Have you ever wondered how fast the Earth is moving as we orbit the Sun? It is actually fairly easy to calculate this speed. To do so, we will first establish some important pieces of information.

Image Courtesy: National Science Foundation

[ This project has been revised and rewritten. Click to go to newer version. ]

Goal: To calculate the Earth's speed (in miles per hour) as the planet orbits the sun.

What we need:

	The distance (in miles) the Earth travels in one orbit.
	The time (in hours) it takes to complete one orbit.

Why are distance and time so important?

Because ... the formula for the speed of an object is:

Calculating the time is simple ... so we will focus on the trickier topic of calculating the distance of the Earth's orbit around the sun.

For this problem, we will treat the Earth's orbit as circular. [It is actually not a circle at all ... it is an ellipse! This is an important fact, discovered by the scientist Johannes Kepler ... but for our purpose of getting an approximate speed ... treating the orbital path as a circle is not going to create too great of an error.]

Brainstorm: If the path was circular ... how would you calculate the distance around the circle?

When you think you know the answer ... Click on the rocket to continue.

Remember ... you will be GRADED on this project.
The grading rubric is outlined below.

 

Grading Guidelines: 1. To be submitted by each GROUP: One copy of the group's spreadsheet with all activities completed -- including your estimate for the speed of the Earth in mph. One copy of the group scatter plot with line of best fit. 2. To be submitted by each STUDENT: All writing activities are to be completed. Submit this as a single document, clearly labeling each section. Attach your hand drawn copy of the group's scatter plot graphs with all required additional information. Be sure to show your calculation of the Earth's speed. Scoring Rubric Click here to go to scoring rubric page. GRADING: 25% Group participation 75% Individual effort

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Last updated: November 29, 2003.

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Matthew C. Whitney