Hooked on Science: Fruity eclipse

Materials

• Orange
• Bright flashlight

Instructions

• STEP 1: Hold the orange an arm's length from your face. Your head represents Earth, while the orange represents the moon. The moon revolves, or moves around, Earth. Explain how this system creates a pattern, which can be predicted.
• STEP 2: Have a friend shine the flashlight toward your head. The flashlight represents the sun. The Earth revolves around the sun. Create an argument that differences in the apparent brightness of the sun compared to other stars is due to their relative distance from the Earth.
• STEP 3: Using your head, the orange and the flashlight, develop a model of a solar eclipse.

Explanation

When the orange is placed between your head and the flashlight, you create a model of a solar eclipse. As the moon revolves around Earth, it sometimes moves between the sun and Earth. When this happens, the moon blocks the light of the sun from reaching Earth, which causes a solar eclipse.