Two motions, one paper Earth
15 minutes · Paper · Pencil · A coin or cardboard disk
Your investigation
- Draw a Sun at the center of a page and an orbit around it. Place a disk on the orbit as Earth.
- Mark a dot on one side of the disk. Turn the disk in place and label that movement “rotation.”
- Move it once around the drawn path and label that movement “orbit.”
- Draw separate arrows for the two motions. Explain the distinction to a partner.
Think, draw, explain
Which movement helps explain day and night?
Which movement defines an Earth year?
Grown-up guide & possible answers
- Earth’s rotation brings locations into and out of sunlight, producing day and night.
- One trip around the Sun defines a year. The number of turns in this hand model is not a to-scale representation of Earth’s real day-to-year ratio.