Friday, August 13, 2010

how we made a model of Saturn

Time for yet another science project! This one's a model of Saturn,


made from an old vinyl record (Jesus Christ, Superstar, as it so happens) and a large polystyrene ball, cut in half with a hacksaw.
Lizzy painted the rings of Saturn on the record

and made the stripes streaky using a folded paper towel.

She painted the polystyrene ball halves

and glued them to the record with a glue gun.


She screwed a large screw into the top of the model, tied on some fishing line,

and voila!

one model of Saturn.
(She's just informed me she has to do another project - on South Korea, this time - thankfully not involving any models!)

7 comments:

Deb L said...

Hurrah for Lizzy! What a fantastic model. Polystyrene always seems to "melt" when I try to draw or paint it. What paint did you use? I once set a 3D model of the human eye as a Year 7 science assignment. Now that I'm actually a parent, I look back and whince!

Jean said...

Oh, my goodness, the human eye!! Don't tell Lizzy (or her teachers) whatever you do or she might get some ideas!!!

We just used kids' poster paint - no melting.

Anonymous said...

At school, my daughter has to learn about space and she has told me that they have to make 3D models of planets. She has decided:
A) As a challenge she wants to make SATURN!
B) She wants a head start so I looked on the Internet and luckily, I stumbled acrossed your website.

We have some old records in the loft so will use your idea (hopefully it will look as good as yours:p)

Anonymous said...

My daughter too has been assigned Saturn. Thank you for your wonderful creative idea. I just hope ours turns out as wonderful as your talented daughter's did!

Anonymous said...

Nice model. The best one ive seen online. Better than nasa's.


PS. your model is very aligned

Unknown said...

What size is the ball?

Jean said...

Not sure - it was a long time ago - but it was the largest we had. Maybe 10 cm or more?