SnitchSeeker.com - View Single Post - Astronomy Lesson 1 :: Seasons & Solstices

sweetpinkpixie · 05-14-2014, 03:10 PM

SPOILER!!: the NOPE CAN'T BE DONE! answers

Smirking, the professor crossed his arms proudly across his chest and chuckled under his breath. "You can prove it and you don't even need magic to do so."

Quote:

Originally Posted by lemon

Professor Top Hat didn't know what Cuckoo Warning Day was? He knew ALL of this hard stuff like solstices but didn't know about THAT? Dima was inwardly shocked, but he'd just explain to the man after class was over. When he told him what macking was. Mhm.

He didn't know the answer to this next question either, though. But he'd give it a shot!

"'Cause we get dizzy sometimes!" Did he need a demonstration? Dima volunteered!

Oh? He wasn't going to get to hear about this Cuckoo festival...whatever? Alas.

"You will be getting real dizzy here in just a bit," he replied with a knowing smile. Soon.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kaos.Doodles

"Well if I was one of those Astronomers i'd say its true and I don't need proof 'cause I'm an Astronomer and you're not." So THERE. He'd have a title and everything so proof wasn't needed.

The smirk was quickly replaced with a slight frown at the Ravenclaw's response. "If only it worked that way," he said with a heavy sigh. "Many of the world's greatest astronomers did not live to see the day that their theories and discovers were accepted because what they had proven, or paved the way to prove, went against the status quo of their time."

SPOILER!!: Gareth & Kevin XD

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fira

Gareth shifted on his seat. Was he feeling eyes on him? They wouldn't dare!! He was the only one who could examine people the way he wanted. He never said others were allowed to stare at him. The Slytherin looked around and finally saw Kanna looking at him. He raised his eyebrows at her. What was the matter pretty hair? Maybe she was wondering if he was eating the sugar quills she had dropped for him. Maybe..he was doing that. Maybe.

More eyebrow raising at the professor when he literally jumped on his desk. Seriously? Gareth didn't know how to figure out if the Earth was spinning by himself without using anything yet it was clear that the Earth spinning melted this man's brain somehow.

Then he looked back at Kanna when he heard her speaking. Really? Of course she sounded like she had swallowed an Astronomy book for she was a Ravenclaw. Or wherever else she had learned "that thing" she was talking about. Had to be a book her pretty face obviously had swallowed.

Gareth snorted. "It's simple. Find a Gryffindor and a Ravenclaw. Tell the Gryffindor that you need to find out if the earth is spinning and everyone's lives depends on it. Tell the Ravenclaw that the Gryffindor needs to do something but obviously they lack the necessary literal knowledge. Then sit back and watch as they make a complete fool of themselves."

*grin*

Quote:

Originally Posted by DuckyLinJi

Too much yelling made his head hurt....

Kevin sat in his chair, a bored expression on his face. Theory was so boring, when did they get to do the actual practical thing?! Because practical in Astronomy was usually really fun. Though the Gryffindor would NEVER admit that out loud.

Turning his attention back to the Professor as he asked the next question, the second year thought about the answer when he heard someone make fun of the Gryffindor and Ravenclaws. Well, he didn't care about the Ravenclaws...but he DID care about the Gryffindors being insulted like that. He shot a GLARE in the direction of the older Slytherin (Gareth) . "Shut it, Snake Head!" he called.

Now, back to the question. ...What was the question again? Ah yes how they would have known if the earth spun or not. "The stars movement?" he answered.

There was some serious eyebrow raising going on with the Slytherin's answer. SERIOUS eyebrow raising. "Are you implying that Gryffindors are dim-witted Mr. Striker?" STARE.

And then Mr. Hirase happened. "Not necessary, Mr. Hirase," he scolded, his blue eyes snapping to the boy. No need to prove the Slytherin's point, you know.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chiara

Lucy raised her wand and she said:" I'm an astronomer in bud..but I Know a little the sea because I grew up in a seaside town and the phenomenon of the tides is related to the Earth's spinning..The tides are caused by attraction that the Sun and the Moon have on the Earth. The Moon, being closer has a greater influence that the Sun..The force of attraction is felt on all over our planet especially on liquid particles that move more easily than the solid!"

Her wand. Her wand was up. Why was her wand up?

The professor was far too focused on the fact that the Gryffindor was raising her wand that he missed the first half of what she was saying and only really tuned back in when she was speaking about liquid particles and solids and.........

Did she need to use the loo? She could, just ask...you know?

What?

"Very interesting," he nodded, nervous smile on his face, as he moved along.

SPOILER!!: the quiet ones :3

Quote:

Originally Posted by feeheeheeny

Huuuuuuuh. Though she was right about the dates being flexible, that hadn't boosted her confidence enough to feel good about this question. Sophie's hands dropped to her lap and she played with the sleeve of her robes, eyeing the professor and the students in the class who were taking a stab at answers. She wasn't really sure, honestly - the guess she thought was obvious was to look at the stars in the sky over time, but she wasn't sure if that was an actual way. How could the astronomers differentiate between whether the earth was spinning or if it was the distant stars and stuff moving around?

Mo's answer put into words her thought processes better than she could've verbalized it just yet, and she hoped he was right. He was a clever seventh year Ravenclaw, so he was probably pretty close, right? Sophie stayed silent and nodded once in agreement with his answer. It sounded logical and made plenty of sense to her, so she was rooting for his success.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Saiai

Oh good. She was right. Happy days.

Ana got distracted somewhat when she moved to try and find a more comfortable position, nearly taking a tumble off her chair but managing to keep her balance just in time, and so didn't really hear all of the Professors explanation. She was further distracted by the fact that she'd managed to knock her ink all over her parchment in her flail for balance. Sigh. Ana did hear his question though, but she wasn't really sure how she'd prove that the Earth rotated. If she was going off more modern times she'd definitely suggest using the Foucault Pendulum experiment. She'd done it a few times herself and although it wasn't a hard experiment it did prove the point rather nicely that Earth moved. The only other way she could think of maybe proving it was through sunset and sunrise, but people had already said that.

Deciding that she really couldn't add anything to the conversation at the moment Ana simply wrote her thoughts, and the thoughts of others down on a fresh piece of parchment that she'd gotten out of her bag.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deezerz

Things were getting all out there and Beverly found herself taking more notes than she had been at the beginning of the lesson. Unfortunately, the summer had not fixed her struggle to fully understand Astronomy. Hey! She'd been out in the sun for most of the time so...it counted in her book as something.

Wrinkling her nose as she finished writing down the question, she opened her textbook and furiously searched for the answer or some sort of explanation. She did NOT like not knowing the answer to something. It frustrated her and got her moody. Although...she couldn't get moody at professor Airey. Heh. No.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Star-Lord

Huh.

He was half right.

Showed the boy barely learned anything from reading his brother's book. But at least he got the solstice part right. Anyway. Jun was staying quiet for the next question. Didn't Earth spinning create a gravitational pull? That's how you knew it was spinning? If it wasn't everything would be up in the air. Like floating and all. But hey, at least people were answering.

Quote:

Originally Posted by fanficfanatict

Silence.

That was all that was coming from Ascanius' side of the room, yeah? While he could admit that the subject of Astronomy was interesting enough Flammy just mucked it up. With his talking. And his face.

So he remained silent.

Though, he had to admit, at least to himself, that he wasn't exactly sure how to go about proving the earth was spinning. He had the similar instinct like the rest of his classmates to assume about the stars or the sun; yet, that didn't prove a thing about the EARTH. It could have very well have been the stars and the sun that were moving and not Earth.

So he was stumped. Huh. Seventh year didn't know everything. Not that he'd ever say so. Or say anything. At all. Ever.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Meizzner

So....maybe he tried too hard.

But it actually worked. Who would have thought. And see ,even after he said that more perfect answers were said. Seriously what is the fun in that. Nigel would rather be quiet and stare at Flameo like Ascanius then answer it perfectly.

Maybe that was him being a Seventh Year talking. Probably. Well Nigel had an answer to this question. But it was probably too inappropriate to say. So yeah. Best stay quiet and listen to all the textbook answers.

Maybe the activity will amuse him or maybe Flameo will jump up and dance some more.

Still in a little bit of a daze from Miss Petersfield and her answer, Airey managed to give those students choosing to be attentive listeners - or what he assumed was attentive listening and not day dreaming - a nod and a salute as he looked to the next group of raised hands.

SPOILER!!: observing the moment of sky/stars/sun/THINGS IN THE SKY answers

Quote:

Originally Posted by Harry174

Angel looked at the professor before raising her hand and smiled at her sister Aubrey, she was wondering if they could work together when they started doing the activity, she thought it would be fun if they could. "Professor the clouds move." Angel smiled. "They are formed by power stations, and they have to get up there some how and if they didn't move then they would be steam all over this one place." Angel thought it was odd how the power station formed the clouds. "But as you look into the sky you see all sort of different stuff in the clouds, some look like rabbits, others look like cats and other look like well all sort of different thing."

Quote:

Originally Posted by nanyjj

Leah's had was already bursting with all the information given, and was glad that this was the last question before the activity, whatever that might be. She was hoping for something that involved jumping onto desks and singing, just like what the professor did a few minutes ago.

So, imagine if she were an astronomer... Leah raised her hand finally. "I would see the stars slowly moving, and conclude that it is the Earth that is spinning, not the stars." Because she saw twinkle twinkle little stars moving along slowly a lot of times when she stared out of the window at night.

Quote:

Originally Posted by nicole black

Yes, finally she'd managed to answer a question in Flamsteed's class without mishap! Maybe Justine's bad luck was turning, she hope it was anyway. Hmm... This was a tricky question, mostly because the students had to think outside of their textbooks and really think creatively, thankfully that was one of Justine's strong suits.

How could they have known the earth was moving back then? Was possibly occurred in the night sky to prove that their little blue planet was turning on it's axis? Justine nibbled on her quill absentmindedly as she considered the tricky question... The cloud thing didn't make sense, it wasn't the earth moving that made clouds to by, but the wind... And she doubted it had anything to do with putting down a ball and watching it to see if it moved..

The stars didn't move though. They stayed exactly where they had always been and would continue to be until they one day exploded and formed black holes. There it was, there was the answer! "Sir! Zee constellations, zee stars do not move, yet zroogh out zee year, our ancestors vould 'ave noticed a difference in zee patterns of zee sky, and zat vould be zee vay to prove zee planet moved," Justine said, trying to bite back her triumphant smile as she spoke.

The girl was far too sure of herself, and didn't believe for a second that she could even remotely be wrong.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lazykitty

So, that was two questions sat out and Layla had to admit that it wasn't just the fact that everyone was falling all over each other to pretty much paraphrase each other's answers, though that certainly was part of it. Nope, she already had the dreaded senoritis, that thing that affects those in their last year of schooling that caused them to not be able to concentrate on their schoolwork. Sigh. But at least she'd been taking notes the whole time.

"The movement of the stars and constellations.....?" she spoke up finally, deciding that she wasn't just sitting there daydreaming. But honestly, she had her doubts that that was correct.

Quote:

Originally Posted by FearlessLeader19

Oh goody! Adi was on the right track even though he hadn't quite gotten the answer. Heh. Well, it does pay off to make a bit of a gamble sometimes. He quickly made even more notes about solstices as Flamsteed spoke.

And now. How did they prove the Earth was spinning? Er...like the previous question, Adi was uncertain. But he did raise his hand to make an attempt. "The rising and setting of the Sun, maybe?''

Quote:

Originally Posted by PhoenixStar

Hmm. AJ was thinking that the chick that said the cloud moving thing was most likely right, but then again how do we know that it is true because sometimes we she laid out and tried to figure out cloud shapes they would practically zoom by and surely the earth is not moving THAT fast. Heh. She was silent on the last question and she was itching to answer even if it made no sense at all. The first year was a talker.

What could she say? What would even make the slightest bit of sense? AJ raised her hand. "I think it's because when you lie on your back sometimes and stare at the sky your eyes can't help but to move back and forth so that clearly means that the Earth is moving." Yup, that was a good as it was going to get from her.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Awarlesta Black

Spinning? Helloooooooo! The sky moves all the time. WHY? Because it's spinning. Yes? Yes. He's going with that. "Um...Suuuunriiise...suuunnsett. Covers the answer, right?" Or is he thinking about revolving...no, that's the amount it takes to go around the sun, that's involving the seasons. Yep, he's more than sure he's on the right track.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cassirin

How could they prove the earth was spinning? That was sort of a funny question, since they obviously couldn't back then. They didn't realize it for ages and ages, and rather thought that the earth was still and the universe was doing the spinning.

But in the spirit of that... "I suppose that seeing the stars move across the sky each night, but in trackable and repetitive ways helped. And not just night after night, but over time, year after year. Orion would move predictably across the sky one night, and then slightly differently the next, and slightly differently the next. Different constellations appeared during different times of the year, but they always came back year after year."

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaniDiNardo

Attention, she was paying it, right.

Really she'd only perked up because of the mention of the activity. They just had to sit through one more question. That wouldn't have been so bad and the lion was sitting proper in her seat again. One more wouldn't make her brain dead and it might have been beneficial for the younger ones. Merlin knew some of them had some interesting answers.

Proving the earth moved without all the fancy stuff? She couldn't see why they'd need to but...

"Can you use the stars? The way they change positions at different times of the year and how you can't see some from certain months but in other months they're perfectly clear?"

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grrr..Meow

Bay smiled, he could answer this question hopefully. Raising his hand "Professor, If it was me back then I would look up at the sky and monitor the sun and moon, for they would never be in the same spot all the time, they move and circle the earth. But I guess one can say that they are revolving around earth but yeah I'm going to stick with that answer", ughhh he totally hoped that he didn't sound stupid.

fighting the urge to put his head on his desk he opted for listening to everyone else's answers.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Squishy

So much space stuff was being discussed. As much as Lux had read up on Astronomy and understood a fair bit of this lesson, some of the things Professor Flamsteed was talking about confused her. More furious note taking, which was starting to make her hand hurt. Frowning slightly, she shook her hand a little to make it feel better before raising it to answer the question. "By looking at the stars? Constellations would appear to move in the sky, and maybe that was how they figured out t the earth was spinning?"

Quote:

Originally Posted by Felixir

How could he prove........?

Well, uhh... huh. Toby wasn't completely sure if he had the right answer, but he stuck his hand in the air and gave it a shot anyway, leaning back onto two legs of his chair, but only for a moment.

"Maybe the sun's path? 'Cause it would rise and set in the same places, and goes the same path. I mean, you wouldn't be able to prove much, unless you tried tracking shadows or whatever, but it might have been enough to give them a hint, right?"

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shanners

Stellar? Yep. It was official. That word was losing its meaning thanks to 'fessor F. Bless his cotton...or whatever fabric socks. But seriously. After this burst of education, it was being noted in Elodie's diary to NEVER use that word. Or name a child, pet, or plant any form of it. Including 'Stella'. Nope. The word, and name, was going out of the window and she didn't care. Maybe she'd suggest a word for him to switch in instead. Like petroleum. Or coat hanger. Anything but stellar.

"Well when you look up and it's a cloudy day... I guess the clouds look like they're moving, huh?" And it most definitely wasn't because of anything else. Psh. She was so right it was WRONG.

It was just wrong to be this awesome. Maybe.

Possibly.

On with the activity please, Mr. Petroleum?

And there was more nodding. "In theory yes, you all bring up things that could show that the Earth is spinning, but you may recall that this very same movement is what caused the geocentric model to be imagined by the ancient peoples as far back as 6th century BC when Aristarchus of Samos theorized that the Earth was a orb in space that rotated daily. Back then, however, everyone thought he was crazy and ignored his thoery and it was not until the 16th century that Nicolaus Copernicus presented a complete heliocentric model of the Solar System." He paused for a moment and walked a little more back towards his desk, looking out one of the many windows at the night sky that was clearly dotted with stars. "The movement of the stars does imply that there is some sort of motion occurring but, again, how can we really know if it is the stars moving or our planet? In fact, the first man made theory about the movement of the sun and stars was that the Earth was flat and they just popped up and down!"

SPOILER!!: cannonballs, other balls, shooting/throwing things into the air & Coriolis Effect

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mell

His hand flew across his parchment as he scribbled down information on Solstices and he had just put in the last full stop when the Professor asked the next question.

Michael chewed on the end of his quill while he thought about the answer before finally raising his hand after a few moments. "I guess you could fire something...say a cannonball and if it doesn't fly straight then you know that the earth is spinning."Or something like that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by FireboltAvis88

Cris thought long and hard on the next question the Professor had posed. When a fellow Hufflepuff mentioned a pendulum, Cris immediately recalled the one he had seen when he was a young boy visiting the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, California. But then he thought of another possible way to prove the earth was spinning.

Raising his hand he gave his answer.

"Professor how about the Coriolis Effect? Doesn't it say that the effect is caused by the rotation of the Earth and the inertia of the mass experiencing the effect?" Cris paused to ask Professor Flamsteed.

"I remember reading an article that the effect was demonstrated in World War I when German soldiers discovered they needed to aim slightly to the left in order to hit their targets when shooting towards the south. I guess they found out that whenever fired, the cannonballs would somehow drift to the right. I guess that somehow showed proof that the earth was spinning."

Quote:

Originally Posted by KokoBandit

Having been silent the entire class, Silas had no intentions of answering the last question that the professor had asked. Astronomy wasn't his forte, and that wasn't going to change. He did his best to pay attention and be respectful, and he tried to take the notes he thought might be important. But much of people's answers were the same, and so there was only so much to write while the Professor wasn't talking.

He looked over at a few of the faces he recognized as each student spoke. Mostly, he looked down at his desk. His... crooked... desk. Silas had tried to think up answers to the previous questions, but was always unsure about his answers, and so kept them to himself. Astronomy, again, was not the subject for him. It wasn't particularly boring, especially with Professor Airey. Not like Arithmancy. He just didn't do very well.

So when he had a revelation having to do with the rotation of the Earth that didn't focus on the stars, it struck him like a bag of hammers that he had a good answer, and the boy sat bolt upright in his seat and his hand flew up in excitement.

"U-uh," he started, despite his excitement. After all, there was a chance his answer could backfire horribly. "The different wind currents!" Um. No. That wasn't it, but that's what came out anyway; a prelude thought. "If you fire an object straight up into the air, even with no wind at all, it will never, ever, ever, come straight back down, because the Earth rotates, and in correlation to you standing still on the surface of the Earth, the object in the air will land differently from where it started."

He glanced over at the Ravenclaw girl he had met, Kanna, for no other reason than that he knew she was a Ravenclaw, and he was looking for a sign that his answer wasn't completely dumb. In any case, he was proud of it. Even if it was dumb. Or poorly phrased.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ArianaBlack

Uh How would you prove that? That was an excellent question Professor "Flail"-steed. Uh. Well. Uh. One does not just simply PROVE the Earth's spin. You just have to take their word for it right? Like the science people? "What if you put a bouncy ball on a flat surface and just left it there really still. And then it moved. Then you would know." Because that's totally how the Earth's spinny thing worked. Right? Right?

"While 1914 may seem ancient to you, Mr. Strand, I was thinking of much further back in human history," he chuckled while also giving a small nod towards Mr. Toussaint who had clearly thought about the same concept since he had mentioned canons. "But yes, the Coriolis effect does help illustrate the rotation of the Earth and it is due to this rotation that objects in the Northern Hemisphere are deflected to the right and objects in the Southern Hemisphere are deflected to the left. However, these results are slightly imperceptible. Same with dropping an object down a shaft to see if there was any deflection, despite Newton's physics supporting the thought. There is a much stronger piece of evidence to support the idea of the Earth is spinning."

In his opinion anyway. He was slightly bias though.

SPOILER!!: PENDULUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUM!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by GlassXRose

How to prove that the Earth spun? Oh, she could do this! She wasn't amazing at this subject, but these kinds of questions were right up her alley. The bright-haired Ravenclaw sat up in her seat, a little glance at Gareth, and raised her hand, still pinching the quill between two fingers.

"Well," she started, as all smart-alecks started their answers. "By tracking patterns in the night sky, we can tell that all of the stars and planets-- even the sun and the moon, move in a rotational pattern. Nothing stays still. A long time ago, it would have been said that everything revolved around the Earth, and the Earth was still..."

But of course, this is not the case. She wondered, for a moment, why anyone could have ever been so literally self-centered to think that the entire universe revolved around one fixed point. "But with a special kind of pendulum-- uh..." she trailed off for a second... What were those things called? Ful--fol... foe... "A Foucault Pendulum," she finally broke through, with much pride in herself, "If built properly, and excepting at the equator, those kinds of pendulums will swing in accordance to the rotation of the Earth. And rotation varies, from season to season, which is why there is a longest and shortest day of the year, or why the sun changes positions in accordance to the seasons. It's because the Earth wobbles," she finished, to use an extremely scientific term.

Proud of herself, she looked back at Gareth to see if she had managed to annoy him with her answer, then back at Professor Airey, in the hopes that she had given him a satisfactory answer.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tegz

West had seen one of the giant pendulum's in action. It was a pretty cool sight. He put his hand up. "Watching the stars show there is some rotation, but it doesn't illustrate if its the planet that is moving, or if everything is moving around the planet. But if you have a big enough perfect pendulum with a big enough mass you can actually see its motion isn't just a back and forward swing, it will rotate at the same rate that the Earth does and gradually work around in a circle... kind of in a star shape if you happened to trace its path as it goes around. Little ones work too but you can't really sit there and watch because the movement is more slight so it would take longer to see that it has rotated all the way around."

Werrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrre they gonna make one?

Quote:

Originally Posted by amadshade

Tora's fingers itched to open her textbook to page 171 and as soon as Flamsteed turned the other way the pages just happened to accidentally open to page 171 exactly. She immediately became engrossed. That was she was engrossed until something in the class conversation caught her ear.

Tora couldn't tell if Cutty had actually heard her question and smugly answered it later, or if he was truly just adding to part of the classroom discussion. She gave him a long side glance, and was going to whisper something to make sure it was clear that she, the space fanatic, knew more about space than he did but she couldn't think of anything appropriately witty. Besides, this was her favorite class and it was disrespectful to talk right? So instead of addressing her classmate directly, she raised her hand to answer Professor Flamsteed's latest question.

"There are a couple ways, I think, that someone could measure if the Earth was spinning on an axis. I'm sure there is some sort of spell that you could, I don't know, shoot into outer space that would theoretically stay in the same position in that space. Once it reappeared in the sky it would theoretically have been a year. To measure a day it would need to also orbit the sun at the same speed as the Earth." she started off throwing ideas out there, but stopped when she realized that she was rambling. Okay, enough with the creative portion of this answer. She knew the real answer to this from the Muggle science museum her mother and father had taken her and her siblings to over the summer. At least staying with her parents was useful for something. "But if you don't want to use magic, you could always create a pendulum that will swing with the Earth's rotation. I think that's how the Muggle's did it?" she wasn't sure on the specifics, it was still the summer when she had seen the huge pendulum at the museum and so the details were a bit foggy.

Make today's desk leaping count 14 as he jumped on to Miss Basthowe and did a brief tap dance routine. "Foucault pendulum!"

Ahem. Yes. Jumping off her desk now.

"Invented by Leon Foucault, a 19th century French physicist, the Foucault pendulum proves that the Earth is rotating," he said as he gave his wand a wave and conjured a floating model.

"The pendulum swings back and forth because of the force of gravity and the object's inertia and while it may appear as though the actual pendulum seems to change its path, it is the floor beneath it that moves as it is being twisted around by the daily rotation of earth"

Fascinating, wasn't it? THERE WAS MORE!

"I have a bit of a surprise for you all today," he grinned as his wand was out again and waving towards his desk and models, sending them to the back of the classroom and out of the way. With another swish of his wand, the very floor beneath them seemed to change and the outline of a large circle appeared with the edge of it just behind everyone's desks. Suddenly, a bright light appeared in the center of the circle and BAM! SNAP! a wire with a large ball attached to is descended from the ceiling of the classroom and began to swing back and forth behind the professor. TADA!

"We are going to play a game I like to call Pendulum Dogdeball in which you will be acting out all the concepts we have discussed today," he said while rocking back on his heals. "If you would all please stand so I can move your desks out of the way..." And once they had done so, he gave his wand another wave to banish them to the side of the classroom. "This magical light source will act as the Sun. It doesn't emit any real heat, so you don't need to worry about getting burned. You all will act as the planets that orbit the sun and, by doing so, will experience each of the four seasons as they would be felt in the Northern Hemisphere. Your costumes have been charmed to reflect these seasonal changes and you will all be starting at our current season of autumn." And they were probably wondering how they were going to accomplish this. With another wave of his wand, the astronomer conjured planetary costumes for each student. "Your goal is to complete one orbit around the sun, but just running around in circles is no fun, so you will also have to avoid the pendulum as it swings back and forth. I will charm things to speed up just a tad," he said with a mischievous grin. "You do not need to worry about being knocked out of the Astronomy Tower by the pendulum or one of your classmates as there is a magical barrier in place to prevent such a thing from happening."

Were they ready?

"READY?! GO!"

And with one final wave of his wand the pendulum's speed increased. He was going to enjoy watching this...off to the side.

current classroom set up. Not drawn to scale.

OOC Instructions:
You will have at least 48 hours to complete this activity

You should have at least 4 posts (1 per seasonal change) to receive full credit. And you could be nice to me and label your posts if you waaaaaaaaaant :3

In a nut shell: your character is in a 'planet costume' and they are trying to run a full circle around the 'Sun' while avoiding (to the best of their ability) the swinging pendulum and other 'planets' aka their classmates. The inside of the 'planet costume' will reflect the change of the season in some way.

How are the seasons reflected in your little planetary orb? That is up to you and your imagination! Maybe it starts to snow in winter? Flower petals shoot into your character's face in spring? Rises and fall in temperature? Entirely up to you!

The arena 'acts' like an Foucault pendulum, but the floor beneath your characters is not moving as it is the actual pendulum (the hanging bit with the ball that is going to smack into your character) that has been charmed to move.

Any questions you have can be sent to me via PM or VM Professor Flamsteed is still here, just off to the site watching and laughing as chaos unfolds.

HAVE FUN!

05-14-2014, 03:10 PM	#283 (permalink)
sweetpinkpixie SSRPG Admin Gladrags Mod Quibbler Mod Minister for Magic Alley Proprietor Sea Serpent Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: The Paths Posts: 41,139 Hogwarts RPG Name: Professor Cox Ravenclaw Graduated Hogwarts RPG Name: Briallen Ashburry-Hawthorne Gryffindor Fourth Year Hogwarts RPG Name: Nyle Harden Hufflepuff Fifth Year Hogwarts RPG Name: Iris Harden Ravenclaw Fifth Year Hogwarts RPG Name: Calliope Barrington Slytherin Fourth Year Ministry Department Head: Charles Hollingberry Minister's Office Ministry Department Head: Airey Flamsteed Mysteries Diagon Alley Proprietor: Victor García Massey Ollivanders x12 x12	astronomizzle ♧ gryffinDORK \| & the rest is drag ♣ #badluckDerf SPOILER!!: the NOPE CAN'T BE DONE! answers Quote: Originally Posted by HogwartsStudent11 How did they know the Earth is spinning? It seemed painfully obvious to Marisol, and she quietly rolled her eyes. Though she considered herself to be on of the nicer Slytherins, from what she'd seen so far, she was also quite sassy and impatient. She glanced at the student next to her to give a knowing look before answering. "No other way of explain seasons. Different sunlight, not all direct from angles," Mari tried, struggling to explain the message she wanted to get across. Okay, so she was wrong even when she'd acted like a know-it-all. So? Quote: Originally Posted by Presley Black How could you prove it without spaceships or meteorologists? Gwen supposed that without those things, it was entirely possible to believe, as people used to, that the Earth was stationary and everything else was moving around it. Gwen raised her hand, laughing at the professor's antics. He really loved this stuff. "I don't think you really can prove it. I think that there could be a bunch of different explanations for why the stars move and the sun in the sky and the solstices and stuff." She wasn't making sense. She paused to organize her thoughts. "I mean, there's not really solid proof without things like pictures and maybe magic." Could magic somehow tell them the Earth was moving? COULD MAGIC STOP THE EARTH FROM MOVING? The question struck her brain like lightning. She started to ask it, but stopped herself before any words were out. It wasn't really pertinent to the question. Gwen squirreled that question away for further exploration on her own time. Smirking, the professor crossed his arms proudly across his chest and chuckled under his breath. "You can prove it and you don't even need magic to do so." Quote: Originally Posted by lemon Professor Top Hat didn't know what Cuckoo Warning Day was? He knew ALL of this hard stuff like solstices but didn't know about THAT? Dima was inwardly shocked, but he'd just explain to the man after class was over. When he told him what macking was. Mhm. He didn't know the answer to this next question either, though. But he'd give it a shot! "'Cause we get dizzy sometimes!" Did he need a demonstration? Dima volunteered! Oh? He wasn't going to get to hear about this Cuckoo festival...whatever? Alas. "You will be getting real dizzy here in just a bit," he replied with a knowing smile. Soon. Quote: Originally Posted by Kaos.Doodles *"Well if I was one of those Astronomers i'd say its true and I don't need* proof 'cause I'm an Astronomer and you're not." So THERE. He'd have a title and everything so proof wasn't needed. The smirk was quickly replaced with a slight frown at the Ravenclaw's response. "If only it worked that way," he said with a heavy sigh. "Many of the world's greatest astronomers did not live to see the day that their theories and discovers were accepted because what they had proven, or paved the way to prove, went against the status quo of their time." SPOILER!!*: Gareth & Kevin XD* Quote: Originally Posted by Fira Gareth shifted on his seat. Was he feeling eyes on him? They wouldn't dare!! He was the only one who could examine people the way he wanted. He never said others were allowed to stare at him. The Slytherin looked around and finally saw Kanna looking at him. He raised his eyebrows at her. What was the matter pretty hair? Maybe she was wondering if he was eating the sugar quills she had dropped for him. Maybe..he was doing that. Maybe. More eyebrow raising at the professor when he literally jumped on his desk. Seriously? Gareth didn't know how to figure out if the Earth was spinning by himself without using anything yet it was clear that the Earth spinning melted this man's brain somehow. Then he looked back at Kanna when he heard her speaking. Really? Of course she sounded like she had swallowed an Astronomy book for she was a Ravenclaw. Or wherever else she had learned "that thing" she was talking about. Had to be a book her pretty face obviously had swallowed. Gareth snorted. "It's simple. Find a Gryffindor and a Ravenclaw. Tell the Gryffindor that you need to find out if the earth is spinning and everyone's lives depends on it. Tell the Ravenclaw that the Gryffindor needs to do something but obviously they lack the necessary literal knowledge. Then sit back and watch as they make a complete fool of themselves." grin Quote: Originally Posted by DuckyLinJi Too much yelling made his head hurt.... Kevin sat in his chair, a bored expression on his face. Theory was so boring, when did they get to do the actual practical thing?! Because practical in Astronomy was usually really fun. Though the Gryffindor would NEVER admit that out loud. Turning his attention back to the Professor as he asked the next question, the second year thought about the answer when he heard someone make fun of the Gryffindor and Ravenclaws. Well, he didn't care about the Ravenclaws...but he DID care about the Gryffindors being insulted like that. He shot a GLARE in the direction of the older Slytherin (Gareth) . "Shut it, Snake Head!" he called. Now, back to the question. ...What was the question again? Ah yes how they would have known if the earth spun or not. "The stars movement?" he answered. There was some serious eyebrow raising going on with the Slytherin's answer. SERIOUS eyebrow raising. "Are you implying that Gryffindors are dim-witted Mr. Striker?" STARE. And then Mr. Hirase happened. "Not necessary, Mr. Hirase," he scolded, his blue eyes snapping to the boy. No need to prove the Slytherin's point, you know. Quote: Originally Posted by Chiara Lucy raised her wand and she said:" I'm an astronomer in bud..but I Know a little the sea because I grew up in a seaside town and the phenomenon of the tides is related to the Earth's spinning..The tides are caused by attraction that the Sun and the Moon have on the Earth. The Moon, being closer has a greater influence that the Sun..The force of attraction is felt on all over our planet especially on liquid particles that move more easily than the solid!" Her wand. Her wand was up. Why was her wand up? The professor was far too focused on the fact that the Gryffindor was raising her wand that he missed the first half of what she was saying and only really tuned back in when she was speaking about liquid particles and solids and......... Did she need to use the loo? She could, just ask...you know? What? "Very interesting," he nodded, nervous smile on his face, as he moved along. SPOILER!!: the quiet ones :3 Quote: Originally Posted by feeheeheeny Huuuuuuuh. Though she was right about the dates being flexible, that hadn't boosted her confidence enough to feel good about this question. Sophie's hands dropped to her lap and she played with the sleeve of her robes, eyeing the professor and the students in the class who were taking a stab at answers. She wasn't really sure, honestly - the guess she thought was obvious was to look at the stars in the sky over time, but she wasn't sure if that was an actual way. How could the astronomers differentiate between whether the earth was spinning or if it was the distant stars and stuff moving around? Mo's answer put into words her thought processes better than she could've verbalized it just yet, and she hoped he was right. He was a clever seventh year Ravenclaw, so he was probably pretty close, right? Sophie stayed silent and nodded once in agreement with his answer. It sounded logical and made plenty of sense to her, so she was rooting for his success. Quote: Originally Posted by Saiai Oh good. She was right. Happy days. Ana got distracted somewhat when she moved to try and find a more comfortable position, nearly taking a tumble off her chair but managing to keep her balance just in time, and so didn't really hear all of the Professors explanation. She was further distracted by the fact that she'd managed to knock her ink all over her parchment in her flail for balance. Sigh. Ana did hear his question though, but she wasn't really sure how she'd prove that the Earth rotated. If she was going off more modern times she'd definitely suggest using the Foucault Pendulum experiment. She'd done it a few times herself and although it wasn't a hard experiment it did prove the point rather nicely that Earth moved. The only other way she could think of maybe proving it was through sunset and sunrise, but people had already said that. Deciding that she really couldn't add anything to the conversation at the moment Ana simply wrote her thoughts, and the thoughts of others down on a fresh piece of parchment that she'd gotten out of her bag. Quote: Originally Posted by Deezerz Things were getting all out there and Beverly found herself taking more notes than she had been at the beginning of the lesson. Unfortunately, the summer had not fixed her struggle to fully understand Astronomy. Hey! She'd been out in the sun for most of the time so...it counted in her book as something. Wrinkling her nose as she finished writing down the question, she opened her textbook and furiously searched for the answer or some sort of explanation. She did NOT like not knowing the answer to something. It frustrated her and got her moody. Although...she couldn't get moody at professor Airey. Heh. No. Quote: Originally Posted by Star-Lord Huh. He was half right. Showed the boy barely learned anything from reading his brother's book. But at least he got the solstice part right. Anyway. Jun was staying quiet for the next question. Didn't Earth spinning create a gravitational pull? That's how you knew it was spinning? If it wasn't everything would be up in the air. Like floating and all. But hey, at least people were answering. Quote: Originally Posted by fanficfanatict Silence. That was all that was coming from Ascanius' side of the room, yeah? While he could admit that the subject of Astronomy was interesting enough Flammy just mucked it up. With his talking. And his face. So he remained silent. Though, he had to admit, at least to himself, that he wasn't exactly sure how to go about proving the earth was spinning. He had the similar instinct like the rest of his classmates to assume about the stars or the sun; yet, that didn't prove a thing about the EARTH. It could have very well have been the stars and the sun that were moving and not Earth. So he was stumped. Huh. Seventh year didn't know everything. Not that he'd ever say so. Or say anything. At all. Ever. Quote: Originally Posted by Meizzner So....maybe he tried too hard. But it actually worked. Who would have thought. And see ,even after he said that more perfect answers were said. Seriously what is the fun in that. Nigel would rather be quiet and stare at Flameo like Ascanius then answer it perfectly. Maybe that was him being a Seventh Year talking. Probably. Well Nigel had an answer to this question. But it was probably too inappropriate to say. So yeah. Best stay quiet and listen to all the textbook answers. Maybe the activity will amuse him or maybe Flameo will jump up and dance some more. Still in a little bit of a daze from Miss Petersfield and her answer, Airey managed to give those students choosing to be attentive listeners - or what he assumed was attentive listening and not day dreaming - a nod and a salute as he looked to the next group of raised hands. SPOILER!!: observing the moment of sky/stars/sun/THINGS IN THE SKY answers Quote: Originally Posted by Harry174 Angel looked at the professor before raising her hand and smiled at her sister Aubrey, she was wondering if they could work together when they started doing the activity, she thought it would be fun if they could. "Professor the clouds move." Angel smiled. "They are formed by power stations, and they have to get up there some how and if they didn't move then they would be steam all over this one place." Angel thought it was odd how the power station formed the clouds. "But as you look into the sky you see all sort of different stuff in the clouds, some look like rabbits, others look like cats and other look like well all sort of different thing." Quote: Originally Posted by nanyjj Leah's had was already bursting with all the information given, and was glad that this was the last question before the activity, whatever that might be. She was hoping for something that involved jumping onto desks and singing, just like what the professor did a few minutes ago. So, imagine if she were an astronomer... Leah raised her hand finally. "I would see the stars slowly moving, and conclude that it is the Earth that is spinning, not the stars." Because she saw twinkle twinkle little stars moving along slowly a lot of times when she stared out of the window at night. Quote: Originally Posted by nicole black Yes, finally she'd managed to answer a question in Flamsteed's class without mishap! Maybe Justine's bad luck was turning, she hope it was anyway. Hmm... This was a tricky question, mostly because the students had to think outside of their textbooks and really think creatively, thankfully that was one of Justine's strong suits. How could they have known the earth was moving back then? Was possibly occurred in the night sky to prove that their little blue planet was turning on it's axis? Justine nibbled on her quill absentmindedly as she considered the tricky question... The cloud thing didn't make sense, it wasn't the earth moving that made clouds to by, but the wind... And she doubted it had anything to do with putting down a ball and watching it to see if it moved.. The stars didn't move though. They stayed exactly where they had always been and would continue to be until they one day exploded and formed black holes. There it was, there was the answer! "Sir! Zee constellations, zee stars do not move, yet zroogh out zee year, our ancestors vould 'ave noticed a difference in zee patterns of zee sky, and zat vould be zee vay to prove zee planet moved," Justine said, trying to bite back her triumphant smile as she spoke. The girl was far too sure of herself, and didn't believe for a second that she could even remotely be wrong. Quote: Originally Posted by lazykitty So, that was two questions sat out and Layla had to admit that it wasn't just the fact that everyone was falling all over each other to pretty much paraphrase each other's answers, though that certainly was part of it. Nope, she already had the dreaded senoritis, that thing that affects those in their last year of schooling that caused them to not be able to concentrate on their schoolwork. Sigh. But at least she'd been taking notes the whole time. "The movement of the stars and constellations.....?" she spoke up finally, deciding that she wasn't just sitting there daydreaming. But honestly, she had her doubts that that was correct. Quote: Originally Posted by FearlessLeader19 Oh goody! Adi was on the right track even though he hadn't quite gotten the answer. Heh. Well, it does pay off to make a bit of a gamble sometimes. He quickly made even more notes about solstices as Flamsteed spoke. And now. How did they prove the Earth was spinning? Er...like the previous question, Adi was uncertain. But he did raise his hand to make an attempt. "The rising and setting of the Sun, maybe?'' Quote: Originally Posted by PhoenixStar Hmm. AJ was thinking that the chick that said the cloud moving thing was most likely right, but then again how do we know that it is true because sometimes we she laid out and tried to figure out cloud shapes they would practically zoom by and surely the earth is not moving THAT fast. Heh. She was silent on the last question and she was itching to answer even if it made no sense at all. The first year was a talker. What could she say? What would even make the slightest bit of sense? AJ raised her hand. "I think it's because when you lie on your back sometimes and stare at the sky your eyes can't help but to move back and forth so that clearly means that the Earth is moving." Yup, that was a good as it was going to get from her. Quote: Originally Posted by Awarlesta Black Spinning? Helloooooooo! The sky moves all the time. WHY? Because it's spinning. Yes? Yes. He's going with that. "Um...Suuuunriiise...suuunnsett. Covers the answer, right?" Or is he thinking about revolving...no, that's the amount it takes to go around the sun, that's involving the seasons. Yep, he's more than sure he's on the right track. Quote: Originally Posted by Cassirin How could they prove the earth was spinning? That was sort of a funny question, since they obviously couldn't back then. They didn't realize it for ages and ages, and rather thought that the earth was still and the universe was doing the spinning. But in the spirit of that... "I suppose that seeing the stars move across the sky each night, but in trackable and repetitive ways helped. And not just night after night, but over time, year after year. Orion would move predictably across the sky one night, and then slightly differently the next, and slightly differently the next. Different constellations appeared during different times of the year, but they always came back year after year." Quote: Originally Posted by DaniDiNardo Attention, she was paying it, right. Really she'd only perked up because of the mention of the activity. They just had to sit through one more question. That wouldn't have been so bad and the lion was sitting proper in her seat again. One more wouldn't make her brain dead and it might have been beneficial for the younger ones. Merlin knew some of them had some interesting answers. Proving the earth moved without all the fancy stuff? She couldn't see why they'd need to but... "Can you use the stars? The way they change positions at different times of the year and how you can't see some from certain months but in other months they're perfectly clear?" Quote: Originally Posted by Grrr..Meow Bay smiled, he could answer this question hopefully. Raising his hand "Professor, If it was me back then I would look up at the sky and monitor the sun and moon, for they would never be in the same spot all the time, they move and circle the earth. But I guess one can say that they are revolving around earth but yeah I'm going to stick with that answer", ughhh he totally hoped that he didn't sound stupid. fighting the urge to put his head on his desk he opted for listening to everyone else's answers. Quote: Originally Posted by Squishy So much space stuff was being discussed. As much as Lux had read up on Astronomy and understood a fair bit of this lesson, some of the things Professor Flamsteed was talking about confused her. More furious note taking, which was starting to make her hand hurt. Frowning slightly, she shook her hand a little to make it feel better before raising it to answer the question. "By looking at the stars? Constellations would appear to move in the sky, and maybe that was how they figured out t the earth was spinning?" Quote: Originally Posted by Felixir How could he prove........? Well, uhh... huh. Toby wasn't completely sure if he had the right answer, but he stuck his hand in the air and gave it a shot anyway, leaning back onto two legs of his chair, but only for a moment. "Maybe the sun's path? 'Cause it would rise and set in the same places, and goes the same path. I mean, you wouldn't be able to prove much, unless you tried tracking shadows or whatever, but it might have been enough to give them a hint, right?" Quote: Originally Posted by Shanners Stellar? Yep. It was official. That word was losing its meaning thanks to 'fessor F. Bless his cotton...or whatever fabric socks. But seriously. After this burst of education, it was being noted in Elodie's diary to NEVER use that word. Or name a child, pet, or plant any form of it. Including 'Stella'. Nope. The word, and name, was going out of the window and she didn't care. Maybe she'd suggest a word for him to switch in instead. Like petroleum. Or coat hanger. Anything but stellar. "Well when you look up and it's a cloudy day... I guess the clouds look like they're moving, huh?" And it most definitely wasn't because of anything else. Psh. She was so right it was WRONG. It was just wrong to be this awesome. Maybe. Possibly. On with the activity please, Mr. Petroleum? And there was more nodding. "In theory yes, you all bring up things that could show that the Earth is spinning, but you may recall that this very same movement is what caused the geocentric model to be imagined by the ancient peoples as far back as 6th century BC when Aristarchus of Samos theorized that the Earth was a orb in space that rotated daily. Back then, however, everyone thought he was crazy and ignored his thoery and it was not until the 16th century that Nicolaus Copernicus presented a complete heliocentric model of the Solar System." He paused for a moment and walked a little more back towards his desk, looking out one of the many windows at the night sky that was clearly dotted with stars. "The movement of the stars does imply that there is some sort of motion occurring but, again, how can we really know if it is the stars moving or our planet? In fact, the first man made theory about the movement of the sun and stars was that the Earth was flat and they just popped up and down!" SPOILER!!: cannonballs, other balls, shooting/throwing things into the air & Coriolis Effect Quote: Originally Posted by Mell His hand flew across his parchment as he scribbled down information on Solstices and he had just put in the last full stop when the Professor asked the next question. Michael chewed on the end of his quill while he thought about the answer before finally raising his hand after a few moments. "I guess you could fire something...say a cannonball and if it doesn't fly straight then you know that the earth is spinning."Or something like that. Quote: Originally Posted by FireboltAvis88 Cris thought long and hard on the next question the Professor had posed. When a fellow Hufflepuff mentioned a pendulum, Cris immediately recalled the one he had seen when he was a young boy visiting the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, California. But then he thought of another possible way to prove the earth was spinning. Raising his hand he gave his answer. "Professor how about the Coriolis Effect? Doesn't it say that the effect is caused by the rotation of the Earth and the inertia of the mass experiencing the effect?" Cris paused to ask Professor Flamsteed. "I remember reading an article that the effect was demonstrated in World War I when German soldiers discovered they needed to aim slightly to the left in order to hit their targets when shooting towards the south. I guess they found out that whenever fired, the cannonballs would somehow drift to the right. I guess that somehow showed proof that the earth was spinning." Quote: Originally Posted by KokoBandit Having been silent the entire class, Silas had no intentions of answering the last question that the professor had asked. Astronomy wasn't his forte, and that wasn't going to change. He did his best to pay attention and be respectful, and he tried to take the notes he thought might be important. But much of people's answers were the same, and so there was only so much to write while the Professor wasn't talking. He looked over at a few of the faces he recognized as each student spoke. Mostly, he looked down at his desk. His... crooked... desk. Silas had tried to think up answers to the previous questions, but was always unsure about his answers, and so kept them to himself. Astronomy, again, was not the subject for him. It wasn't particularly boring, especially with Professor Airey. Not like Arithmancy. He just didn't do very well. So when he had a revelation having to do with the rotation of the Earth that didn't focus on the stars, it struck him like a bag of hammers that he had a good answer, and the boy sat bolt upright in his seat and his hand flew up in excitement. "U-uh," he started, despite his excitement. After all, there was a chance his answer could backfire horribly. "The different wind currents!" Um. No. That wasn't it, but that's what came out anyway; a prelude thought. "If you fire an object straight up into the air, even with no wind at all, it will never, ever, ever, come straight back down, because the Earth rotates, and in correlation to you standing still on the surface of the Earth, the object in the air will land differently from where it started." He glanced over at the Ravenclaw girl he had met, Kanna, for no other reason than that he knew she was a Ravenclaw, and he was looking for a sign that his answer wasn't completely dumb. In any case, he was proud of it. Even if it was dumb. Or poorly phrased. Quote: Originally Posted by ArianaBlack Uh How would you prove that? That was an excellent question Professor "Flail"-steed. Uh. Well. Uh. One does not just simply PROVE the Earth's spin. You just have to take their word for it right? Like the science people? "What if you put a bouncy ball on a flat surface and just left it there really still. And then it moved. Then you would know." Because that's totally how the Earth's spinny thing worked. Right? Right? "While 1914 may seem ancient to you, Mr. Strand, I was thinking of much further back in human history," he chuckled while also giving a small nod towards Mr. Toussaint who had clearly thought about the same concept since he had mentioned canons. "But yes, the Coriolis effect does help illustrate the rotation of the Earth and it is due to this rotation that objects in the Northern Hemisphere are deflected to the right and objects in the Southern Hemisphere are deflected to the left. However, these results are slightly imperceptible. Same with dropping an object down a shaft to see if there was any deflection, despite Newton's physics supporting the thought. There is a much stronger piece of evidence to support the idea of the Earth is spinning." In his opinion anyway. He was slightly bias though. SPOILER!!: PENDULUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUM!! Quote: Originally Posted by GlassXRose How to prove that the Earth spun? Oh, she could do this! She wasn't amazing at this subject, but these kinds of questions were right up her alley. The bright-haired Ravenclaw sat up in her seat, a little glance at Gareth, and raised her hand, still pinching the quill between two fingers. "Well," she started, as all smart-alecks started their answers. "By tracking patterns in the night sky, we can tell that all of the stars and planets-- even the sun and the moon, move in a rotational pattern. Nothing stays still. A long time ago, it would have been said that everything revolved around the Earth, and the Earth was still..." But of course, this is not the case. She wondered, for a moment, why anyone could have ever been so literally self-centered to think that the entire universe revolved around one fixed point. "But with a special kind of pendulum-- uh..." she trailed off for a second... What were those things called? Ful--fol... foe... "A Foucault Pendulum," she finally broke through, with much pride in herself, "If built properly, and excepting at the equator, those kinds of pendulums will swing in accordance to the rotation of the Earth. And rotation varies, from season to season, which is why there is a longest and shortest day of the year, or why the sun changes positions in accordance to the seasons. It's because the Earth wobbles," she finished, to use an extremely scientific term. Proud of herself, she looked back at Gareth to see if she had managed to annoy him with her answer, then back at Professor Airey, in the hopes that she had given him a satisfactory answer. Quote: Originally Posted by Tegz West had seen one of the giant pendulum's in action. It was a pretty cool sight. He put his hand up. "Watching the stars show there is some rotation, but it doesn't illustrate if its the planet that is moving, or if everything is moving around the planet. But if you have a big enough perfect pendulum with a big enough mass you can actually see its motion isn't just a back and forward swing, it will rotate at the same rate that the Earth does and gradually work around in a circle... kind of in a star shape if you happened to trace its path as it goes around. Little ones work too but you can't really sit there and watch because the movement is more slight so it would take longer to see that it has rotated all the way around." Werrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrre they gonna make one? Quote: Originally Posted by amadshade Tora's fingers itched to open her textbook to page 171 and as soon as Flamsteed turned the other way the pages just happened to accidentally open to page 171 exactly. She immediately became engrossed. That was she was engrossed until something in the class conversation caught her ear. Tora couldn't tell if Cutty had actually heard her question and smugly answered it later, or if he was truly just adding to part of the classroom discussion. She gave him a long side glance, and was going to whisper something to make sure it was clear that she, the space fanatic, knew more about space than he did but she couldn't think of anything appropriately witty. Besides, this was her favorite class and it was disrespectful to talk right? So instead of addressing her classmate directly, she raised her hand to answer Professor Flamsteed's latest question. "There are a couple ways, I think, that someone could measure if the Earth was spinning on an axis. I'm sure there is some sort of spell that you could, I don't know, shoot into outer space that would theoretically stay in the same position in that space. Once it reappeared in the sky it would theoretically have been a year. To measure a day it would need to also orbit the sun at the same speed as the Earth." she started off throwing ideas out there, but stopped when she realized that she was rambling. Okay, enough with the creative portion of this answer. She knew the real answer to this from the Muggle science museum her mother and father had taken her and her siblings to over the summer. At least staying with her parents was useful for something. "But if you don't want to use magic, you could always create a pendulum that will swing with the Earth's rotation. I think that's how the Muggle's did it?" she wasn't sure on the specifics, it was still the summer when she had seen the huge pendulum at the museum and so the details were a bit foggy. Make today's desk leaping count 14 as he jumped on to Miss Basthowe and did a brief tap dance routine. "Foucault pendulum!" Ahem. Yes. Jumping off her desk now. "Invented by Leon Foucault, a 19th century French physicist, the Foucault pendulum proves that the Earth is rotating," he said as he gave his wand a wave and conjured a floating model. "The pendulum swings back and forth because of the force of gravity and the object's inertia and while it may appear as though the actual pendulum seems to change its path, it is the floor beneath it that moves as it is being twisted around by the daily rotation of earth" Fascinating, wasn't it? THERE WAS MORE! "I have a bit of a surprise for you all today," he grinned as his wand was out again and waving towards his desk and models, sending them to the back of the classroom and out of the way. With another swish of his wand, the very floor beneath them seemed to change and the outline of a large circle appeared with the edge of it just behind everyone's desks. Suddenly, a bright light appeared in the center of the circle and BAM! SNAP! a wire with a large ball attached to is descended from the ceiling of the classroom and began to swing back and forth behind the professor. TADA! "We are going to play a game I like to call Pendulum Dogdeball in which you will be acting out all the concepts we have discussed today," he said while rocking back on his heals. "If you would all please stand so I can move your desks out of the way..." And once they had done so, he gave his wand another wave to banish them to the side of the classroom. "This magical light source will act as the Sun. It doesn't emit any real heat, so you don't need to worry about getting burned. You all will act as the planets that orbit the sun and, by doing so, will experience each of the four seasons as they would be felt in the Northern Hemisphere. Your costumes have been charmed to reflect these seasonal changes and you will all be starting at our current season of autumn." And they were probably wondering how they were going to accomplish this. With another wave of his wand, the astronomer conjured planetary costumes for each student. "Your goal is to complete one orbit around the sun, but just running around in circles is no fun, so you will also have to avoid the pendulum as it swings back and forth. I will charm things to speed up just a tad," he said with a mischievous grin. "You do not need to worry about being knocked out of the Astronomy Tower by the pendulum or one of your classmates as there is a magical barrier in place to prevent such a thing from happening." Were they ready? "READY?! GO!" And with one final wave of his wand the pendulum's speed increased. He was going to enjoy watching this...off to the side. current classroom set up. Not drawn to scale. OOC Instructions: You will have at least 48 hours to complete this activity You should have at least 4 posts (1 per seasonal change) to receive full credit. And you could be nice to me and label your posts if you waaaaaaaaaant :3 In a nut shell: your character is in a 'planet costume' and they are trying to run a full circle around the 'Sun' while avoiding (to the best of their ability) the swinging pendulum and other 'planets' aka their classmates. The inside of the 'planet costume' will reflect the change of the season in some way. How are the seasons reflected in your little planetary orb? That is up to you and your imagination! Maybe it starts to snow in winter? Flower petals shoot into your character's face in spring? Rises and fall in temperature? Entirely up to you! The arena 'acts' like an Foucault pendulum, but the floor beneath your characters is not moving as it is the actual pendulum (the hanging bit with the ball that is going to smack into your character) that has been charmed to move. Any questions you have can be sent to me via PM or VM Professor Flamsteed is still here, just off to the site watching and laughing as chaos unfolds. HAVE FUN! __________________ We broke into a million pieces, and we can't go back......................................... But now we're seeing all the beauty in the broken glass..................................... The scars are part of me, darkness and harmony My voice without the lies, this is what it sounds like