Description of the Experience
In addition to the Sun as the central body, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto form our planetary system. The order matters, because the distance from the sun determines the conditions occurring on each planet. The first four planets are referred to as terrestrial – similar to Earth, but not in the sense that existence on them is possible. Jupiter is the largest planet. It is not a solid body. Saturn is typical with its fire rings, which are formed by dust particles and debris from other planet bodies. Not all planets have their natural planet orbits, for example, Mars has two - Phobos and Deimos (Fear and Horror).
The distance of axis of the Sun influences the circulation time of the planet, closer it is, faster it spins. Here can be seen that in case of our planet, due to its distance, it turns around the Sun in about 365,25 days. Not all planets have some gas container around them. For example, Venus has one, but there are droplets of sulfuric acid in it. Among other reasons, there we would probably not survive. Interesting is also that all points on Venus are named by feminine nouns (besides the only mountain range that is called Maxwell after a certain physicist).
For us, the most interesting planet is Mars, probably as a future residence place. In theory, it is manageable, but technically not possible even in the distant future. Relating to the color of its surface it is referred to as the red planet. We are looking for conditions there that would work for human kind of life. It would have meaning in case of exhausting all sources of energy on Earth or in case of some unforeseeable disaster. In addition, on the basis of what scientists say, the planet is able to accept 40 billion people. Under what conditions is quite debatable though.
Besides the world powers there are the so called economically developed countries and also the Third World countries. According to the statistics every five seconds dies on Earth one child from hunger. This information is quite shocking and devastating to the students. Really everything is linked with everything, if the living standards would equalize to the level of the U.S., especially when it comes to energy consumption, in a few weeks everything would collapse.
Students are interested in these facts. In a way it is comic, in a good sense, how narrow is the interval of their thinking. When I asked what would happen if someone, hypothetically, for a moment removed the Sun, they said it would be cold and dark. The concept of gravity was beyond their consideration.
Then a debate is always triggered. They would like the most to see the green Martians, the aliens. The students are affected by disaster movies, in which elementary physics is hardly followed. The movie creators are quite oblivious when making their sci-fi films.
Although this is a vocational school, students should know where they live and have some basic information about the space.
This experience I consider to be positive.
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