Why do stars twinkle?
"The sun makes them twinkle" - Logan
"God makes them twinkle"- Nolan
"It is caused by the sun's reflection" -Cody
What we did & what we learned:
We filled a plastic tub with water and each child dropped in a coin. Each child got a turn to stir the water. As the water is moved by the stirring the coins appear to shake at the bottom of the tub. Looking at the stars in the sky is like looking at the coins through water. In the atmosphere, air or wind moves in all directions and speeds. This motion stirs up air that is moist or dry, hot and cold. As light travels through the atmosphere, the light waves are slightly bent (remember refraction?) making the stars "twinkle". If we were in outerspace looking at the stars they would not twinkle because there is no air in space for the light to pass through.
1 comment:
I loved the kids' answers... they all sounded plausible. Teaching with the coins and water was very clever and memorable.
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