Jugnix · free physics worksheets
The Solar System to Scale Worksheet
By the end you will: compare the sizes of the planets and their distances from the Sun, and use the speed of light to measure space.
A. Explore with the simulation
Jump to each planet and fill in the table.
Planet Distance from Sun (AU) Light takes Diameter (× Earth) Mercury 0.38 Earth 1 Jupiter 10.97 Neptune 3.86 How long would a car at 100 km/h take to drive from the Sun to Earth? To Neptune?
Which are the four rocky planets? Which are the giant planets? Where is the gap between them?
B. Work it out
1 AU is about 150 million km. About how far is Saturn (9.5 AU) from the Sun?
Light takes about 8 minutes to reach Earth. About how long does it take to reach Mars, 1.5 AU away?
The Sun is about 109 times as wide as Earth. If Earth were a 1 cm bead, how wide would the Sun be?
C. Think it through
Why do books show the planets close together, when they are really very far apart?
Answer key (for teachers and parents)
- Mercury: 0.39 AU, 3 min · Earth: 1 AU, 8 min · Jupiter: 5.2 AU, 43 min · Neptune: 30.07 AU, 4.2 hours.
- About 171 years to Earth, and about 5,100 years to Neptune.
- Rocky: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars. Giants: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune. The asteroid belt lies between Mars and Jupiter.
- 9.5 × 150 million ≈ 1,425 million km (about 1.4 billion km).
- 1.5 × 8 = 12 minutes (the simulation says 13, using 1.524 AU).
- About 109 cm, a little over 1 metre.
- At true scale the planets would be tiny dots far apart, too small to see on one page. Books shrink the distances but not the sizes so you can see the planets.
Free to print and share for teaching. Made with the interactive simulation at jugnix.com/simulations/solar-system-scale.