rotates around its own axis at the same rate. This is why we always see the same side of the moon.

FULL MOON FACTS

The full moon is a lunar phase occurring when the moon is on the opposite side of the earth from the sun and all three bodies are aligned in a straight line. It appears as an entire circle in the sky. The only month that can occur without a full moon is February. The world's tidal ranges are at their maximum during the full moon when the sun, earth and moon are in line.

The full moon is given different names, depending on when it appears:

• January - Moon After Yule, Wolf Moon, or Old Moon

• February - Snow Moon or Hunger Moon

• March - Sap Moon, Crow Moon, Worm Moon or Lenten Moon

• April - Grass Moon, Frog Moon or Egg Moon

• May - Milk Moon or Planting Moon

• June - Rose Moon, Flower Moon, or Strawberry Moon

• July - Thunder Moon or Hay Moon

• August - Grain Moon or Green Corn Moon

• September - Fruit Moon or Harvest Moon

• October - Harvest Moon or Hunter's Moon

• November - Hunter's Moon, Frosty Moon, or Beaver Moon

• December - Moon Before Yule or Long Night Moon.

Blue Moon

The second full moon occurring within a calendar month is called a Blue Moon. Far from being a rare event, this phenomenon occurs once every three years on average.

Lunar Halo - ring around the Moon

A lunar halo is caused by light refracted through ice crystals in cirrus clouds. These six sided ice crystals refract the light at an angle, almost always producing a halo.

Draw a picture of Your Month’s Full Moon Name!

Adapted from:

Moon Phases: Oreo Lab

[pic]

Questions:

1. How long is a lunar month?

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2. How do scientists think the craters of the Moon were formed?

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3. What kind of moons make the Earth’s tides become their highest?

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4. Why does the same side of the Moon always face Earth?

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After you read the article “The Moon” and complete the questions, use your Oreos to show each phase of the moon (look at the procedures below). Position 1 would be the new moon. Use arrows between circles to show the direction in which the cycle moves.

Procedure:

1. Each student will receive only 8 Oreo cookies.

2. Separate your cookies carefully, so that ½ of the cookie has ALL of the frosting and the other ½ of the cookie has NO frosting.

3. Use your plastic butter knife to scrape off the frosting from the first cookie, making a shape of the waxing crescent.

4. You will continue using the butter knife to scrape off the frosting for each of the moon phases. (How will you represent new moon?)

5. Place the cookies in order on the paper and label them correctly. Have the teacher

check your oreo moons to see if they are correct…then you can EAT them!!!!

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Position 1: New Moon

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