Astronomy class reaches out to community with planetarium
Ryan McCullough
While the Planetarium at MCC is a place to learn about and experience the universe, it can also be a place to educate local fifth graders. Kevin Healy, MCC astronomy instructor, had one of his classes set up two experiments to show the local elementary school students that came to MCC on Nov. 9.”The first activity is impact testing,” Healy said.
A plastic box was filled with flour then topped with chocolate cake mix. When a marble is dropped into the mixture it simulates how a comet makes a crater.
“It looks very similar to features you have on the moon,” said Healy when describing the indent the marble makes.
“The second (activity) is making comets out of household ingredients,” he said.
The comets are made out of a mixture of carbon (or Karo syrup), ammonia, dry ice, and sand.
“It’s like a dirty snowball. It’s like a comet you can hold in your hands,” said Danny Schnoore, one of the students assisting with the comet making activity.
Ann Engle was at another booth doing the same activity as Schnoore.
“It (the comet) has to be the size of a car so it can hit the earth,” said Engle to her group of fifth graders.
To make a comet, first dirt is added to a bowl, then, just a touch of ammonia. After that, comes the dry ice and water.
“Don’t let it touch anyone,” advised Hunter Dowell, fifth grader from Brinton Elementary, when the dry ice was being used.
After both activities, the children were shown, “New Horizons,” a planetarium show about the moon.
For the monthly Astronomy Nights at MCC, the Planetarium will be showing a show called, “Secrets of the Sun.
