To kick off our Environmental Science class this year, we learned about the solar eclipse! It just so happened that our block landed right in the middle of the solar eclipse so we were able to watch it as a class and collect some data as citizen scientists. From where we are in California, the moon only covered the sun about 80%, but in other parts of the country, along the line of totality, the moon completely blocked out the sun! Check out the picture to the right to see the path! Solar eclipses occur when the orbit of the moon perfectly aligns with the sun. The moon blocks the sun so from Earth, only the corona of the sun is visible. This past eclipse was a total eclipse, which is pretty rare. The last total eclipse to hit the United States happened in 1918! That means it has been almost a hundred years since America has seen this fascinating celestial event! Eclipses are rare because the moon rarely covers the sun perfectly. The moon's orbit is often just above or just below the sun, so no eclipse occurs. Also, because our Earth is 70% water, it is most likely that the shadow would hit in the middle of an ocean rather than a country. To learn more about solar eclipses check out this video! On the day of the eclipse, we headed down to our school's softball field, split into groups and collected both quantitative and qualitative data. We measured the air temperature, ground temperature of both soil and concrete, cloud coverage and compared plants and animals, before, during and after totality. The graph on the right shows the dip in temperature that occurred as the moon gradually covered the sun. This is the most fascinating data for me because the results are so clear. It is very interesting that the sun being covered for only a short amount of time can cause such a difference in the temperature of the ground! These photos are of the same part of the sky at different times during the eclipse. As the eclipse came and went the sky got gradually less cloudy.
Overall, I really enjoyed seeing the eclipse! The concept of eclipses is so fascinating and all I want to do is learn more! It was really fun to get out of the classroom and experience something so rare with my classmates and school! While I probably won't see another total eclipse in my lifetime, I am very glad that I was able to have such a positive experience and even do a little citizen science!
1 Comment
Mrs. Nguyen
9/3/2017 06:23:39 pm
Veronica, what a great way to start our year! I knew it was going to be a great year when the solar eclipse landed during our class period! Organized and well thought out.I am still amazed at how much the temperature change in such a short time period.We'll have to check on how to make the video link more visible as a hyperlink. It doesn't show up when I click on it. I love how you added the time to the pictures of clouds. We will have to have a day in class to share tips and tricks of Weebly. Excited for our learning journey this year!
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