Level Blue - West Virginia Edition

INVESTIGATING THE SUN

Introduction

Astronomers classify our solar system's Sun as a typical G2 star. However, the importance of the Sun to life on Earth is anything but ordinary. Energy from the Sun is responsible for photosynthesis, powers the ocean currents, shapes Earth's climate, and influences may other factors important for the existence of life on our planet. But what are the physical characteristics of the Sun? What is the relationship between the energy the Sun puts out and life on Earth? In this WebQuest, you will explore the Sun and its properties to find the answers to these questions. You will also explore the history of science to understand how scientific illustrations have shaped our understanding of the world we live in. You will create a scientific illustration of the Sun and write descriptions of some of its features.

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Task

Your job in this WebQuest is to learn about the Sun, its physical characteristics, and how energy from the Sun affects life on Earth. You will answer a set of questions about the Sun to demonstrate what you have learned. Once you've conducted some research to increase your knowledge of the Sun, you'll create an illustration of the physical characteristics of the Sun. You'll label features on the diagram and write a description of each feature.

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Time

2-3 days to answer the set of questions and illustrate and describe the features of the Sun

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Process

First, read through the following set of questions before you begin your Internet research. As you explore each site, look for answer to the questions.

Questions about Investigating the Sun

1. What are some physical characteristics of the Sun?
2. How much energy is released by the Sun?
3. Does the Sun make noise?
4. What is the energy balance or energy budget in relation to the Sun and Earth?
5. Why has scientific illustration been historically important to the advancement of the body of scientific knowledge?

Next, visit the Web sites listed to find more ideas you can use to create an illustration of the Sun. You'll label important features of the Sun on your diagram and write a description for each of the features. The accuracy of content in scientific illustrations is more important that artistic technique.

You may use any type of media you choose to create the illustration. You may use a word processing program, if you like, to write and publish the descriptions.

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Resources

Look at the web sites provided here to find the information that will help you answer questions about the Sun and gather information to use as you create your illustration of the Sun.

• http://www.hao.ucar.edu/public/education/general/general.html
  The High Altitude Observatory, a group in the National Center for Atmospheric Research, studies the Sun and how the Earth's atmosphere responds to energy produced by the Sun.

• http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/features/planets/sun/sun.html
  Visit the Solar System Exploration site on NASA's Web page to find out about the physical features of the Sun.

• http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/sol.html
  Find out more about the Sun and the energy it provides at this Web site, sponsored by the Students for the Exploration and Development of Space at the University of Arizona.

• http://image.gsfc.nasa.gov/poetry/ask/a10411.html
  Learn more about the Sun by visiting the "Ask the Space Scientist" page from the Goddard Space Flight Center on the NASA Web site.

• http://solar-center.stanford.edu/singing/singing.html#sing
  Read about the research being conducted to learn about sound waves from the Sun at this page on Stanford University's Web site.

• http://solar.physics.montana.edu/YPOP/Spotlight/SunInfo/sundiag.html
  Investigate this diagram of the Sun from Montana State University.

• http://www.solarviews.com/eng/sun.htm
  Go to this page at Solarviews.com to learn more about the Sun and its physical features.

• http://www.doc.mmu.ac.uk/aric/eae/Climate_Change/Older/Global_Energy_Balance.html
  Manchester Metropolitan University in Great Britain offers information about the global energy balance between Earth and the Sun.

• http://eosweb.larc.nasa.gov/EDDOCS/radiation_facts.html
  Investigate the Earth's energy balance diagram to learn more about the energy budget at this page from NASA's Langley Research Center.

• http://www.sfos.uaf.edu/msl111/notes/heat.html
  Visit the Web site for the University of Alaska at Fairbanks to learn about Earth's heat budget on the School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences page.

• http://www.doc.mmu.ac.uk/aric/eae/Climate_Change/Older/Global_Energy_Balance.html
  You can read Brian J. Ford's excerpt at this Web site to about the history of scientific illustration to learn about its importance over the centuries.

• http://www.ralene.com/gallery/botanical/botanicals.html
  This page offers a definition of scientific illustration and provides examples of different techniques used to create these types of images.

• http://www.scientificillustrator.com/scientific_illustration.html
  Find out more about scientific illustration by visiting Gina Mikel's Web site. Read about this scientific illustrator's business and see examples of her work.

Evaluation

Review the rubric to understand how your scientific illustration and descriptions will be evaluated.

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Conclusion

Using information gathered from the Internet, students should be able to answer the questions given about the physical characteristics of the Sun. Students should be able to describe how the Sun's energy influences life on Earth. They will also learn about the history of scientific illustration. After completing their research, students should apply their learning to creating a scientific illustration of the Sun, which includes labels and descriptions of major features.

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