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How to Make a Heliocentric Model

Human views of the shape and location of our world have changed many times throughout history. Once, people thought the Earth was flat and at the center of the universe. Later thinkers determined that the the Earth was a sphere surrounded by stars and planets. In the sixteenth century, Nicholas Copernicus formulated the heliocentric theory, which states that our Sun is the center of the universe and that it is circled by stars and all the known planets. Earth was one of these planets, circled itself by the moon. Scientists of the modern era determined that the Sun was but one of many uncountable stars in a vast universe.

Things You'll Need

  • Cardboard
  • Scissors
  • String or compass
  • Colored markers
  • Construction paper
  • Elmer's glue
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Instructions

    • 1

      Cut out a circular piece of cardboard a few feet in diameter from the side of a large box. Use a piece of string or a large compass to draw six orbits around the center of this circle with a marker. These orbits should be evenly spaced. Somewhere on the course of the third orbit, draw a small circle whose diameter is pierced by the orbit. This will represent the orbit of the Moon around the Earth.

    • 2

      Cut out planets and stars from colored construction paper. Remember that people had little idea of the true color or size of these planets when the heliocentric model was developed. Mars should be red because its hue is visible even to the naked eye, and the Moon should be white, but the remaining planets can take any color you please. The planets should be circular, but the stars can take the traditional five or six-pointed form.

    • 3

      Prepare labels from the scraps of construction paper. Make one each for Mercury, Venus, Earth, the Moon, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. People were unaware of the existence of Uranus, Neptune and the dwarf planets when the heliocentric model was developed. Also make a label which says "Fixed Stars." Copernican thinkers believed that the stars were held in place around the Sun.

    • 4

      Glue the planets and the labels to their respective orbits: Mercury first, then Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Place the planet Earth inside the extra circle you drew on the third orbit. Place the Moon and its label anywhere on that extra circle.

    • 5

      In random fashion, glue the tiny cutouts of stars to the edge of this cardboard circle. Place the label for fixed stars where it will be easily read. Write "The heliocentric model of Nicholas Copernicus" in the lower right hand corner.

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