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POGIL: Powers of Ten In this activity we will investigate the relative sizes of objects in the universe. We will go on a journey from the very large to the very small by changing our field of view of an object by a factor of ten every ten seconds. We can do this with the help of the video Powers of Ten by Charles and Ray Eames. This short film is famous, fascinating, and makes a wonderful gift for that someone special. Predicted Sizes You should receive a sheet of paper with the following objects/distances written on them in boxes. the Moons orbit around the Earth an atom the Earth a DNA molecule a proton an atomic nucleus the Earths orbit around the Sun clusters of galaxies biological cell nucleus the United States the Solar System a biological cell the Milky Way galaxy the city of Chicago a human hair a person

1. Use scissors to cut out the boxes. Study the collection of objects/distances and then, to the best of your knowledge, arrange them in order from the smallest to the largest. Write your arrangement in order on the list below. Next, estimate the size of each object/distance in the second column by powers of tens of meters. For example, the size of the Culver campus is estimated at 103 meters. Predicted Order Estimated Size (meters)

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Actual Sizes 2. Now watch the video Powers of Ten by Charles and Ray Eames. Have some of your team members use the boxes you cut out in part 1 to correctly list the size of the objects from smallest to largest as you watch the video. Have your other team members write the sizes (in powers of tens of meters) of each object/distance. Actual Order Actual Size (m)

3. Which objects/distances in your predicted order were incorrect?

4. What fills most of outer space?

5. What fills most of inner space?

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the Moons orbit around the Earth

biological cell nucleus

an atom

the United States

the Earth

the Solar System

a DNA molecule

a biological cell

a proton

the Milky Way galaxy

an atomic nucleus

the city of Chicago

the Earths orbit around the Sun

a human hair

clusters of galaxies

a person