1. Are the objective and introduction written in an engaging way? Yes No     If 'No' please explain. characters left 2. Is the difficulty level accurate? Yes No     If 'No' please explain. characters left 3. Were the materials easily obtained? Yes No     If 'No' please explain. characters left 4. Was the procedure clear? Yes No      If 'No' please explain. characters left 5. Were all safety measures included? Yes No      If 'No' please explain. characters left 6. Did you obtain clear, unambiguous results? Yes No     If 'No' please explain. characters left 7. How much time did you spend on the project? Choose One... A day or less Several days About one week A couple weeks Several weeks to months 8. How much did the project cost? Choose One... Less than $20 $20 - $50 $50 - $100 $100 - $150 $150+ Optional:  Do you have any suggestions to improve this project? characters left Optional:  Attach a picture of your project (JPG, JPEG, GIF, PNG only) Optional:  Caption for picture characters left Thank you for your feedback! * Note: This is an abbreviated project idea, without notes to start your background research or a procedure for how to do the experiment. You can identify abbreviated project ideas by the asterisk at the end of the title. If you want a project idea with full instructions, please pick one without an asterisk. Abstract Get good photographs of the Moon showing lots of craters and count how many craters you find in a range of diameter classes. One useful source is the Consolidated Lunar Atlas (Kuiper et al, 2006). Make a histogram that shows the distribution of diameters. Most of these craters were formed during the first billion years of the Moon's formation, but you should confirm that this is true for the the Moon areas you've selected in your photographs by doing background research. Is cratering uniform across the surface of the Moon? Can you find evidence to support the assumption that the frequency of craters you count for each size range can be related to the cratering time scale for that size range? Perhaps this will be true only in certain areas of the Moon's surface. Perhaps you will find other clues to distinguish ancient craters from more recent ones. But if the assumptions above hold true, the interval between small cratering events is just the number of those craters you count over the whole Moon, divided by 1 billion years. With this information, you could estimate the ages for some of the larger craters you find in which smaller craters are seen inside them (Odenwald, 1997; Wood, C., 2006; Kuiper et al., 2006). Bibliography Kuiper, et al. Consolidated Lunar Atlas. available online from the Lunar and Planetary Institute [accessed July 31, 2006] http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/cla/. Odenwald, S., 1997. "Do you have any science fair suggestions for Middle School students?" Ask the Astronomer, Astronomy Cafe website [accessed July 31, 2006] http://www.astronomycafe.net/qadir/q2077.html. Wood, C., 2006. "Different Populations of Lunar Craters," Lunar Photo of the Day, February 21, 2006. [accessed July 31, 2006] http://www.lpod.org/?m=20060221. Variations For more science project ideas in this area of science, see Astronomy Project Ideas. Last edit date: 2010-11-02 13:54:47

I Did This Project! Tell us about your experience with this science project. What was the most important thing you learned? characters left What problems did you encounter? (Enter "none" if you had none.) characters left Can you suggest any improvements or ideas? (Enter "no" if you have none.) characters left How do you rate this project? Poor OK Good Very Good Excellent Optional:  Attach a picture of your project (JPG, JPEG, GIF, PNG only) Optional:  Caption for picture characters left Thank you for your feedback! Related Links Science Fair Project Guide Project Summary Difficulty  7  –  8  Time required Average (about one week) Share this Project Idea! Donate to Science Buddies Sponsor Sponsored by a generous grant from Northrop Grumman Foundation ECO Classroom: Cultivating the Next Generation of Environmental Stewards A unique field experience for science teachers nationwide www.northropgrumman.com /ecoclassroom/

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