Grade Level: 5

Source: Self-written

Objectives: Students should be able to demonstrate understanding of subtraction, division, and rounding in finding the answers to problems of mass and volume; students should begin to construct a rudimentary understanding in real-life terms of what mass is, what volume is, and how they are related; students should acquire some knowledge about the attributes of the planets in our solar system.

Materials: Science textbook with section about the masses and volumes of all the planets in the solar system; encyclopedias/Web sites/books with facts and figures related to this information, pencils and paper, teacher-made worksheet, calculators

Teaching Procedure:

Introduction: Remind students of studies about past studies of the planets (activity should be done when this material is covered in the science curriculum). Ask students to raise their hands and volunteer the names of the planets, doing a brief review with them.

Step 1: Hand out a chart to the students with the following categories: Planet name, mass, mass rank, volume, and volume rank. (Sample chart included in lesson plan.)

Step 2: Give students a mass of planet Earth: 5.97 units. Explain to them that “units” is just something to define it; chances are in fifth grade children should not be bothering with scientific notation (the Earth’s mass is 5.9736 × 10^24 kg, which is close to 5.97 × 10^24 kg, so that will be our 5.97 units). Put the statistics for the masses of all the other planets up on the overhead or the board (or have another handout), but have them with all their decimal points so that the children can round to the nearest hundredth. They will do this in their groups.

Step 3: Have the students then fill in the “mass rank” box; #1 for the heaviest planet, and #9 for the lightest planet. This will help them to find out if their later answers make sense.

Step 4: Present the volume for Earth: 108.32 units. Let them round to the nearest hundredth again for the other planets’ information.

Step 5: Have the students fill in the “volume rank” box; #1 for the most voluminous planet, and #9 for the least voluminous.

Step 6: Have the students consider the questions on the worksheets in their groups. They should be learning to use subtraction and division in real-life contexts for this activity.

Step 7: After most of the class seems done, discuss the results. Ask the class to explain what the difference between mass and volume is. Ask the class to explain how the two are related and what they found when they ranked the planets’ masses and volumes. Discuss any discrepancies.

Assessment: Students should turn in worksheets with the correct answers or at least evidence of trying to figure them out. They should also be able to use the concepts of mass and volume, as well as the basic ideas of subtraction and division, in their future science lessons; if any students cannot describe the difference between mass and volume after this lab or do not understand the connections, they may have been sponging off of their group and don’t deserve credit for the worksheet.

Planet	Mass	Mass Rank	Volume	Volume Rank
Mercury
Venus
Earth
Mars
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
Pluto

Questions

1. Is the ranking of the planets the same for mass and volume? Do you notice a pattern of any kind?

2. How do you think mass and volume are related? Could two things be the same mass but different volumes? Could two things be the same volume but different masses? Give examples if you think so.

3. Which is the heaviest planet? Which is the second heaviest planet? How much heavier is the heaviest planet than the second heaviest?

4. How much more volume does Earth have than the smallest planet in our solar system? How much more volume does the largest planet have than Earth?

5. How many Earths could fit inside Jupiter? Inside Saturn? (Hint: use the volume.)

Answer Key

Planet	Mass	Mass Rank	Volume	Volume Rank
Mercury	0.33	8	6.09	8
Venus	4.87	6	92.84	6
Earth	5.97	5	108.32	5
Mars	0.64	7	16.32	7
Jupiter	1,898.6	1	143,128	1
Saturn	568.46	2	82,713	2
Uranus	86.83	4	6,833	3
Neptune	102.43	3	6,254	4
Pluto	0.013	9	0.62	9

Questions

1. Is the ranking of the planets the same for mass and volume? Do you notice a pattern of any kind?

They’re all the same except for Uranus and Neptune. Uranus is number 4 in mass but 3 in volume, and Neptune is number 3 in mass but 4 in volume. The pattern is that generally, things that take up a lot of space tend to weigh a lot, but it is not always certain since things that take up a lot of space may still weigh very little.

2. How do you think mass and volume are related? Could two things be the same mass but different volumes? Could two things be the same volume but different masses? Give examples if you think so.

They’re related because a lot of time as mass goes up volume goes up. Yes, two things could be the same mass but different volumes: example—a jar of peanut butter might weigh the same as a deck of cards but they have totally different volumes. Yes, two things could be the same volume but different masses: example—an empty soda can and a full soda can both have the same volume but weigh differently because one is full of soda and one is full of air.

3. Which is the heaviest planet? Which is the second heaviest planet? How much heavier is the heaviest planet than the second heaviest?

Jupiter is heaviest, Saturn is second-heaviest. Jupiter is 1330.14 units heavier than Saturn.

4. How much more volume does Earth have than the smallest planet in our solar system? How much more volume does the largest planet have than Earth?

Earth has 107.7 units more volume than Pluto, the smallest planet. Jupiter, the largest planet, has 143019.68 units more volume than Earth.

5. How many Earths could fit inside Jupiter? Inside Saturn? (Hint: use the volume.)

About 1321 Earths could fit in Jupiter. About 763 Earths could fit in Saturn.