Tranist of a Planet

Ask questions about projects relating to: aerodynamics or hydrodynamics, astronomy, chemistry, electricity, electronics, physics, or engineering

Moderators: kgudger, bfinio, MadelineB, Moderators

Locked
Vera35
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Oct 14, 2021 1:38 am
Occupation: Teacher

Tranist of a Planet

Post by Vera35 »

Dear all,

I wish to create a model, for my students, to measure the decrease in light as a result of an object moving in front of a light source.

The idea is to simulate a transit and to calculate the relationship between the object size and the light curve.

Any help will be appreciated.

Vered Tal
bfinio
Expert
Posts: 740
Joined: Mon Aug 12, 2013 2:41 pm
Occupation: Science Buddies Staff
Project Question: Expert
Project Due Date: n/a
Project Status: Not applicable

Re: Tranist of a Planet

Post by bfinio »

Hi Vered,

This project might help: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... ce#summary

Most modern smartphones have built-in light sensors and you can download apps that will measure light intensity. So in your case you would basically be doing this experiment but adding an object in between the phone and the light bulb (Figure 5 in the procedure). Note that this is an older project so it doesn't show LED bulbs but those would work too. Also note that the light reading will be affected by ambient light in the room from other sources (ceiling lights, sunlight, etc), so to get better readings you might need to turn off other lights and close window blinds etc.

If using a smartphone isn't possible for some reason, then you can also buy a standalone lux meter: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=lux+meter

Hope that helps! Please write back if you have more questions.

-Ben
theborg
Moderator
Posts: 360
Joined: Mon Oct 03, 2011 12:26 pm
Occupation: Space Test Analyst
Project Question: "To explain all nature is too difficult a task for any one man. 'Tis much better to do a little with certainty and leave the rest for others that come after you, than to explain all things by conjecture without making sure of anything." - Sir Isaac Newton
Project Due Date: N/A
Project Status: Not applicable

Re: Tranist of a Planet

Post by theborg »

To add on to what Ben provided above, the following link has a really good tutorial, with animated examples, of exoplanet discovery using Kepler data and exploiting the techniques you are looking to model.

https://avanderburg.github.io/tutorial/tutorial.html

Hope this helps.

- David
bfinio
Expert
Posts: 740
Joined: Mon Aug 12, 2013 2:41 pm
Occupation: Science Buddies Staff
Project Question: Expert
Project Due Date: n/a
Project Status: Not applicable

Re: Tranist of a Planet

Post by bfinio »

Whoops - it didn't even occur to me that the original post here might be about exoplanets. FYI we also have a bunch of projects on our site that may be useful: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/projects ... exoplanets
carlstensfer102
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2021 9:37 am
Occupation: Student

Re: Tranist of a Planet

Post by carlstensfer102 »

"I'm interested to know if you managed to do something about your project?
I am interested in your idea and what your students will say."
Locked

Return to “Grades 9-12: Physical Science”