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Method: What we did to answer the guiding question was that we used a
flashlight and two miniature sized ping pong and styrofoam balls on a stick to
model how the Moon orbits the Earth. Once we did this procedure, we found that
one of the reasons the Moon looks different over time is because of Moon
Phases. Moon Phases occur when "the shape of the illuminated (sunlit) portion of
the Moon as seen by an observer on Earth." This means that when the Sun's light
hits the Moon at certain angle, it looks like there is a portion of the moon out but
the part where the Sun is hitting the Moon is just more visible then the part that
isn't because it's more bright. We analyzed our data by taking videos and
pictures of us demonstrating the experiment. We also made a poster which talks
about how this works in space and how we modeled it to be similar to how it
actually occurs. Our group also interpreted that we could use ourselves to
observe the experiment, all we needed to do was walk around a chair without
spinning. We also had some colorful drawings too!
Claim: The moon looks different over time due to Moon Phases
Evidence: Moon phases cause the Moon to look different over time
because like I said before, when the Sun's light hits the Moon at certain
angle, it looks like there is a portion of the moon out but the part where the Sun is
hitting the Moon is just more visible then the part that isn't because it's more
bright. So from earth it seems like the moons is changing shape each day, but it's
just that one part of the Moon is brighter than the other due to the Sun. So in a
way, the sun is deceiving us with our own eyes!
Reasoning: This shows how the Moon looks different over time because
it describes and explains how the actual reason is because of Moon
Phases. It talks about how we see the Moon changing everyday and
why.
Websites used:
http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/sciencefacts/space/moon.html
http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/cosmos/M/Moon
https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.space.com/55-earthsmoon-formation-composition-andorbit.html&sa=U&ved=0ahUKEwipi9vk0p_KAhWJMz4KHYF4BAcQFggFM
AA&client=internal-udscse&usg=AFQjCNHQjT3FzbvFQ5nCBW09KfvbeDIe-Q