Howardites

Worksheet for the lesson Why more shooting stars are seen before dawn (Year 5). Printing gives the pupil copy; open the answers below first to print them as a teacher copy on a separate page.

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Why more shooting stars are seen before dawn

Name:Date:

Count the confetti that landed on each plate in 30 seconds.

TrialFRONT plateBACK plate
1 (walking)
2 (walking)
3 (walking)
4 (standing still)
Sun sunlight Earth's direction of travel North Pole A B C D
Looking down on the North Pole, the Earth spins anticlockwise. The shaded half is night. Write midday, midnight, dawn or dusk for A, B, C and D, and draw a star where you would see the most meteors.
A
B
C
D
  1. Which plate caught more confetti when the walker moved? Why?
  2. Explain to a friend when to look for shooting stars, and why.
Answers for the teacher
  1. When walking, the FRONT plate catches clearly more. Standing still, the two plates catch about the same.
  2. Diagram: A (facing the Sun) is midday; C (facing away from the Sun) is midnight; B (top, facing the direction of travel) is dawn; D (bottom) is dusk.
  3. The front plate, because it was moving into the falling confetti, like a car's windscreen in the rain.
  4. Look in the hours before dawn. Then your side of the Earth is facing the way the Earth is moving round the Sun, so it runs into more space dust.

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