Today we discussed and manipulated models of the Earth and Moon to discover why we can't see the dark side of the moon. Good questions came from the discussion and some great hypothesis'. What are scientists saying today about the moon: From Earth, you can only see one side of the Moon. A long time ago the Earth's gravity slowed the Moon's spin. The Moon now rotates once as it orbits the Earth, so that the same side (the same half of a sphere) always faces the Earth. So we on Earth see the near side, and the far side always faces away from us. Here is the latest peek at the other side of the moon. What differences can you see between the side of the moon we see every night and this side that we never see? This is a flat diagram of how the moon rotates on it axis. It makes one revolution in about 29 days. We aren't the only planet with this type of "locked" relationship with their moon. Both of Mars’ moons, Phobos and Deimos, always have the same side facing Mars. All of Jupiter’s, Saturn’s, Uranus’, and Neptune’s moons are locked to those planets as well. And in a really weird case, Pluto and its largest moon, Charon, are locked to each other, so that both always show one another the same face. Today's lab was completed and turned in at the end of the period. Tomorrow we will look at and discuss how the moon was formed. Social StudiesStudents are continuing their work on their maps and building a Ziggurat model. Ziggurat is an anglicized form of the Akkadian word ziqqurratum, the name given to the solid stepped towers of mud brick. It derives from the verb zaqaru, ‘to be high'. The ziggurat was part of the religious architecture found at the centre of Mesopotamian settlements and was probably a feature of most cities after c.2000 B.C. Millions of sun-dried mud bricks were used in their construction. Layers of bricks were often separated by layers of reeds, perhaps helping to spread the load or allow drainage. Baked bricks and bitumen were used to protect the exterior from rain and wind. In Babylonia ziggurats had a shrine on the top-most stage but it has been suggested that in Assyria there were no buildings on the summit. Cuneiform texts from 2100 B.C. onwards refer to temples with seven storeys, and are described as being like mountains linking earth and heaven. However, depictions on cylinder seals, boundary stones, stone reliefs and clay tablets show buildings with either four or five storeys. Some of the seals date to the mid-third millennium B.C. which shows that the idea of a ziggurat predates the best known and best preserved example at Ur (c.2100 B.C.). It seems likely that ziggurats developed in southern Mesopotamia from the need to raise important buildings above the flat flood-plain. As a mud brick shrine became too small or old, the foundations and first few courses of brick work were incorporated into the platform supporting the next temple. This process is best known from excavations at the sites of Uruk and Eridu. The mountains to the east of Mesopotamia were thought to be where some gods lived (especially celestial deities which appeared to rise up from them). The ziggurat may therefore have been thought of as bringing the home of the gods to the flat plains of Mesopotamia. It may also have been viewed as a stairway to heaven or the point where heaven and earth met. They would have been an ideal place to view the stars, but there is no evidence that they were ever used for astrological observations. The ziggurat at Ur, excavated by Leonard Woolley, is 64 by 46 metres at base and originally some 12 metres in height with three storeys. It was built under Ur-Nammu (c.2100 B.C.) and rebuilt under Nabonidus (555-539 B.C.) when it was increased in height to probably seven storeys. The Great Ziggurat of Ur is one of the largest ziggurats left, still standing in Sumer.
6 Comments
Olivia barlow
9/9/2015 04:47:56 pm
I love science and you teach better than the best!
Reply
Hailey
9/9/2015 04:48:15 pm
The Moon Is So Cool!!!!!!
Reply
Parker
9/9/2015 04:48:16 pm
Because it is always facing the other side at night and that is because of the rotation of the moon
Reply
Sammi
9/9/2015 07:31:53 pm
It's so cool how the dark side of the moon has a lot more craters than the light side!!! Mrs.Taylor rocks!!!!
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
Mrs. TaylorI love science! Everything about the world is interesting and never boring. I love to study plants, animals, insects, and people. My favorite subjects are my students who are the most unique organisms on the planet! Categories |