Toilet Paper Solar System

How big is our Solar System?

		
				Object
				Mean distance from Sun (km)
				Number of sheets from Sun
				Number of sheets from previous object
			
					Mercury
					57,909,175
					6
					6
				
					Venus
					108,208,930
					11
					5
				
					Earth
					149,597,890
					15
					4
				
					Mars
					227,936,640
					23
					8
				
					Jupiter
					778,412,020
					78
					55
				
					Saturn
					1,426,752,400
					140
					62
				
					Uranus
					2,870,972,200
					290
					150
				
					Neptune
					4,498,252,900
					450
					160
				
					Pluto
					5,906,380,000
					590
					140
				
		:

The sheer size of space is often hard to express but Year 5/6 tried their best - despite the wind - to carry out an investigation in the playground. The distance of each planet from the Sun can be demonstrated using toilet paper, apparently!

Working in groups, the children were given a roll of toilet paper, each planet (blow-up planets) and a Sun. The children carefully unravelled the correct amount of toilet roll to show the relative distance from the Sun for each planet in turn. Once each distance was measured out, a child held the planet at the correct toilet roll sheet.

The table on the right gives you some idea of the amount of toilet roll needed…..