NS

1 18
1 2
.
H Periodic Table of the Elements He
2 13 14 15 16 17
3 4 No 5 6 7 8 9 10
Li Be Element B C N O F Ne
11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Na Mg Al Si P S Cl Ar
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36
K Ca Sc Ti V Cr Mn Fe Co Ni Cu Zn Ga Ge As Se Br Kr
37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54
Rb Sr Y Zr Nb Mo Tc Ru Rh Pd Ag Cd In Sn Sb Te I Xe
55 56 57-71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86
Cs Ba La-Lu Hf Ta W Re Os Ir Pt Au Hg Tl Pb Bi Po At Rn
87 88 89-103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118
Fr Ra Ac-Lr Rf Db Sg Bh Hs Mt Ds Rg Cn Uut Uuq Uup Uuh Uus Uuo
Transition Metal 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71
Metal
Metalloid La Ce Pr Nd Pm Sm Eu Gd Tb Dy Ho Er Tm Yb Lu
Non-metal
Noble Gas
Lanthanide 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103
Actinide
Ac Th Pa U Np Pu Am Cm Bk Cf Es Fm Md No Lr
.
Natural Sciences
Grade 8-B
CAPS
developed by
funded by
Developed and funded as an ongoing project by the Sasol Inzalo

Foundation in partnership with Siyavula and volunteers.
Distributed by the Department of Basic Education

COPYRIGHT NOTICE
.
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Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported (CC-BY-ND 3.0) license, visit:
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This book is an open educational resource and you are encouraged to take full
advantage of this.
Therefore, if you would like a version of this book that you can reuse, revise,
remix and redistribute, under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported
(CC-BY) license, visit our website, www.curious.org.za
AUTHORS' LIST
. This book was written by Siyavula with the help, insight and collaboration of volunteer
educators, academics, students and a diverse group of contributors. Siyavula believes
in the power of community and collaboration by working with volunteers and
networking across the country, enabled through our use of technology and online tools.
The vision is to create and use open educational resources to transform the way we
teach and learn, especially in South Africa.
Siyavula Coordinator and Editor

Megan Beckett
Siyavula Team
Ewald Zietsman, Bridget Nash, Melanie Hay, Delita Otto, Marthélize Tredoux, Luke
Kannemeyer, Dr Mark Horner, Neels van der Westhuizen
Contributors
Dr Karen Wallace, Dr Nicola Loaring, Isabel Tarling, Sarah Niss, René Toerien, Rose
Thomas, Novosti Buta, Dr Bernard Heyns, Dr Colleen Henning, Dr Sarah Blyth, Dr
Thalassa Matthews, Brandt Botes, Daniël du Plessis, Johann Myburgh, Brice Reignier,
Marvin Reimer, Corene Myburgh, Dr Maritha le Roux, Dr Francois Toerien, Martli
Greyvenstein, Elsabe Kruger, Elizabeth Barnard, Irma van der Vyver, Nonna Weideman,
Annatjie Linnenkamp, Hendrine Krieg, Liz Smit, Evelyn Visage, Laetitia Bedeker, Wetsie
Visser, Rhoda van Schalkwyk, Suzanne Grové, Peter Moodie, Dr Sahal Yacoob, Siyalo
Qanya, Sam Faso, Miriam Makhene, Kabelo Maletsoa, Lesego Matshane, Nokuthula
Mpanza, Brenda Samuel, MTV Selogiloe, Boitumelo Sihlangu, Mbuzeli Tyawana, Dr Sello
Rapule, Andrea Motto, Dr Rufus Wesi
Volunteers
Iesrafeel Abbas, Shireen Amien, Bianca Amos Brown, Dr Eric Banda, Dr Christopher
Barnett, Prof Ilsa Basson, Mariaan Bester, Jennifer de Beyer, Mark Carolissen, Tarisai
Chanetsa, Ashley Chetty, Lizzy Chivaka, Mari Clark, Dr Marna S Costanzo, Dr Andrew
Craig, Dawn Crawford, Rosemary Dally, Ann Donald, Dr Philip Fourie, Shamin Garib,
Sanette Gildenhuys, Natelie Gower-Winter, Isabel Grinwis, Kirsten Hay, Pierre van
Heerden, Dr Fritha Hennessy, Dr Colleen Henning, Grant Hillebrand, Beryl Hook,
Cameron Hutchison, Mike Kendrick, Paul Kennedy, Dr Setshaba David Khanye, Melissa
Kistner, James Klatzow, Andrea Koch, Grove Koch, Paul van Koersveld, Dr Kevin
Lobb, Dr Erica Makings, Adriana Marais, Dowelani Mashuvhamele, Modisaemang Molusi,
Glen Morris, Talitha Mostert, Christopher Muller, Norman Muvoti, Vernusha Naidoo,
Dr Hlumani Ndlovu, Godwell Nhema, Edison Nyamayaro, Nkululeko Nyangiwe, Tony
Nzundu, Alison Page, Firoza Patel, Koebraa Peters, Seth Phatoli, Swasthi Pillay, Siyalo
Qanya, Tshimangadzo Rakhuhu, Bharati Ratanjee, Robert Reddick, Adam Reynolds,
Matthew Ridgway, William Robinson, Dr Marian Ross, Lelani Roux, Nicola Scriven, Dr
Ryman Shoko, Natalie Smith, Antonette Tonkie, Alida Venter, Christie Viljoen, Daan
Visage, Evelyn Visage, Dr Sahal Yacoob
A special thanks goes to St John's College in Johannesburg for hosting the first planning
workshop for these workbooks and to Pinelands High School in Cape Town for the use
of their school grounds for photography.
To learn more about the project and the Sasol Inzalo Foundation, visit the website at:
www.sasolinzalofoundation.org.za
Table of Contents
Teacher's Guide Overview 12
Teacher's Guide Overview 12

Curious? Discover the possibilities! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
The Natural Sciences curriculum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
How to use this workbook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Get involved . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Energy and Change 2
1 Static electricity 4
1.1 Friction and static electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2 Energy transfer in electrical systems 24

2.1 Circuits and current electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
2.2 Components of a circuit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.3 Effects of an electric current . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
3 Series and parallel circuits 60

3.1 Series circuits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
3.2 Parallel circuits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
3.3 Other output devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
4 Visible light 98
4.1 Radiation of light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
4.2 Spectrum of visible light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
4.3 Opaque and transparent substances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
4.4 Absorption of light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
4.5 Reflection of light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
4.6 How do we see light? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
4.7 Refraction of light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Planet Earth and Beyond 162
1 The solar system 164

1.1 The Sun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
1.2 Objects around the Sun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
1.3 Earth's position in the solar system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
2 Beyond the solar system 218

2.1 The Milky Way Galaxy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
2.2 Our nearest star . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
2.3 Light years, light hours and light minutes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
2.4 What is beyond the Milky Way Galaxy? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
3 Looking into space 252

3.1 Early viewing of space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
3.2 Telescopes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
A Assessment rubrics 292

A.1 Assessment Rubric 1: Practical activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
A.2 Assessment Rubric 2: Investigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294
A.3 Assessment Rubric 3: Graph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
A.4 Assessment Rubric 4: Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296
A.5 Assessment Rubric 5: Scientific drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
A.6 Assessment Rubric 6: Research assignment or Project . . . . . . . . . 298
A.7 Assessment Rubric 7: Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
A.8 Assessment Rubric 8: Poster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
A.9 Assessment Rubric 9: Oral presentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
A.10 Assessment Rubric 10: Group work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302
Image Attribution 304

Teacher's Guide Overview
. the possibilities!
Curious? Discover
.
. . ...
VISIT Asking questions and discovering our world around us has been central to
Carl Sagan was an
human nature throughout our history. Over time, this search to understand our
astronomer,
natural and physical world through observation, testing and refining ideas, has
astrophysicist,
evolved into what we loosely think of as 'science' today. Key to this, is that
cosmologist, author,
science is a continuous revision in progress, it is a mechanism rather than a
science popularizer and
product, it is a way of thinking rather than a collection of knowledge, whose
science communicator.
driving force is not certainty in a truth, but rather being comfortable with
Watch one of his most
uncertainty, thereby cultivating curiosity.
pertinent messages for
However, as Carl Sagan famously said in 1994:
humanity here
bit.ly/1bbVDqg
"We live in a society absolutely dependent on science and technology,
and yet have cleverly arranged things so that almost no one
understands science and technology. That's a clear prescription for
disaster."
We need to replace fear of the unknown and the difficult with curiosity, as Marie
Curie said:
"Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the

time to understand more, so that we may fear less."
. We would like to instill this sense of curiosity and an enquiring mind in learners.
DID YOU KNOW? Science, technology, engineering and mathematics are not subjects to be
Marie Curie was a feared, rather they are tools to unlock the potential of the world around you, to
chemist and physicist create solutions to problems, to discover the possibilities.
famous for becoming
the first person to be
But, how do we practically do this in our classrooms? We would like this
awarded two Nobel
workbook to become a tool that you can use to do this. The theme for the
Prizes.
presentation of this content in Gr 7-9 Natural Sciences is 'Curious? Discover the
possibilities.' We have shown everyday science and objects with 'doodles' over
them to show how if you are curious, intrigued and investigate the world around
you, there are many possibilities for discovery. Sometimes these doodles are
science or technology related, and sometimes they are more fantastical and fun.
Learners should be inspired to discover, but also imagine the possibilities, as
Freeman Dysan said:
"The glory of science is to imagine more than we can prove."
Learners must be encouraged to 'doodle' themselves, take notes during your

class discussions, write down their observations, reflect on what they have
learned. They must not be afraid of drawing and writing in these books. Science
is also about being creative in your thinking.
We have aimed to present the content in an investigative, questioning way. At

the beginning of each chapter, the topics are introduced by asking questions to
which you will discover the answers as you go through the chapter. In teaching
learners to ask questions, make observations, think freely and creatively, they
12
will be rewarded. Although, possibly not every time - it requires patience and .
determination. Although your learners will be exploring science and the world TAKE NOTE
around us within a classroom context where assessment is integral, keep in
Albert Einstein
mind this idea from Claude Levi-Strauss, when instilling the ethos of science in
repeatedly did poorly at
your learners:
school, dropped out at
16 and failed his first
"The scientist is not a person who gives the right answers, but one university entrance
who asks the right questions." examinations. Every
child deserves a chance
to become someone,
Science is relevant to everyone. Scientific principles, knowledge and skills can sometime in some
be applied in creative and exciting ways to solve problems and advance our place.
world. It is not just a subject restricted to our classrooms, but reaches far
beyond, and within. Ultimately, we also want learners to embark on a personal
discovery and be curious about their own potential and possibilities for the
future.
Albert Einstein certainly did this when he observed:
"The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious - the

fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true
science."
.
The Natural Sciences curriculum
As learners enter the Senior Phase in their schooling, the focus is now purely on
Natural Sciences within this subject, and Technology is a separate subject.
However, there are close links between the content in both of these subjects as
they complement each other. The Natural Sciences curriculum also links to what
learners cover in Social Sciences and Life Orientation. Whether you are a
subject specialist teacher, or a class teacher, it is worthwhile to take note of
where Natural Sciences overlaps with and integrates with some of the other
subjects that learners are covering. .
VISIT
Organisation of the curriculum If you would like to see
what learners covered in
In the Natural Sciences curriculum, the knowledge strands below are used as a
Gr 4-6 with the
tool for organising and grouping the content.
Thunderbolt Kids, visit
Natural Sciences Knowledge Strands www.thunderboltkids.co.za
Life and Living

Matter and Materials
Energy and Change
Planet Earth and Beyond
These knowledge strands follow on from Gr 4-6. The strands also link into each
other, and these have been pointed out both within the learners' workbook and
here in the teachers guide.
We have also produced concept maps which show the progression of concepts
across the grades, within a strand, and how the build upon each other. These
concept maps are useful tools for teaching to see what learners should have
covered in previous grades, and where they are going in the future.
. .
Chapter . Teacher's Guide Overview 13

Allocation of teaching time
The time allocation for Natural Sciences is as follows:
• 10 weeks per term with 3 hours per week

• Grades 7, 8 and 9 have been designed to be completed within 34 weeks
• Terms 1 and 3's work will cover 9 weeks each with 3 hours (1 week)
allocated to assessment within each of these terms
• Terms 2 and 4's work will cover 8 weeks each, with 2 weeks allocated to
revision and examinations at the end of each of these terms
Below is a summary of the time allocations per topic in Grade 8. This time
allocation is a guideline for how how many weeks should be spent on each topic
(chapter).
Life and Living
Chapter Time allocation

1. Photosynthesis and respiration 2 weeks
2. Interactions and interdependence 5 weeks
within the environment
3. Microorganisms 2 weeks
Matter and Materials

1. Atoms 2 weeks
2. Particle model of matter 5 weeks
3. Chemical reactions 1 week
Energy and Change

1. Static electricity 1 week
2. Energy transfer in electrical 3 weeks
systems
3. Series and parallel circuits 2 weeks
4. Visible light 3 weeks
...
14 Teacher's Guide Overview

Planet Earth and Beyond

1. The solar system 3 weeks
2. Beyond the solar system 3 weeks
3. Looking into space 2 weeks
We have provided a finer breakdown of the time into the number of hours to
spend on each section within a chapter in the Chapter overviews in the
Teacher's Guide. However, again, this is a guideline or suggestion and should be
applied flexibly according to circumstances in the classroom and to
accommodate the interests of your learners.
Specific aims
There are three specific aims in Natural Sciences which are covered in these
workbooks in the range of tasks provided and in the way the content is
presented.
Specific Aim 1: 'Doing Science'
Learners should be able to complete investigations, analyse problems and use

practical processes and skills in evaluating solutions.
There are many practical tasks within this workbook that provide the
opportunity to conduct investigations to answer questions using the scientific
method, to use scientific apparatus, instruments and materials and to develop a
range of process skills, such as observing, measuring, identifying problems and
issues, predicting, hypothesizing, recording, interpreting and communicating
information. The skills associated with each task in this workbook have been
identified in the chapter overviews in this Teacher's Guide.
Learners also need to be aware of the ethical concerns and values that underpin
any science work that they do, as well as health and safety precautions. Where
appropriate, these have been pointed out in the learners workbook and in this
Teacher's Guide.
Specific Aim 2: 'Knowing the subject content and making connections'
Learners should have a grasp of scientific, technological and environmental

knowledge to be able to apply it in new contexts.
In teaching and discovering the content in Natural Sciences, the aim for learners
is not to just recall facts, but to also use the knowledge to make connections
between the ideas and concepts in their minds. Most of the activities in this
workbook have questions at the end which aim to consolidate the knowledge
and skills learned in the task, and also help learners to make connections with
what they have previously learned.
There are many opportunities for discussion when going through the content in
these workbooks. This is often highlighted in the Teacher's Guide with
suggestions for how to lead the discussion and what questions to ask your
learners to stimulate their minds and create links between what they are
learning. There are often questions within the learners' workbooks which relate
what they are learning at that point to previously acquired knowledge and
experience.
Many of the links between content and also between strands and grades are
pointed out within this Teacher's Guide. We suggest also making use of the
concept maps when creating a clear picture in your own mind of the framework
of knowledge that learners should have up to that point about a particular topic.
. .

Specific Aim 3: 'Understanding the uses of Science'
Learners should understand the uses of Natural Sciences and indigenous

knowledge in society and the environment.
There is a strong emphasis in these workbooks to show that science is relevant

to our everyday lives, and it is not restricted to what we learn within the
classroom. Rather, we are learning about the natural and physical world around
us and how it works, as well as how our own bodies function.
These workbooks aim to show learners that many of the issues in our world can
be solved through scientific discovery and pursuit. For example, improving
water quality, conserving our environment, finding renewable energy sources
and medical research into cures for diseases. Where appropriate, the history of
various scientific discoveries and inventions, as well as the scientists involved,
have been discussed.
These workbooks also aim to highlight the beauty, diversity and scientific
achievements, discoveries and possibilities in our country, South Africa. An
appreciation of local indigenous knowledge is very important. When going
through particular topics in class, encourage your learners to talk about their
own experiences so that learners are exposed to the indigenous knowledge of
different cultures, to different belief systems and worldviews.
Understanding how scientific discovery has shaped and influenced local and
. global communities will enable learners to see the connections between Science
VISIT
and Society. This will help to reinforce that Science is practical and relevant,
Learn more about Creative and it can be used as a tool together with other subjects like Mathematics and
Commons licenses and all Technology to find solutions and understand our world.
the freedoms that these
licenses grant you! .
bit.ly/1cesNJT
How to use this workbook
We would like these Curious workbooks and Teacher's Guides to become a tool
for you in your classrooms to teach, explore and discover Natural Sciences.
But first, did you notice the copyright license at the front of this book? At
Siyavula, our textbooks and workbooks are published under an open copyright
license.
An OPEN license?
An open license is fundamentally different to the traditional closed copyright
licenses. Instead of imposing restrictions on how you can use this content (for
example, all rights reserved), this open license grants you freedoms! The
Siyavula books are published under a Creative Commons license.
. You are legally allowed to copy this book.
VISIT
Watch this video to learn We encourage you to photocopy it, download it from our website, save it on
more about why open your mobile phone, tablet, PC or flashdrive, print it and distribute it as often as
education matters. you like.
bit.ly/17yW5Lj
But, how does that help? This is part of a larger, global movement called open
education. These books are an example of an open educational resource
(OER). OERs are generally defined as freely accessible, usually openly licensed
documents and online resources that can be used in teaching, learning,
education, assessment and research. Open education aims to break the barriers
that many people face when wanting to get an education, namely that content,
courses and resources are hidden behind restricting closed copyright licences
and are expensive.
...

By using this book, you are also part of the global open education movement,
striving to make education as accessible as possible by breaking down the
barriers that learners, student, teachers, academics and the general public
normally face.
With OERs, you are free to:
• Reuse - the right to reuse the content in its unaltered form

• Revise - the right to adapt, adjust, modify, or alter the content itself (for
example if you want to modify an activity to suit your learners' needs o
translate the content into another language)
• Remix - the right to combine the original or revised content with other
content to create something new (for example if you want to include one
of your own activities or content into this existing content)
• Redistribute - the right to share copies of the original content, your
revisions, or your remixes with others (for example if you want to give a
copy to a friend, a fellow teacher or share what you have done with your
cluster of schools)
We encourage you to modify and tweak this content to suit your learners and
your context. You just need to attribute Siyavula, as is specified in the Creative
Commons license.
You can download a soft copy of the source files for these books from our
website: www.curious.org.za
We would also love it if you told us how you are using this content as it helps us
refine our processes.
Structure of the book

There is an A and a B book for the Natural Sciences content.
The A book covers term 1 and 2:
• Life and Living

• Matter and Materials
The B book covers terms 3 and 4:
• Energy and Change

• Planet Earth and Beyond
These books are an amalgamation between workbooks and textbooks. They

have spaces for learners to write and draw whilst completing their tasks.
Learners must be encouraged to write in these books, take notes, and make
them their own. These workbooks also contain the content to support the
various tasks. This makes these books slightly longer than usual.
The beginning of each chapter starts off with KEY QUESTIONS. These introduce
the content that will be covered in the chapter, but rather phrased as questions.
This reinforces the idea of questioning, being curious and the investigative
nature of science to discover the world around us and how it works.
The content and various ACTIVITIES and INVESTIGATIONS follow:
• Investigations are those tasks where learners will be using the scientific
method to answer a question, test a hypothesis, etc. These are science
experiments.
• Activities are all other tasks where the learner is required to do something
whether it is making a model, researching a topic, discussing an idea, doing
calculations, filling in a table, doing a play, writing a poem, etc.
. .

. At the end of each chapter there is a SUMMARY, where the KEY CONCEPTS
TAKE NOTE highlight the main points from the chapter. Following this, there is a CONCEPT
MAP for each chapter. One of the aims for these workbooks is to also teach
A suggestion is to use
various methods of studying and taking notes. Producing concept maps is one
the concept maps as a
way to consolidate information. Throughout the year, the skill of making
self-study homework
concept maps will be taught as the maps have more and more for the learners
exercise for learners to
to fill in themselves as the year progresses.
go over what they have
learned in the chapter. Lastly, there is REVISION at the end of each chapter. There are mark allocations
for these questions. These revision exercises can be used as formal or informal
assessment.
At the end of each strand there is a GLOSSARY which contains the definitions
for all the NEW WORDS which are highlighted throughout that strand.
Going through the content

These workbooks are a tool for you to use in your classroom and to assist you in
your teaching. You will still need to plan your lessons and decide which
activities you would like to do. there are sometimes more activities provided
than what is possible within the time allocation. We have specifically done this
to give teachers a choice, providing different levels of tasks.
The tasks which are suggested in CAPS have been identified here in the
teachers guide, and we have marked those that are optional or extensions.
When going through the content in class and you are using the workbook, there
are various questions within the content. These questions are aimed at
stimulating class discussions where learners can take notes, or they link back to
what learners have already done. The answers are provided in the Teacher's
Guide. Use these questions to check learners understanding and keep engaged
with the content.
The various activities and investigations often contain questions at the end. The
questions can often be used as a separate activity, even the next day in class or
as homework, to reinforce what was learned.
Teacher's notes
The way this Teacher's Guide is structured to provide the content of the
learner's book, but with all the model solutions written in italic blue text, and
with many Teacher's notes embedded within the content.
An example of a teacher's note:
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
This is an example of what a teacher's note looks like. It can contain:
• chapter overviews
• suggestions on how to introduce a .topic
• guidelines for setting up or demonstrating a practical task
• general tips for teaching the content
• extra background information on a topic
• misconceptions which can easily be introduced to learners, or which
learners might already have
At the beginning of each chapter, there is a CHAPTER OVERVIEW. This is

crucial for your planning. This overview contains:
...

• the number of weeks allocated to the chapter, as suggested in CAPS
• an introduction to the chapter, highlighting any links to previous content
that learners have already covered, or anything to be aware of when going
through the content
• tables highlighting the various tasks for the chapter
The tables for each section can be used to plan your lessons. We have
suggested an hours break down to spend on each section within the chapter,
based on how much content there is to cover, and the number of tasks. This is
only a suggested guideline.
Within each table, we have listed the different Activities and Investigations and
the process skills associated with each task.
The third column contains the Recommendation for the task. These
recommendations are, in order of priority:
• CAPS suggested (a task suggested in CAPS)

• Suggested (a task we suggest doing doing, but is not suggested in CAPS)
• Optional (an additional activity which is optional if you have time or would
rather do this than the other suggested tasks)
• Extension (an additional activity which is optional and also an extension)
An example of one of these tables is given below:
1.1 Cell structure (2.5 hours)
Tasks Skills Recommendation

Activity: Brainstorm the Recalling information Optional (Revision)
Seven Functions of Life
Activity: Summarise what Recalling information, Suggested
you have learnt identifying, writing
Activity: Cell 3D model Planning, identifying, CAPS suggested
describing
You will need to look at how many hours you have for each section, and then
decide which tasks you would like to do with your learners. These tables
provide a useful overview and will also help you choose tasks so that you cover
a range of process skills and specific aims.
Assessment
The assessment guidelines for Gr 7-9 Natural Sciences are outlined in CAPS on
page 85.
There are many opportunities for informal assessment within these workbooks.
Any of the tasks can be chosen to continuously monitor your learners' progress
as well as checking the short answers they provide to questions interspersed in
the content.
At the end of each strand in the CAPS document, there is a section on

assessment guidelines. There is a column entitled 'Check the learner's
knowledge and that they can:' and there is a list. These items are included
within the content for that strand and can be used for assessment.
The questions in the revision exercises at the end of each term can be used as
formal assessment and you can use these questions, as well as your own, to
make class tests and examinations.
At the end of the Teacher’s Guide, there is an appendix with Assessment

Rubrics. These rubrics are a guideline for assessment for the different tasks
. .

which you would like to assess, either informally (to assess learners’ progress)
or formally (to record marks to contribute to the final year mark).
. The various rubrics provided are:
NEW WORDS
• Assessment Rubric 1: Practical activity
• cell
• atom • Assessment Rubric 2: Investigation
• energy • Assessment Rubric 3: Graph
• telescope
• Assessment Rubric 4: Table
• Assessment Rubric 5: Scientific drawing
• Assessment Rubric 6: Research assignment or project
• Assessment Rubric 7: Model
• Assessment Rubric 8: Poster
• Assessment Rubric 9: Oral presentation
• Assessment Rubric 10: Group work
Margin boxes
You may have already noticed some of the margin boxes in this Teacher's Guide
overview so far. These boxes contain additional information and enrichment.
The NEW WORDS highlight not only the new words used, but also the key
words for the chapter or section. The definitions for all these new words are
listed in the glossary at the back of the strand.
DID YOU KNOW has some fun, interesting facts relating to the content.
TAKE NOTE points out useful tips, with a special focus on language usage and
the origins of words. This may be useful to second language learners.
The VISIT boxes contain links to interesting websites, videos relating to the
content or simulations. This enrichment is also aimed to encourage learners to
be curious about their subject in their own time by discovering more online. We
feel it is important for learners to be aware that science is a rapidly advancing
field and there are many exciting, innovative and useful discoveries being made
all the time in science, mathematics and technology research.
To access the links in the VISIT boxes, you will see there is a bit.ly link. This is a
shortened link that we created, as sometimes the website links to Youtube
videos can be very long! You simply need to type this whole link into the
address bar in your internet browser, either on your PC, tablet or mobile phone,
and it will direct you to the website or video.
For example, in this Teacher's Guide overview, there is the link to a video about
why open education matters. It is bit.ly/17yW5Lj Simply type this into your
address bar as shown below and press enter.
This will either direct you to a website page, or to our website where you can
watch the video online.
Discover more online at www.curious.org.za
...

.
Get involved
When we first embarked on this journey to create these books, our first step
was to hold a workshop with volunteer teachers to get their perspective,
suggestions and experience. Just turn to the front cover of this book to see how
many people contributed in some way to these books! At Siyavula, we believe
in openness and transparency and we would love your input in the next phase.
These books are not perfect and we will be continuously improving them. We
would find your input and experience as a teacher crucial and highly beneficial
in this process.
• Do you have any feedback about the books?

• Do you have suggestions?
• Would you like to share how you use these books in your classroom?
• Have you found any errors you would like to point out so we can fix them?
• Have you tried an activity and found a better way of doing it?
• What more would you like to see in these workbooks?
Get involved and let us know!
Find out more about our Siyavula Community at

projects.siyavula.com/community
And sign up by following this link bit.ly/15eiA6u. Specify Gr 7-9 Natural

Sciences to stay informed about this process going forward in the future.
. .

SB 103_Siyavula NEW Gr7-9 divider E&C DBE A4.indd 1 2013/12/11 3:55 PM
SB 103_Siyavula NEW Gr7-9 divider E&C DBE A4.indd 2 2013/12/11 3:55 PM
1 Static electricity
.
.TEACHER'S
. ... NOTE
Chapter overview
1 week
In previous grades the learners investigated circuits and current electricity. In

this chapter they are introduced to static electricity. It explains how static
electricity is caused by friction between objects and that charged objects are
either positively or negatively charged. There are several activities in this
chapter which illustrate the effects of static electricity.
An interesting article on how to encourage learners to pursue STEM (Science,

Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) careers:1
spectrum.ieee.org/at-work/education/the-stem-crisis-is-a-myth
2
bit.ly/19Bpoip
.
1.1 Friction and static electricity (3 hours)
Activity: Sticky Observing, working in Suggested

balloons pairs
Activity: Turning the CAPS suggested

Observing, recording
wheel
Activity: Research the Optional
Researching, writing,
practical applications of
summarising
static electricity
Carrying out Optional
Activity: Making a
instructions, observing,
simple electroscope
predicting, explaining
..
KEY QUESTIONS:
• What is static electricity?
• What is friction?
• Why does my hair stand on end and crackle when I pull a jersey off?
• What is lightning?
• What does it mean to 'earth' an object?
• What does it mean when we say 'opposites attract'?
Have you ever pushed a trolley through the shops and suddenly felt a shock? Or
pulled your school jersey over your head and heard it crackling? What causes
those shocks and noises? Let's investigate.
4
.
1.1 Friction and static electricity
The effects of static electricity are all around us, but we do not always
recognise it when we see or feel them. Or perhaps you have, but you never
realised what was causing it. For example, have you ever felt a slight shock
when you put a jersey over your head on a cold day, or perhaps you have
observed your hair stand on end when you touch certain objects? Let's do a
quick activity to demonstrate static electricity.
ACTIVITY: Sticky balloons

.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
You can also do this activity using a plastic
. comb rather than balloons. Or else
you can use pieces of paper instead of a learner's hair as not all hair will behave
in the following way if it has product in it. You can then rather rub the balloon
on a jersey and pick up pieces of paper.
MATERIALS:
• balloons (or a plastic comb)

• small pieces of paper
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Work in pairs.
2. Blow up a balloon and tie it closed so that the air does not escape.
3. Hold the balloon a short distance away from your hair or pieces of paper.
What do you notice?
.
Nothing happens.
4. Rub your hair with the balloon.
5. Now hold the balloon a short distance away from your hair or pieces of
paper. What do you see?
The hair should "rise" and stick to the balloon, or the pieces of paper will VISIT
stick to the balloon.
Watch this video about
static electricity to
.
understand why your hair
stands on ends when you
brush it or rub it against a
balloon bit.ly/1dZkVJr
Did you see your hair 'rise' like this?!
. .
Chapter 1. Static electricity 5

QUESTION:
1. What did you do to make your hair. or the pieces of paper stick to the
balloon?
Rubbed it vigorously with the balloon.
.
Let's look at an everyday example of static electricity. Sometimes when you

comb your hair with a plastic comb your hair stands on end and makes crackling
sounds. How does this happen?
You have dragged the surface of the plastic comb against the surfaces of your
hair. When two surfaces are rubbed together there is friction between them.
Friction is a resistance against the movement of an object as a result of its
contact with another object. This means that when you rubbed the plastic comb
along your hair, your hair resisted the movement of the comb and slowed it
down.
VISIT
A simulation on friction
The friction between two surfaces can cause electrons to be transferred from
.
between a carpet and John
one surface to the other.
Travolta's foot.
In order to understand how electrons can be transferred, we need to remember
bit.ly/GzGCEa
what we learnt about the structure of an atom last term in Matter and Materials.
All atoms have a nucleus which contains protons and neutrons. The nucleus is
held together by a very strong force, which means that the protons within a
nucleus can be considered to be fixed there. The atom also contains electrons.
Where are the electrons arranged in the atom?
.
TEACHER'S NOTE .
The electrons are arranged in the space around the nucleus.
What is the charge on a proton?
.
TEACHER'S NOTE .
Positive charge.
...
6 Energy and Change

What is the charge on an electron?
.
TEACHER'S NOTE .
Negative charge.
What is the charge on a neutron?
.
TEACHER'S NOTE .
Neutrons are not charged. They are neutral.
The atom is held together by the electrostatic attraction between the positively
charged nucleus and the negatively charged electrons. Within an atom, the
electrons closest to the nucleus are the most strongly held, whilst those further
away experience a weaker attraction.
Normally, atoms contain the same number of protons and electrons. This means TAKE NOTE
that atoms are normally neutral because they have the same number of positive
charges as negative charges, so the charges balance each other out. All objects . charges
Remember, like
repel and opposite charges
are made up of atoms and since atoms are normally neutral, objects are also
attract.
usually neutral.
However, when we rub two surfaces together, like when you comb your hair or
rub a balloon against your hair, the friction can cause electrons to be transferred
from one object to another. Remember, the protons are fixed in place in the
nucleus and so they cannot be transferred between atoms, it is only electrons
that are able to be transferred to another surface. Some objects give up
electrons more easily than other objects. Look at the following diagram which
explains how this happens.
Which object gave up some of its electrons in the diagram?
. .

.
TEACHER'S NOTE .
The hair.
Does this object now have more positive or more negative charges?
.
TEACHER'S NOTE .
It has more positive charges.
Which object gained electrons in the diagram?
.
TEACHER'S NOTE .
The comb.
Does this object now have more positive or more negative charges?
.
TEACHER'S NOTE .
It has more negative charges.
• When an object has more electrons than protons overall, then we say that
the object is negatively charged.
• When an object has fewer electrons than protons overall, then we say that
the object is positively charged.
Have a look at the following diagram which illustrates this.
So, we now understand the transfer of electrons that takes place as a result of
friction between objects. But, how did that result in your hair rising when you
brought the charged balloon close to your hair in the last activity? Let's look at
what happens when oppositely charged objects are brought together.
...
8 Energy and Change

.
ACTIVITY: Turning the wheel

.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
This is a fun demonstration of how like charges repel each other and unlike
charges attract each other. If you have enough materials, allow the learners to
try this themselves. If you don't have enough materials, do this as a
demonstration but give the learners a chance to play a bit.
Practise this activity a few times first to .make sure that you have the method
right. Remember that it is quite easy to accidentally earth the rods so work with
care. This will work best on a dry day. This will be dependent on the area which
you live in.
At a brainstorming workshop with volunteer teachers and academics at the

beginning of 2013, we filmed a quick demonstration of this task when the group
was discussing it. You can view this short clip here: 3 bit.ly/1fFbbbJ
MATERIALS:
• 2 curved watch glasses

• 2 perspex rods
• cloth: wool or nylon
• plastic rod
• small pieces of torn paper .
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Place a watch glass upside down on the table.

2. Balance the second watch glass upright on the first watch glass.
3. Rub one of the perspex rods vigorously with the cloth.
4. Balance the perspex rod across the top of the watch glass.
5. Rub the second perspex rod vigorously with the same cloth.
6. Bring the second perspex rod close to the first perspex rod. What do you
see happening?
. .

The second perspex rod should repel the first one as they have like
charges, so learners should see the second rod 'pushing' the first one
around in a circle.
You might need to rub the first perspex rod again, in between attempts, as
the charge does dissipate.
7. Repeat the activity but instead of the second perspex rod, use the plastic
rod. What do you see happening?
The rods now have opposite charges and so the second rod should be seen
to 'pull' the other rod around in a circle.
8. Next, bring a rod that you have rubbed close to small pieces of torn paper
lying on the table. What do you observe?
The learners should be able to pick up the pieces of paper with the charged
rod.
.
QUESTIONS:
1. What happened when you brought the second perspex rod close to the
first perspex rod?
When the rods are the same (i.e. both perspex) then the first rod should
move away from the second and the top watch glass will turn in a circle.
2. What happened when you brought the plastic rod close to the first
perspex rod?
When the two different materials are used then the first rod should move
towards the plastic rod and the watch glass will turn in a circle towards the
plastic rod.
3. What happened when you brought the plastic rod close to the pieces of
paper?
The pieces of paper were attracted to the plastic rod.
.
When we rubbed the perspex rods with the cloth, electrons were transferred
from the perspex to the cloth. What charge do the perspex rods now have?
.
TEACHER'S NOTE .
A positive charge.
Both the perspex rods now have the same charge. Did you notice that objects
with the same charge tend to push each other away? We say that they are
repelling each other.
When we rubbed the plastic rod with the cloth, electrons were transferred from
the cloth to the plastic rod. What charge does the plastic rod now have?
.
TEACHER'S NOTE .
A negative charge.
VISIT
Discover more with a
.
simulation on rubbing
The perspex rod and the plastic rod now have opposite charges. Did you notice
balloons and a jersey.
that objects with different charge tend to pull each other together? We say that
bit.ly/GzwlIt
they are attracting each other.
In the example of the pieces of paper being attracted to the ruler, the paper
...
10 Energy and Change

starts off neutral. However, as the negatively charged plastic rod is brought
closer, the electrons in the paper that are nearest to the rod will begin to move
away, leaving behind a positive charge on the surfaces of the paper that are
nearest to the rod. The paper is therefore attracted to the rod because opposite
charges attract. Another example is dust that is attracted to newly polished
glasses.
We have now observed the fundamental behaviour of charges.
In summary, we can say:
• If two negatively charged objects are brought close together, then they
will repel each other.
VISIT
• If two positively charged objects are brought close together, then they will
repel each other. . and like
Opposites attract
• If a positively charged object is brought near to a negatively charged repel (video) bit.ly/16ThzBL
object, they will attract each other.
Do you now understand why your hair rises and is attracted to the balloon after
you rub the balloon on your hair? Write a short description to explain what is
happening using the words: electrons, transfer, negative charge, positive
charge, opposite, attract, repel.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
When rubbing hair with the balloon, electrons are transferred from the hair to
the balloon. The balloon now has a negative
. charge and the hair has a positive
charge. They have opposite charges and so when the balloon is brought close
to the hair again, they attract each other. Since the hair strands each have
positive charges, like charges repel and the hair strands repel each other, also
causing them to rise up.
Sparks, shocks and earthing

A large build-up of charge on an object can be dangerous. When electrons
transfer from a charged object to a neutral object we say that the charged
object has discharged. VISIT
A video showing the
Discharging can take place when the objects touch each other. But the .
dangers of sparks of static
electrons can also transfer from one object to another when they are brought
electricity at a petrol station.
close, but not touching. When electrons move across an air gap they can heat
bit.ly/17mYLiC
the air enough to make it glow. The glow is called a spark.
An electrostatic spark between two objects.
. .

Sparks can be harmless, but they can also be very dangerous. Sparks can cause
flammable materials to ignite. You will probably have noticed that you may not
smoke cigarettes or have open flames near petrol tanks at petrol stations. This
is because petrol fumes are very explosive and only need a small amount of
heat to start them burning. A small electrostatic spark is enough to ignite
flammable petrol fumes.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
.
This video in the Visit box shows how static electricity from the flowing petrol
causes a spark which ignites the petrol fumes and leads to a large fire. It is an
illustration of one of the dangers of static electricity.
Electrostatic discharge can also cause electric shocks. Have you ever been
shocked by a shopping trolley while you are pushing it around a shop? Or have
you walked across a carpeted room and then shocked yourself when you touch
the door handle to leave the room? You have experienced an electric discharge.
Electrons move from the door handle onto your skin and the movement of the
electrons causes a small electric shock. Small electric shocks can be
uncomfortable but mostly harmless. Large electric shocks are extremely
dangerous and can cause injury and death.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
The discharge of electrons from charged objects happens much more easily
when the air is dry, which is why you are. more likely to experience electrostatic
sparks or shocks in dry weather. This is because when the weather is humid, the
moisture in the air can collect on the surface of objects, and prevent the
build-up of electrical charge. The charge dissipates through the moisture, which
is a better conductor than air.
Do you know where else we can see sparks due to static electricity? Look at the
photo for a clue!
Lightning is a huge electrostatic discharge.
During a thunderstorm, there is friction in the atmosphere between the particles

that make up clouds, causing the build-up of regions of charge. Once the
...

difference in charge between two regions becomes great enough, electrostatic VISIT
discharge becomes possible. A lightning flash is a massive discharge between .
How to survive a lightning
charged regions within clouds, or between clouds and the Earth. strike. bit.ly/18nTOps
In order to discharge extra electrons safely from an object we must earth it.
Earthing means that we connect the charged object to the ground (the Earth)
with an electrical conductor. The extra electrons travel along the conductor and
enter the ground without causing any harm. The Earth is so large that the extra
charge does not have any overall effect.
For example, think of the metal trolleys in shopping centres. Have you ever
noticed that they normally have a metal chain hanging at the bottom which
drags along the floor? This is to earth the trolley if it gets a charge so that
charge cannot build up on the trolley. This protects the person pushing the
trolley from getting a shock.
ACTIVITY: Research the practical applications of

static electricity
.
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Use the internet or your school or community library to find information

about the practical applications of static electricity.
2. Research one useful effect of static electricity and one problem caused by
static electricity.
3. Write a short paragraph explaining .your research.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
There are many different useful and damaging effects of static electricity. Here
are some examples. .
• useful: air filters remove smoke particles; spray painting; photocopying
• problems: dust on TV and computer screens; damage to electronic
equipment
We are now going to look at two instruments which demonstrate static

electricity.
Van de Graaff generator
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
If you do not have a Van de Graaff generator then you can use some of the
videos provided here which show and explain. how the generator works. If you
do have a generator then allowing the learners to "play" with it will give them a
good insight into the effects of static electricity. Allow learners to perform
different activities, such as having their hair stand on end.
. .

Let the learners hold onto the dome and then run the generator until their hair
stands on end.
Tear up small pieces of paper and place .them on the top of the uncharged
dome, run the generator and the pieces will become charged and then fly off
the generator. This is a good example of the pieces of paper becoming charged
and then, because they all have the same charge, repelling each other.
VISIT
. touch 20
Should a person
000 Volts? Visit this link to
The Van de Graaff generator is a machine which uses friction to generate a large
find out! bit.ly/19mUtun
build-up of electric charge on a metal dome.
VISIT The Van de Graaff generator can be used to demonstrate the effects of an
electrostatic charge. The big metal dome at the top becomes positively
. so see how
Watch this video
charged when the generator is turned on. When the dome is charged it can be
a Van de Graaff generator
discharged by bringing another insulated metal sphere close to the dome. The
works bit.ly/1a5YNKE
electrons will jump to the dome from the metal sphere and cause a spark.
These girls are touching the large dome of a Van de Graaff generator.
You can also touch the dome and your hair will rise. Why do you think this
happens?
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
When you touch the positively charged .dome, electrons are transferred from
you to the dome to discharge it. This causes you and your hair to become
positively charged. The individual hair strands are then positively charged so
they repel each other and stand on end.
Electroscope
An electroscope is an early scientific instrument used to identify the presence of
a charged object or it can be used to identify the type of charge on a charged
object.
...

An electroscope used in a laboratory.
The following images show some drawings of different types of electroscopes.
An early example of an electroscope with Another example of an electroscope with a

one gold strip at the bottom and a ball at disc at the top and two gold foil strips at
the top. the bottom.
The electroscope is made up of an earthed metal box with glass windows.

There is a metal rod hanging down and at the end are two strips of thin gold foil
attached to it. A disc or ball is attached to the top of the metal rod, as seen in
the illustrations above. When the metal ball or disc at the top is touched with a
charged object, or a charged object is brought near to it, the gold foil strips
spread apart, indicating that the object has a charge.
Look at the next illustration which shows how this works.
. .

The positively charged rod attracts electrons to the disc from the gold foil strips.
The disc at the top becomes negatively charged and the gold foil strips at the
bottom become positively charged. Why do the gold foil strips move apart?
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
.
They move apart as they now both have a positive charge and positive charges
repel.
You can make a simple electroscope with everyday items. Let's try.
ACTIVITY: Making a simple electroscope

.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
If you cannot find glass jars with lids then it is possible to make lids. Use old
plastic tub lids and cut out a circle the same size as the opening of the glass jar.
Then use electrical tape (or even masking tape) to hold the plastic lid in place
over the jar opening. .
The copper does not have to be 14 gauge but the thicker the piece the better it
holds it's shape.
Detailed instructions and videos can be found on the internet. Try video in the
Visit box for an excellent description of the method.
MATERIALS:
• glass jar, with lid

• 14 gauge copper wire, about 12 cm .in length
• plastic straw or plastic tubing
• 2 small pieces of aluminium foil
• piece of wool cloth
• plastic ruler
• glass rod
VISIT INSTRUCTIONS:
.
Make your own electroscope 1. Twist one end of the copper wire into a spiral shape. This will increase its
(video) bit.ly/18JyxWc surface area.
2. Make a hole in the jar lid and push a small piece of the plastic tubing
through the hole.
3. Put the other end of the copper wire through the straw so that the spiral
end is on the outside of the lid.
4. Make a hook out of the pointed end of the copper wire.
5. Cut two rectangular strips of aluminium foil.
6. Put each piece of aluminium foil onto the hook. Make a small hole in the
aluminium foil to allow it to hang from the hook.
7. Carefully put the hook end of the copper wire into the glass jar and close
the jar.
8. Rub the ruler with the wool cloth for a minute.
...

9. Bring the ruler close to the spiral end of the copper wire.
QUESTIONS:
1. What did you observe when you brought the ruler close to the copper
wire?
The two pieces of aluminium foil moved apart.
2. What happens if you move the ruler away from the copper wire?
The aluminium foil pieces move back together.
Why do the pieces of aluminium foil move apart? When you rubbed the plastic
ruler with the wool cloth, the ruler became negatively charged. When the
negatively charged ruler is brought close to the copper wire, the electrons on
the wire are repelled downwards towards the aluminium foil. The pieces of
aluminium foil then have extra electrons on them and they both become
negatively charged. Two objects which are negatively charged will repel each
other and so the pieces of aluminium foil move away from each other.
. .
TEACHER'S NOTE
This next question is a test of the learners' understanding of the fact that
positive charges do not move to cause charging, only electrons can move. But,
.
a positively charged object can move. Learners often get confused with this.
Give them a chance to reason out the answer themselves. Allow them to bring a
positively charged object close to the electroscope to observe what happens
and then try to figure out why the effect is seemingly the same. Rubbing a glass
rod with the wool cloth will cause a positive charge to develop on the glass rod.
3. Write a short paragraph to explain what would happen if you brought a

positively charged object close to your electroscope.
When a positively charged object is brought close to the electroscope the
negative electrons are attracted towards the positively charged object and
move up through the copper wire. This means that the pieces of aluminium
have lost some electrons and so have an overall positive charge. Both
pieces of aluminium foil are then positively charged. Like charges repel
each other and so the pieces of aluminium foil move apart from each other. .
.
. .

..
SUMMARY:
.
Key Concepts
• Objects are usually neutral because they have the same number of
positive and negative charges.
• Objects can become negatively or positively charged when friction
(rubbing) results in the transfer of electrons between objects.
• Protons and neutrons cannot be transferred, only electrons can be
transferred by friction.
• If an object has more electrons than protons, then it is negatively
charged.
• If an object has fewer electrons than protons, then it is positively
charged.
• Like charges repel each other, i.e. negative repels negative; positive
repels positive.
• Opposite charges attract each other, i.e. negative attracts positive;
positive attracts negative.
• A discharge of the electrons from a charged object can cause sparks
or shocks of static electricity, especially when the air is dry.
. Map
Concept
Complete the following concept map to summarise what you have learnt in
this chapter about charge and static electricity.
...

.
.
.
REVISION:
.
1. Complete the following sentences. Just write the missing word on the line
below.
a) An object which has a negative charge is said to have
electrons than protons. [1 mark]
An object which has a negative charge is said to have more electrons than
protons.
2. An object which has a positive charge is said to have
electrons than protons. [1 mark]
An object which has a positive charge is said to have fewer electrons than
protons.
3. Sarah uses a plastic comb to comb her hair. The comb becomes negatively
charged. The comb is negatively charged because the comb has: [1 mark]
a) gained electrons
b) gained protons
c) lost electrons
d) lost protons
Answer a.
4. A perspex strip was rubbed with a cloth and became positively charged.
The correct explanation for why the perspex rod becomes positively
charged is that: [1 mark]
a) the perspex rod got extra protons from the cloth.
b) the perspex rod got extra protons due to friction.
.
c) protons were created as the result of friction.
d) the perspex rod lost electrons to the cloth due to friction.
Answer d.
5. Look at the following images in the table. Redraw the images in the second
column to show how the spheres will move because of the nature of the
charges. Write an explanation in the last column. [6 marks]
3 marks for each of the scenarios, 1 mark is awarded to the drawing and 2
marks to the explanation.
Draw how the y will Explanation
Charged spheres
move
The spheres have

opposite charges,
Learners must draw which attract, so
the spheres moving they move towards
towards each other. each other.
The spheres have the

same, positive
Learners must draw charge and like
the spheres moving charges repel, so
away from each they move away
other. from each other.
. .

6. Complete the table by working out the overall charge on each object.
Show your calculations. State whether the object is positively charged,
negatively charged or neutral and why. [9 marks]
3 marks for each of the objects, 1 mark is awarded to the calculation and 2
marks to the explanation.
Why is it positive,
Object Overall charge
negative or neutral?
It is neutral as there are

equal numbers of
Charge = 4 + (-4) = 0 positive and negative
charges.
It is negatively charged
as there are 3 more
Charge = 3 + (-6) = -3 negative than positive
charges.
. It is positively charged
as there are 4 more
Charge = 7 + (-3) = 4 positive charges than
negative charges.
7. The ruler in this photo has been rubbed with a cloth. Describe what is
happening in this photo and why. [4 marks]
What is happening?
Rubbing the ruler with a cloth transfers electrons from the cloth to the ruler
so the ruler now has an excess of electrons and it is negatively charged.
The pieces of paper are neutral. When the negatively charged ruler is
brought near to the paper pieces, they are attracted to the ruler as the the
electrons move around on the paper because of the large charge on the
ruler. Electrons will move away from the ruler leaving a positive charge on
the paper near the ruler, so they are attracted.
...

8. Sometimes, when you are pushing a trolley, you can get a small shock.
Explain why this would happen. [2 mark]
Friction between the floor and the trolley wheels causes a build-up of
charge on the trolley. The charge is earthed by your body, causing the
shock.
9. Why does your jersey make a crackling sound when you pull it over your
head? [2 mark]
When you pull the jersey over your head the friction causes the jersey and
your hair to become charged. The movement of electrons from your hair to
the jersey releases energy in the form of light and sound.
10. Why do trucks transporting petrol drag a short length of metal chain on
the road as they drive? [2 mark]
When the truck is driving the movement of the petrol in the tank causes a
build-up of charge which could cause a dangerous spark when the fuel is
off-loaded. The chain earths the tank. The excess charge on the tank is
allowed to dissipate to the road.
11. What do you think these two girls are touching on the left of the photo?
Explain your answer and what is happening to them. [3 marks]
What is happening in this photo?
The girls are touching the hollow dome of a Van de Graaff generator. The
dome is positively charged so electrons are transferred from their bodies to
the dome to discharge it. This causes their bodies and hair to become
positively charged. Their hair strands now repel each other as they are all
positive (like charges repel) and they rise up.
Total [32 marks]
.
.
. .

2 Energy transfer in electrical systems
.
. ... NOTE
.TEACHER'S
Chapter overview
3 weeks
This chapter builds on the work done in Grade 7. In Grade 7, learners

investigated basic circuits, as well as energy transfers within a system. In Grade
8, learners will practice drawing electrical circuits using the correct circuit
symbols. This was first introduced in primary school, so learners should be
familiar with the circuit diagram symbols, however, some revision might be
necessary. It is important to remind learners that circuit diagrams are just
schematics of a circuit. When building a real circuit from a diagram, the real
circuit will not look exactly the same as the diagram.
A common misconception which develops in circuit building is that black wires

carry negative current and red wires carry positive current. This happens
because of the colour coding often used on electrical meters to indicate
polarity. In order to avoid this misconception, sometimes red wires can be used
to connect the negative side of the battery to the negative side of the meters,
or sometimes only use one colour of wire. This shows that the colour coding is
arbitrary.
If you do not have sufficient equipment to allow all the learners to make all the
circuits or you want to experiment with simulations, you can use the PhET
simulation for building an electric circuit.. You can use the PhET simulation
software which can be downloaded from
1
bit.ly/GzA9d5 . You can then run an offline version on your computers.
Alternatively, if you have an internet connection, or if learners wish to use their

mobile phones, these simulations will run directly within your browser from our
website,2 www.curious.org.za 3 www.curious.org.za
Before allowing your students to use the PhET simulations there are several
things you should familiarise yourself with regarding the software. Make sure
you know how to:
• add components to a circuit. You need to click, hold down and drag the
components from the side of the screen to where you want them.
• connect components with wires. You can place a wire onto the screen and
then drag the ends till they meet up with the component. Make sure that
you are careful when connecting light bulbs. The system will create a short
circuit if they are not connected correctly. This will require some practice.
• delete wires or components or add parts. You can't just add after the
circuit is built, just as in a real circuit you need to disconnect components
to make space for new ones. Right-click with the mouse on the junction
between two components and it will give you the option to disconnect.
Right-click on the component itself, and you will be given the option to
remove the entire component.
• use the voltmeter and ammeter. The non-contact ammeter is very useful
but the other one is more realistic.
24
• clear the image to start something else. Your learners can save their
circuits for future use if your lesson is interrupted and then load them again
when you need them. If they need a blank screen in order to start again,
then click on the "reset all" button.
• reset the resistance of a resistor or light bulb or to change the potential
difference of a battery. Right-click on the component and you will be give
the option to adjust the settings.
If you only teach Natural Sciences, it is a good idea to check with the
Technology teachers to see how these two curriculums complement each other,
especially with regard to electricity. Some of the concepts which might be
introduced for the first time in Natural Sciences, have already been covered in
the Technology curriculum. Knowing what learners have already covered and
been introduced to will help make your classes more efficient and more
stimulating for learners.
2.1 Circuits and current electricity (1 hour)
Activity: A simple Recalling, identifying, Suggested

circuit interpreting, explaining
2.2 Components of a circuit (2 hours)

.
Activity: Components Recalling, identifying, CAPS suggested
in an electric circuit drawing
Research, working in Suggested
Activity: Recycling of
groups, explaining,
batteries
writing
Activity: Resistance in a Identifying, reasoning, Suggested
light bulb interpreting, explaining
2.3 Effects of an electric current (6 hours)

Following instructions, CAPS Suggested
Activity: Heating a wire
observing, interpreting,
in a circuit
explaining
Following instructions, CAPS suggested
Activity: Melting metal? observing, interpreting,
explaining
Activity: How are fuses CAPS suggested
Research, explaining,
used in everyday
writing
circuits?
Activity: Playing with Drawing, describing, Suggested
plotting compasses interpreting
Following instructions, CAPS suggested
Activity: Magnetic field
drawing, describing,
around a conductor
interpreting, explaining
. .
Chapter 2. Energy transfer in electrical systems 25

Activity: Making an Following instructions, Suggested

electromagnet interpreting, describing
.
Research, working in CAPS suggested
Activity: Research the
groups, summarising,
use of electromagnets
writing
Observing, interpreting, CAPS suggested
Activity: Electrolysis
describing, explaining
..
KEY QUESTIONS:
• What is an electric current?
• What is an electric circuit?
• Where does the energy come from in a circuit?
• What are components?
• How do we draw electric circuits?
• What effects can an electric current produce?
• Why does the element in a light bulb glow and the element in a kettle
become hot?
• What is an electromagnet and are they useful to us?
• How do you plate metal rings and earrings in gold to produce jewellery?
In the last chapter we looked at static electricity. We are now going to focus on
current electricity. You will already be familiar with some of the concepts and
terminology about electricity from previous grades. This year we are going to
revise some of these concepts and also extend our knowledge about electricity.
.
2.1 Circuits and current electricity
What is an electric current?
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
There is no need at this level to discuss the idea of conventional current. The
idea of conventional current (the movement of positive charges) was
.
developed prior to the discovery of electron movement. It was adopted as a
convention so that all scientists working with electricity could communicate and
compare research with ease. The mathematical models of electricity are also
simpler when considering conventional current. The idea of conventional
current and SI units and their importance will only be discussed in Grade 9.
An electric current is the movement of charge in a closed, conducting circuit.

As we know from Chapter 1, and also from Matter and Materials, the electrons in
an atom are arranged in the outer space around the central nucleus.
...

We saw in the last chapter how electrons can be transferred between objects
resulting in a charge on the object. In metals, the electrons are able to move
freely within the metal. The electrons are not associated with a particular atom
in the metal. We say electrons in a metal are delocalised. Have a look at the
following diagram which shows this.
Conducting wire in an electric circuit is made of metal. If we supply it with a

source of energy and a complete circuit, then the electrons will all move in the
same general direction through the wire. This movement of electrons through a
conductor is electric current.
Do you remember what you learnt in Grade 6 and 7 about circuits? Let's revise
briefly:
• An electric circuit needs a source of energy (a cell or battery).

• Cells have positive and negative terminals.
• A circuit is a complete pathway for electricity. TAKE NOTE
• The circuit must be closed in order for a device to work, such as a bulb
An ion is an atom that has a
which lights up.
• We can say that an electric circuit is a closed system which transfers . the loss or
charge due to
gain of electrons. Here the
electrical energy.
metal ions are positive as the
• A circuit is made up of various components, which we will look at in more
electrons are delocalised.
detail.
. .

.
ACTIVITY: A simple circuit

.
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Look at the example of a simple circuit.

2. Answer the questions which follow.
QUESTIONS:
.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
.
Some of these questions are revision of what learners should have covered in Gr
7 CAPS about energy transfers within a system. This acts as a revision exercise
and to links back to prior knowledge to reinforce learning.
1. What are the parts that make up this system for transferring electrical
energy?
They are the battery, conducting wires, light bulb and switch.
2. Do you think this is an open or closed circuit? Explain your answer.
It is closed as the switch is closed so it is a complete, unbroken pathway.
3. Which part is providing the source of energy?
VISIT The battery.
4. What is the conducting material?
Electricity and circuits
. The wires, made of metal.
bit.ly/17ni2R4 and Revise a
5. What type of energy does the battery have?
simple circuit. [video)
Chemical potential energy.
bit.ly/1eWpN5k
6. What is this energy transferred to when the circuit is closed and the
electrons move through the wires?
Potential energy is transferred to kinetic energy of the electrons.
7. What is the output of this system?
The bulb lights up, so it is light (and also heat).
8. In most systems, the input energy is more than the useful output energy as
some of the input energy is transferred to wasted output energy. In this
simple circuit with a light bulb, what is the wasted output energy?
The wasted energy is heat.
...

A complete circuit is a complete conducting pathway for electricity. It goes
from one terminal of a cell along conducting material, through a device and
back to the other terminal of the cell. Let's look at the components of a circuit.
.
2.2 Components of a circuit
You are probably already familiar with the components of an electric circuit
from previous grades. Do you remember that we have a specific way of
drawing the components in a circuit in an electric circuit diagram? Each
component has a different symbol.
ACTIVITY: Components in an electric circuit

.
Complete the following table. List the function of the component and draw the
circuit symbol. The last two rows have been filled in for you as you may not yet
know these symbols, but we will be using them in this chapter.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
Component Function Symbol
Cell Energy source for a circuit.
.
Torch bulb Provides a light source.
An open switch breaks the circuit

Open switch
and prevents current in the circuit.
A closed switch completes the

Closed switch circuit and allows current to move
in the circuit.
Conducts electricity in the circuit.

Electrical wire
Provides a pathway.
. .

.
TEACHER'S NOTE
Component Function Symbol
A component that opposes or

inhibits electrical current in a
Resistor or
circuit. It can also convert
electrical energy to. heat or light.
A resistor whose resistance can

Variable resistor
be adjusted higher or lower.
Let's now practice drawing some simple circuit diagrams. Draw the following
circuit diagrams.
1. A closed circuit with one cell, two light bulbs and a switch.
2. An open circuit with two cells, two light bulbs and a switch.
3. A closed circuit with 4 cells and one light bulb.
...

4. Look at the following circuit diagram. Identify the number of bulbs,
switches and cells in this circuit.
There are 3 cells, 3 bulbs and 2 switches.

5. What is wrong with the following circuit diagram? Does it represent a
closed circuit? Explain your answer. VISIT
. . electric
Build you own
circuits with this simulation.
bit.ly/19eotZk
The one cell is in the wrong position as the two negative terminal are facing
each other, instead of the negative terminal of one cell being connected to
the positive terminal of the next cell.
6. Why do you think it is useful to have a switch in a circuit?
A switch provides an easy way of opening or closing the circuit and
therefore controlling the electric circuit.
7. Why are conducting wires made out of metal?
This is because metals are good conductors of electricity.
.
.
Let's take a closer look at the source of energy in electric circuits.
Cells
Electrical cells are the source of energy for the electric circuit. Where does that
energy come from?
Inside the cell are a number of chemicals. These chemicals store potential
energy. When a cell is in a complete circuit, the chemicals react with each other.
As a result, electrons are given the potential energy they need to start moving
through the circuit. When the electrons move they have both potential and
kinetic energy. The electric current is the movement of electrons through the
conducting wires.
. .

Cells come in many different sizes. Different sized cells provide different
amounts of energy to the electrical circuit. The types of cells you would use in
toys, torches and other small appliances range in size from AAA, AA, C, D, and
9-volt sizes. AAA, AA, C and D cells usually have a rating of 1,5V, but the larger
cells have a larger capacity. This means that the larger cells will last longer
before going 'flat'. A cell goes flat when it is no longer able to supply energy
through its chemical reactions.
When we buy cells in the shop they are

usually referred to as batteries. This
can be a bit confusing because a
battery is really two or more cells
connected together. So when we refer
to a battery in circuit diagrams we
need to draw two or more cells
connected together.
Different sized batteries.
ACTIVITY: Recycling of batteries

.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
This activity is a good opportunity for both group work and individual work. The
learners can do the research in a group but. then write their paragraphs
individually. Different learners in the same group may have different recycling
centres closest to where they live. You can assess both the quality of their
written response as well as the accuracy of their information.
Batteries which no longer work must not be thrown away in dustbins. They
need to be recycled.
.
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Work in small groups.

2. Find out why batteries should not be thrown away in normal dustbins.
Write a paragraph to explain why.
Batteries contain toxic chemicals which can leak into the soil and
contaminate the environment. Different batteries contain different
substances. Lead-acid batteries, used in motor cars and other vehicles, are
particularly damaging to the environment.
3. Find out where you can recycle batteries in your community. Write down
the details of the centre(s) closest to where you live.
This answer will depend entirely on where the learner lives. Some areas will
have little to no access to specialised collection points but most Pick 'n Pay,
Spar and Woolworths stores now have battery recycling collection bins and
there are various companies in the country which also offer this service.
Most municipal dumps also recycle batteries separately.
...

Resistors
What are resistors? In order to work out what they are, let's first remind
ourselves about conductors and insulators.
We are specifically looking at electricity so we can now talk about electrical

conductors and insulators. An electrical conductor is a substance which allows
electric charge to move through it. An insulator is a substance which does not
allow electric charge to move through it.
VISIT
Think back to our model of a metal wire and how the electrons are able to move .
A guide to recycling in South
through the wire. The metal wire is a conductor of electricity. Write down some
Africa. bit.ly/19Sygzg
materials which do not conduct electricity.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE .
Some materials which do not conduct electricity are plastics, glass and ceramics.
Why do you think most conducting wires are surrounded with plastic?
.
TEACHER'S NOTE .
This is because plastic is an electrical insulator and therefore insulates the wire.
Resistors are a bit of both. They allow electrons to move through them, but do
not make it easy. They are said to resist the movement of electrons. Resistors
therefore influence the electric current in a circuit.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
.
Bring a kettle to school so that the learners can see the element inside the
kettle. Also use a large, incandescent light bulb to show them the filament wire
in the bulb as examples of resistors.
But, why would we want to resist the movement of electrons? Resistors can be
extremely useful. Think about a kettle. If you look inside you will see a large
metal coil.
This metal coil is the heating element.

If you plug in and switch on the kettle,
the element heats up and heats the
water. The element is a large resistor.
When the electrons move through the
resistor they expend a lot of energy in
overcoming the resistance. This energy
is transferred to the surroundings in
the form of heat. This heat is useful to
us as it heats our water.
Looking inside a kettle.
A good example of where resistors are used is in light bulbs. Let's take a closer
look at the different parts of a light bulb to see how it works.
. .

.
ACTIVITY: Resistance in a light bulb

.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
Try to have some incandescent light bulbs for the learners to hold and to look
at. For extension you could ask the learners to research the use of argon gas
rather than normal air for the gas inside the light bulb. Argon is used because it
.
is an inert gas and will prevent oxidation of the filament, therefore lengthening
the lifespan of the filament.
The questions in this activity would be discussed and answered as you go

through it in class. Learners might not know the answers,but after discussing
how a light bulb works with them, they should then write their own answers.
An incandescent light bulb.
MATERIALS:
• light bulb
• lamp
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. If you have light bulbs available, have a close look at the different parts,
otherwise have a look at the photos provided here.
2. Read the information about how a light bulb works and identify the parts
that have been numbered.
3. Answer the questions that follow.
VISIT
. A light bulb consists of an air-tight enclosed glass case (number 1). At the base
How a light bulb works. of the bulb are two metal contacts (numbers 7 and 10), which connect to the
bit.ly/18K0hd3 ends of an electrical circuit. The metal contacts are attached to two stiff wires,
(numbers 3 and 4).
These wires are attached to a thin metal filament. Have a look at a light bulb.
Can you identify the filament? This is number 2 in the diagram. The filament is
made from tungsten wire. This is an element with high resistance.
...

Diagram of the parts of a light bulb.
QUESTIONS:
TAKE NOTE
1. When the electrons move through the filament they experience high . to emit
Incandescent means
resistance. This means that they transfer a lot of their energy to the light as a result of being
filament when they pass through. The energy is transferred to the heated.
surroundings in the form of heat and . bright light. Describe the transfer of
energy in this light bulb.
Electrical energy is transferred to heat and light.
2. What is the useful energy output and what is the wasted energy output in
this light bulb?
Light is the useful output and heat is the wasted output.
3. Can you see the filament is coiled? Why do you think this is so? Discuss
this with your class and teacher.
NOTE: This is an extension question as learners will only cover factors
affecting resistance later so discuss this as a class. This is to fit a longer
length of tungsten within a small space to increase the resistance, and
therefore brightness of the bulb.
VISIT
4. The filament is mounted on a glass stem (number 5). There are two small .
A fun game about electric
support wires to hold the filament up (number 6). Why do you think the
circuits. bit.ly/15Icr49
stem is made of glass?
Glass is an electrical insulator so it will not conduct electricity and all the
current will pass through the filament.
5. The inside of the base of the bulb is made from an insulating material.This
is the yellow part labeled number 8. On the outside of this is a metal
conducting cap to which the wire is attached at number 7. Why is the wire
attached at 7 making contact with the metal conducting cap?
This is so that the electrical current can pass in through the electrical
contact at number 10 and then through to the wire at number 7, which is
touching the inside of the metal insulating cap.
6. If you have a lamp in the classroom, screw the bulb into the lamp and turn
it on to observe the filament glow and also getting hot.
.
.
. .

.
TEACHER'S NOTE
The link in the Visit box is an interactive tutorial and set of activities and quizzes
.
to revise electric circuits and circuit diagrams.
If you want to revise some of the concepts from previous years, you can
discover more online at4 www.curious.org.za 5 www.curious.org.za
The amount of resistance a substance offers to the circuit is measured in ohms

(Ω). If we want to use resistors to control the current flow, then we need to
know the amount of resistance. There are some common resistors shown in the
photo.
Some common resistors.
Can you see that there are different coloured bands on the resistors? This isn't
just to make them look pleasing to the eye. The coloured bands are actually a
code that tells us the resistance of the resistor. We also get resistors where we
can adjust the resistance ourselves. This is called a variable resistor. You have
already seen the symbol for drawing a resistor in a circuit diagram. Draw a
circuit diagram in the space below with two bulbs, two cells, an open switch and
a resistor.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
Learner's diagram should look as follows:
...

An electric current can have various effects. Let's find out more about what
these are.
2.3 Effects of an. electric current

We are going to look at the effects of an electric current, and specifically how
we use these effects. An electric current can:
• generate heat in a resistor;

• generate a magnetic field; and
• cause a chemical reaction in a solution.
vspace+1em
Heating effect
As electrons move through a resistor they encounter resistance and they
transfer some of their energy to the resistor itself. We saw this in the last section
where we looked at the filament in a light bulb and the element in a kettle.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE .
A useful video on heat for extra, background information 6 bit.ly/18K0Aov
ACTIVITY: Heating a wire in a circuit

.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
.
This activity is to demonstrate that an electric current travelling through a
resistor will cause the resistor's temperature to increase.
MATERIALS:
• 1,5 V cell
• conducting wires .
• switch
• block of wood
• 2 nails
• hammer
• 10 cm of nichrome wire
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
Nichrome wire can be bought at any hardware. store. Do not leave the circuit on
for too long. You want the learners to feel the warmth from the wire, not to
burn themselves. This experiment can also be performed with the graphite from
a pencil which will emit light as well as heat.
. .

TAKE NOTE
INSTRUCTIONS:
You can easily make your
own switch by sticking two 1. Hammer the two nails into the block of wood and attach the nichrome wire
.
metal drawing pins into a between the nails.
piece of wood with a metal 2. Build the following circuit and keep the switch open.
paper clip in between, as
shown in the diagram.
3. Feel the nichrome wire. Is it hot or cold?

The wire should be cold
4. Close the switch. Leave it on for a minute.
5. Open the switch again.
6. Feel the wire, briefly. Is it hot or cold?
The wire should be hotter than when . they first touched it.
QUESTIONS:
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
.
These questions can be used to assess whether learners have grasped the
concept. They can be completed after the activity, or the next day in the
following lesson as a revision of what was done, or as a homework task.
1. When you felt the nichrome wire after the circuit had been on for a while,
you felt an increase in temperature in your skin as thermal energy, which
was transferred from the wire to your skin. Explain the heating effect of
the electric current in the resistance wire.
TAKE NOTE When the circuit is complete, there is a flow of charge (electric current).
The electrons moving through the wire transferred energy to the wire in the
Remember that heat and
form of heat. The particles in the wire therefore have more kinetic energy
temperature are not the
and so the temperature increases.
same thing. Temperature is
2. List 2 useful applications of the heating effect of an electric current.
a measure of how hot or
. Examples include: iron, kettle, heater, geyser, toaster.
cold something is (measured
o
3. Choose one of the applications you listed in question 2 and explain how
in C) whereas heat is the
the heating effect of the electric current is used.
transfer of thermal energy
Iron: The metal part of the iron has a high resistance and so it gets hot. This
from a hotter object to a
allows us to smooth out the creases in material.
colder object (measured in
Kettle: The element of the kettle has a high resistance and so it gets hot
J).
enough to boil the water.
Heater: The element in a heater has a very high resistance and so it gets
very hot. The element heats the air around the heater.
...

4. Look at the following photo of a toaster.
An electric toaster.
Can you see the glowing filament inside? Why does the element glow?
The electric current passes through the toaster and the element has a high
resistance. Energy is transferred to the particles in the element so that they
gain kinetic energy and the temperature of the wire increases. Some of the
energy is also transferred as light to the surroundings and the wire glows.
.
.
So now we know that an electric current can cause objects to heat up. Let's
look at a useful application of the heating effect.
ACTIVITY: Melting metal

.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
Fuses are a practical application of the heating
. effect of an electric current. In
this activity the learners will see that an electric current can melt a metal, not
just warm it up. If you have enough equipment you could allow small groups of
learners to complete this activity. Otherwise, use it as a demonstration.
.
MATERIALS:
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
The light bulb is included to show that the current is flowing while the steel
wool is in place but not flowing when the . steel wool melts. The variable resistor
is used to show that when the resistance is high, the current is low enough that
the fuse warms up but doesn't melt. When the resistance is lowered, the current
increases until it melts the steel wool.
. .

.
TEACHER'S NOTE
If you are demonstrating and you want to make the activity more exciting then
you can use a small ball of steel wool instead of a wire. This should make the
steel wool spark and burn. This should be . done behind a screen as the sparks
could land on a learner.
If you do not have a variable resistor then leave it out of the circuit and rather
explain the concept. An ammeter is also not crucial in doing this activity as the
light bulb can be used to indicate whether there is current or not.
• three 1,5 V cells

• copper conducting wires with crocodile clips
• steel wool
• heat resistant mat or piece of wood
• torch light bulb
• variable resistor
• ammeter
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Set up a circuit according to the following picture.
TAKE NOTE 2. Twist a few strands of steel wool into a wire.

This must not be very thick. Just a few strands will do.
An ammeter. is used to
3. Use the steel wool to complete the circuit.
measure the electric current
4. Set the variable resistor to its highest resistance.
in a circuit.
5. Close the switch. What do you observe?
The light bulb should glow and the steel wool should warm up but not melt.
6. Take note of the reading on the ammeter which measures the current in
the circuit.
7. Open the switch.
8. Set the variable resistance to its lowest resistance.
9. Close the switch. What do you observe?
The steel wool melts/burns and breaks up and the light bulb stops glowing.
...

QUESTIONS:
1. Draw a circuit diagram for your circuit.
This is the symbol for an ammeter.
2. Why is the light bulb included in the circuit?

The light bulb is a good indicator of whether or not there is a current in the
circuit. If the light bulb glows it means there is electric current. If the light
does not glow it means that there is no current (or there is a very small
current).
NOTE: Sometimes though there might still be a very small electric current,
but it does not provide enough energy to cause the light bulb to glow. This
is why the light bulb gives a good indication, but an ammeter will provide
the most definitive indication of whether there is a current or not.
3. When you decreased the resistance, what happened to the current? In
other words, what happened to the reading on the ammeter?
The current increases when the resistance decreased. The ammeter
reading increases.
4. What do you think happens to the electric current when the steel wool has
burnt? Explain your answer.
The current stops because the circuit has been broken. There is no longer a
complete pathway for the electrons to move. .
.
In this activity, we just demonstrated how a fuse works. The steel wool acted as
a fuse. When the current was too high, the steel wool melted and prevented any
further current in the circuit.
What are fuses?

The heating effect of an electric current can be dangerous. If a circuit overheats
it could cause a fire. To avoid overheating, circuits often contain a fuse. Fuses
contain a low resistance wire made of a metal with a low melting point.
Therefore, the piece of wire melt if it gets too hot, just like the steel wool in our
activity.
. .

An example of a fuse. Can you see the low melting point wire inside?
Different circuits need different strength currents and so we need different

types of fuses. Some fuses can only handle a little bit of heat, some can handle a
lot. We choose the fuse that suits the safety needs of our circuit. If the circuit
overheats, the fuse will melt and break the circuit to reduce the danger of fire as
well as protect electronic equipment.
How did you draw the fuse that we made using steel wool in the last activity?
The conventional symbol for drawing a fuse in a circuit diagram is shown here:
TAKE NOTE
It is important to never
remove a fuse.from a circuit
without first switching off
the current. You could get a A fuse.
nasty shock if you do.
What is a short circuit?

Have you ever heard that something broke because it short circuited? A short
circuit happens when another, easier path is accidently made in an electric
circuit. What do we mean by easier?
We mean that the path offers very little resistance to the electric current. As
there is so little resistance the current flows along the short circuit and doesn't
pass through the main circuit. Short circuits can be dangerous and cause a lot
of damage to appliances.
Have you ever had a piece of toast get stuck in a toaster? It's a real nuisance.
TAKE NOTE Lots of people are tempted to use their butter knife to unhook the bread. Don't
There are different types of be tempted. Your knife is a conductor and can act as a short circuit. All the
fuses. The ones we have electric current will flow through your knife and, because you are touching it,
investigated so far require through you. What would be the safe way to unhook your toast?
you to replace the fuse if the
.
wire melts. However, some .
fuses work differently to TEACHER'S NOTE
break the circuit and can just .
be reset once the problem in Either switch off the toaster and then unhook the toast (safest idea!) or use an
the circuit is fixed. insulator (plastic) utensil to unhook the toast.
...

.
ACTIVITY: How are fuses used in everyday

circuits?
.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
This activity is an opportunity for individual research. There will be other
opportunities for group research. It is important that each learner is able to do
basic research so that they are able to contribute
. effectively to a group
research task. The learner should write a short paragraph detailing their
research. There are many different household appliances which use fuses.
Learners may choose any of them. Remember to make sure that all learners
include references for any research they do. They need to learn from an early
age to credit sources of information.
.
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Find out about common household appliances which use fuses. Choose
one of these appliances on which to focus your research.
2. Write a short paragraph describing the appliance and explaining why a

fuse is necessary for that appliance.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
This answer will depend on the appliance. chosen. Ensure that the paragraph
doesn't only describe the appliance but also explains why the fuse is necessary
to prevent accidents.
Most modern homes have circuit breakers instead of fuses. A circuit breaker is
similar to a fuse in that it is designed to protect an electric circuit from damage,
due to overload or a short circuit, by stopping the current flow. However, unlike
a fuse which melts and must then be replaced, a circuit breaker can be reset to
start operating again. This can be done manually or take place automatically.
Magnetic effect
Before we look at how a current produces a magnetic field, let us first learn VISIT
more about magnets. A magnet is a piece of material which produces a
magnetic field. A magnet has a north pole and a south pole. Opposite poles will . with
Some fun tricks
magnets. (video)
attract each other and the same poles will repel each other. A magnet has a
bit.ly/1c01QsA
magnetic field around it.
. .

A bar magnet.
Did you know that the Earth is like a bar magnet with a North and a South Pole?
The Earth has a magnetic field. This is why we can use compasses to tell
direction. A plotting compass has a needle with a small magnet. The needle
points to magnetic north because the small magnet is attracted to the opposite
magnetic pole and can be used to determine direction.
VISIT
.
What is the magnetic field?
bit.ly/GzwPyx
Earth has a magnetic field, as though there A compass with the needle pointing North.
is a big bar magnet running through the
core, with its South Pole under Earth's
magnetic North pole.
ACTIVITY: Playing with plotting compasses and

magnets
.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
This activity allows the learners to see that a plotting compass will respond to a
.
magnetic field. It will allow them to visualise the lines of the magnetic field
around a bar magnet. Once the learners. are convinced that the plotting
compass can model a magnetic field, you can use the compasses to show them
that there is a magnetic field around a current-carrying conductor.
MATERIALS:
• plotting compasses
• bar magnets
• piece of white paper
• iron filings
...

INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Hold the plotting compass in your hand. The north end of the needle
should point to magnetic north.
2. Put the bar magnet flat on the desk. Make sure you know which end is
north and which is south. If you are not sure, ask your teacher.
3. Put plotting compasses in a circle around the bar magnet.
Draw what you see.
Do not assess drawing skills but make sure that the drawing clearly shows
that the plotting compass needles have "lined" up and make a discernable
pattern. It is not necessary at this stage to explain the pattern. It is just
important that the learners realise that a plotting compass will respond to a
magnetic field.
4. Next, place a white sheet of paper over the bar magnet and sprinkle iron
filings over the sheet of paper over the magnet.
Observe what happens to the iron filings. Did you see something similar to
what is shown in the photograph below? Describe what you see.
.
Iron filings on a piece of paper over a bar magnet.
Learners should describe how they see the iron filings clump together into
long lines indicating the magnetic field at each point.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
As an extension to indicate to learners how two like poles repel each other, but
two opposite poles attract each other, place two bar magnets on a surface with
two like poles facing each other and sprinkle iron filings over the piece of paper.
You should observe something similar to the photo below.
Magnetic field of bar magnets repelling.
..
. .

.
TEACHER'S NOTE
Next, turn one magnet around so that opposite poles are now facing each other
and sprinkle the filings over the paper again. You should observe a pattern
similar to the photo below.
..
Magnetic field of bar magnets attracting.
.
VISIT
Explore the interactions
.
between a compass and bar
So now we know that there is a magnetic field around a magnet and that
magnet with this simulation.
plotting compasses and iron filings can be used to visualise that field. Is there
bit.ly/19etlNQ
anything else that has a magnetic field around it?
ACTIVITY: Magnetic field around a conductor

.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
This activity will show the learners that the plotting compasses align with a
magnetic field around a current-carrying. conductor. It is important to make
sure that the learners realise that it is a 3D magnetic field and that it surrounds
the conducting wire. Learners often assume that the magnetic field only exists
where the plotting compasses are placed.
.
MATERIALS:
• plotting compasses
• insulated copper conducting wires
• switch
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Construct a circuit which contains the batteries, copper wires and the
switch.
2. Put the plotting compasses on either side of the conducting wire as shown
in the diagram, as well as below and above the conducting wire.
...

Plotting compasses placed around a conducting wire.
3. Keep the switch open. What do you notice about the needles of the
plotting compasses?
The needles should point to magnetic north.
4. Close the switch and observe what happens to the needles.
.
5. Draw a picture of the wire and plotting compasses in the space below:
The drawing does not need to be assessed according to the learners
drawing skills. What is important is that they see that the compass needles
are aligned in a circle when the switch is closed.
6. What does the pattern of the compasses tell us?

That there is a magnetic field around the wire. .
.
VISIT
We saw from our first activity that plotting compasses react to magnetic fields.
Discover how the Earth is a
The plotting compasses changed direction when the current was switched on. .
magnet that protects us
This means there is a magnetic field around the wire. Was it there when the
from damaging radiation
current was switched off? No, it was not. That means that the presence of the
from the sun! bit.ly/GCCtjK
electric current in the wire must have produced a magnetic field.
The magnetic effect of an electric current has many useful applications.
. .

.
ACTIVITY: Making an electromagnet

.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
If the learners' electromagnets are not strong
. enough to pick up the paperclips,
suggest they use more batteries or add more coils of wire to the nail. Make sure
that their coils are tightly packed, all in the same direction and do not overlap
anywhere.
MATERIALS:
• one iron nail (approximately 15 cm long)

• 3 metres of 22 gauge insulated copper wire
• two D cell batteries
• paper clips
• iron filings
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Wrap the insulated copper wire tightly around the nail. Make sure that you
wrap the wire in the same direction.
2. Strip some of the insulation off each end of the insulated copper wire.
3. Attach the ends of the insulated copper wire to the terminals of the
battery.
.
4. Hold the wrapped nail above the paper clips.
5. Disconnect the wire from the battery.
6. Hold the wrapped nail above the paper clips.
7. If you have iron filings, place some on a piece of paper around the
electromagnet you have made and observe the magnetic field.
The magnetic field around an electromagnet.
VISIT QUESTIONS:
. an
How to make 1. What happened when you held the nail over the paper clips?
electromagnet (video) The paper clips should be attracted to the nail.
bit.ly/1bpHh61 2. Why were the paper clips attracted to the nail?
The electrical current in the coiled wire caused a magnetic field to form.
The magnetic field attracted the metal in the paper clips.
3. Did the disconnected nail attract the paper clips? Why?
The disconnected nail didn't attract the paper clips because there was no
current in the wire and so there was no magnetic field.
.
...

VISIT
Electromagnets can be used in all sorts .
Electromagnets in a speaker.
of practical applications, including bit.ly/19jU1XL
speaker and electric bells, as you can
see in the photo.
An electromagnet in a bell.
ACTIVITY: Research the use of electromagnets

.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
.
Assign different applications to different groups so that you cover a range in
the class.
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Work in groups of 2 or 3.
2. Research one of the following applications of the magnetic effect of an
electric current to explain how the device works:
a) speakers
b) electric bells
c) telephones
d) magnetic trains .
e) industrial lifters and separators
3. Write a short paragraph showing what you've learnt. Remember to note
down from where you got your information.
4. Share your paragraph with the rest of the class.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
Here is a general description of each application.
Speakers:
.
The voice coil of a speaker is an electromagnet. The power to the
electromagnet is switched on and off in the same sequence as the incoming
sound wave signal. This causes the magnetic field to switch on and off. When
the magnetic field switches on and off the electromagnet moves backwards and
forwards. This movement moves the diaphragm of the speaker and causes the
air in front of the speaker to vibrate, causing a sound wave.
. .

.
TEACHER'S NOTE
Electric bells:
The electric bell uses an electromagnet to move the striker backwards and
forwards onto the bell itself. As the striker hits the bell the circuit is broken and
the electromagnet switches off, a spring pulls the striker back into position,
completing the circuit. When the circuit is complete the electromagnet switches
back on and is attracted to the other magnet on the bell. The striker is then
pulled to the bell. This process is completed until the bell is switched off.
Telephones:
The input sound from the person speaking is converted into an electrical signal
which travels to the listener's device. The electrical signal has the same
fluctuations and frequency as the speaker's voice. This current flows through a
..
solenoid and causes an electromagnet to switch on and off. This causes the
diaphragm to move in and out which causes a sound wave.
Magnetic trains (MAGLEV):
MAGLEV trains use the fact that magnets repel each other to power the trains.
There are magnets on the track and on the bottom of the train. By alternating
the current in the rails the train can be pulled forward by attraction between
unlike poles and propelled forward by the repulsion of like poles. This website
provides a good description: 7 bit.ly/1dTQQuM
Industrial lifters and separators :
Electromagnets can be used to separate ferromagnetic materials from

non-magnetic materials. When the electromagnets are switched on they attract
the magnetic materials but leave the non-magnetic materials behind. When the
electromagnet is switched off, it releases the magnetic materials.
VISIT
Discover how to generate .
electricity using bar magnets
.
with this simulation.
bit.ly/15Guo8x and learn
how to build a simple
Chemical effect
electric motor.
The last effect of an electric current that we are going to look at is how an
bit.ly/1c02xCb
electric current can cause a chemical reaction in a solution.
ACTIVITY: Electrolysis
.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
.
This activity will demonstrate the chemical effect of electricity. There is no need
to explain the mechanism of the chemical . reactions which occur. You might
have already done this as a demonstration in Matter and Materials in Chapter 1
(Atoms). If you want to revise what you did then, you can explain why copper
forms on the negative electrode and chlorine gas forms at the positive
electrode.
...

You might already have done this activity in Matter and Materials when we
investigated the decomposition of copper chloride. We are going to perform it
again, this time focussing on the effects of an electric current.
MATERIALS
• 250 ml beaker
• 2 carbon electrodes
• sandpaper
• 3 copper conducting wires (with crocodile clips)
• copper chloride solution
• torch bulb
• power pack
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
If you don't have carbon electrodes then you can strip the wood from an HB
pencil. Do this carefully so that the carbon rod in the centre doesn't break. You
don't have to strip all the wood off the pencil. Strip off some from the bottom to
allow it to make contact with the copper sulphate solution and enough wood off
. the carbon. The pencil carbon is not
the top to allow the crocodile clip to grip
pure and so won't work quite as effectively as pure carbon electrodes.
To make a copper chloride solution, dissolve 15 g of copper chloride in 100 ml of

warm water.
This torch bulb is not strictly necessary. It is just to show that there is a current
in the circuit and that there is still a complete pathway.
.
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Sand down the electrodes with the sandpaper to make sure they are clean.
2. Connect the conducting wire from one electrode to the torch bulb and
another wire from the torch bulb to the negative terminal of the power
source.
The setup might look something like this, which you have seen before. You might
also have a light bulb connected in the circuit.
..
. .

3. Connect the crocodile clip from the second electrode to the positive
terminal of the power source.
4. Pour 100 ml copper chloride solution into the beaker.
5. Put the electrodes into the beaker. Make sure that they do not touch each
other.
6. Look at the electrodes. What do you observe?
Nothing is happening at either electrode. This is because the current is not
flowing.
7. Turn on the power source. Leave it on for a few minutes.
QUESTIONS
1. When you switch on the power source, does the torch bulb glow?
VISIT Yes.
NOTE: If the torch bulb does not glow then there is no current in the circuit.
Learn more about silver
Make sure that the electrodes are not touching each other and neither are
. electrolysis.
refining through
the crocodile clips. The crocodile clips must not be touching the solution
bit.ly/1fZQ5SW and the
either.
process of electroplating .
2. What do you observe happening at the two different electrodes?
(video) bit.ly/GzH851
One of the electrodes should be developing a layer of copper and there
should be bubbles developing at the other electrode.
3. Can you smell anything? What do you think this is?
Learners should be able to smell the chlorine gas.
4. What is happening to the copper chloride solution when the electric
current is passed through it?
The copper chloride solution is being chemically separated into pure, solid
copper and chlorine gas.
5. If you switch off the power source, what happens?
Bubbles are no longer forming at the electrode because the reaction has
stopped.
6. What is causing the separation of the copper chloride?
The electric current is separating the copper chloride.
7. Why is it important that you do not let the carbon electrodes touch each
other while the current is flowing?
It would cause a short circuit. The electrical current will then not move
through the copper chloride and no separation will occur.
.
The separation of the copper chloride means that an electric current can cause
chemical reactions to occur. There are many ways in which we can harness this
chemical effect for practical uses.
Electrolysis is the breaking down of a substance into its component elements

by passing an electric current through a liquid or solution. We can also use
electrolysis to purify substances.
Impure copper can be purified using electrolysis. Instead of using carbon

electrodes in a copper sulphate solution we can use copper electrodes. If one of
the copper electrodes is pure copper and the other is impure copper, then the
impure electrode will break down and deposit pure copper on to the already
pure copper electrode.
One of the most important uses of electrolysis is electroplating.
Electrolysis is used to electroplate metals. In the last activity, one of the carbon
electrodes was coated with an even layer of pure copper. We say that the
carbon electrode was electroplated with copper.
...

Why do we electroplate? An example is in the making of jewellery where an
inexpensive metal is made into a ring, for example, and then coated with gold
by electroplating. This makes it less expensive than if it were made from pure
gold. Iron rusts easily and so it is useful to coat it with a layer of a zinc to
protect it from corrosion. Many car parts, bathroom taps and wheel rims are
electroplated with chromium.
..
SUMMARY:
.
Key Concepts
• A circuit is a system for transferring electrical energy.
• For a circuit to function there must be a complete, unbroken pathway
for the electrons to follow, a source of energy (cell or cells) and a load
(lightbulb or any other resistor).
• We use symbols to represent components of an electric circuit so that
everyone can interpret the diagrams.
• A resistor is a component in a circuit which resists the movement of
electrons through the circuit.
• An electric current can heat a resistance wire. This heating effect is used
in many everyday appliances, such as kettles and irons.
• An electric current causes a magnetic field. This magnetic effect is used
in electromagnets.
• An electric current can cause a chemical reaction in solutions. This is
called electrolysis, and is used to electroplate objects.
. Map
Concept
Complete the concept map to summarise what you have learned about
electric circuits and the effects of an electric current in this chapter.
. .

.
.
.
REVISION:
.
1. Write your own definition for an electric circuit. [2 marks]

An electric circuit is a closed, complete electric pathway or system for
transferring electrical energy.
2. What type of energy does a battery have? [1 mark]
It has potential energy.
3. When a battery is connected to a circuit, it causes an electric current in the
circuit. Explain what an electric current is and why it is possible in metals.
Use the word 'delocalised' in your explanation. [3 marks]
An electric current is the movement of charge/electrons. It is possible in
metals as the electrons are delocalised, meaning they are not associated
with an atom and are free to move through the wire.
4. List 3 materials which conduct electricity. [3 marks]
There are many different materials which conduct electricity, any 3 can be
listed, such as various metals.
5. List 3 materials that do not conduct electricity. [3 marks]
There are many different materials which are insulators, any 3 can be listed,
such as plastics, glass, ceramics.
6. You have a battery, insulated copper conducting wires and a light bulb.
Draw a setup which would allow you to test whether the materials you
listed in questions 1 and 2 are conductors or not. [4 marks]
This diagram should have the

.
components connected in
series with each other. There
should be a gap in the circuit
which can be filled by the
different materials to be
tested. A possible diagram is
given here:
7. Draw the symbols for the following components. [6 marks]
A cell A light bulb
A conducting wire An open switch
A resistor A variable resistor
...

8. Look at the circuits below. If the bulb(s) will glow, place a tick next to the
picture and explain why it will glow. If the bulb(s) will not glow, place a
cross next to the picture and explain why it will not glow. [10 marks]
Circuit Glow/Not Glow Explanation
The switch is open so the

Will not glow. circuit is broken.
The switch is closed and

Will glow. there is a complete circuit.
There is a closed circuit but

the two negative terminals
.
of the cells are connected,
Will not glow. rather than a negative
connected to a positive
terminal.
There is a complete circuit

Will glow. with an energy source.
There is a complete circuit

Will not glow. but no energy source.
..
. .

9. Which of the following setups shows the correct way to connect a light
bulb to a battery? Explain your answer. [2 marks]
Setup B is the correct connection as there is one electrical contact point in

the tip of the bulb and the other point of contact is the metal casing.
10. Draw a circuit diagram to illustrate the following circuit: (3 marks)
Image Circuit diagram
11. An electrician wants to replace a faulty fuse with a normal piece of

conducting wire. Should you let him? Why or why not? [3 marks]
A fuse is a safety device to prevent overheating in the circuit. A normal
wire would not melt if overheated and so would not prevent damage or
fires. You should not let him.
12. A child, while inserting an electric plug into the socket, did not see that
there was a thin piece of aluminium foil stuck between the pins of the plug.
When he turned the switch on, he noticed a spark at the plug, and at the
same time, the lights went out. What could have happened to cause the
spark and to make the lights go out? [4 marks]
The aluminium foil can conduct electricity. This means that a short circuit
has been created. The short circuit caused a large current which would
have melted a fuse and broken the electric circuit. This would have caused
the electricity to switch off.
13. What is the benefit of using a circuit breaker rather than a fuse? [2 marks]
A circuit breaker is advantageous to use over a fuse as a fuse needs to be
replaced once the metal wire melts, whereas a circuit breaker automatically
detects the fault in the circuit, breaks it, and can then be reset to start
operating again, either manually or automatically once the fault has been
repaired.
...

14. Look at the following photo of a light bulb. Label the filament and explain
why it glows. [4 marks]
NOTE: 1 mark is for labeling the filament and 3 marks for the explanation.
When an electric current passes through the tungsten filament, it
experiences resistance as the tungsten has a high resistance. The tungsten
wire therefore heats up as energy is transferred from the moving electrons
to the wire. The wire heats up and also emits light.
15. You place some plotting compasses around an electric wire and observe
the following.
a) Is there are current in the conducting wire? [1 mark]

b) Explain your answer. [2 marks]
a) Yes, there is.
b) We know this because when there is current in an electric wire, it
generates a magnetic field around it. The plotting compasses respond
to the magnetic field as the arrows are all pointing around in a circle
and not all the same way as they would do if there was no current.
16. Give two advantages of electroplating iron metal. [2 marks]
To prevent corrosion and enhance its value.
Total [55 marks]
.
.
. .

3 Series and parallel circuits
.
. ... NOTE
.TEACHER'S
Chapter overview
2 weeks
This chapter builds on the Gr 6 and 7 electric circuits work, and the previous
chapter of this book. Up until now, we have only been looking at simple circuits.
We will now examine the concept of series and parallel circuits. We will look at
the difference between these two set-ups in circuits, specifically looking at the
effects of adding resistors in series or in parallel and observing the change in
brightness of bulbs. The use of ammeters has also been included in this chapter.
However, if you do not have these instruments, you can simply do a qualitative
study, using the brightness of the bulbs.
You can also use the PhET simulations where learners can build their own
circuits and test them out, observing the effects when they add or remove
various components. These simulations will run directly within your browser
from our website, 1 www.curious.org.za . Here is a link to a guide (in pdf
format) written by PhET in the use of some of the electric circuit simulations:
phet.colorado.edu/files/teachers-guide/circuit-construction-kit-dc-guide.pdf
3.1 Series circuits (2.5 hours)

.
Investigating,
hypothesising,
Investigation: What following instructions,
happens when we add observing, interpreting, CAPS suggested
more resistors in series? recording, analysing,
writing, working in
groups
Investigating,
hypothesising,
Investigation: How
following instructions,
does adding more cells
observing, interpreting, Suggested
in series affect the
recording, analysing,
current?
writing, working in
groups
Investigating,
hypothesising,
Investigation: Testing
the current strength
writing, working in
groups
60
3.2 Parallel circuits (3 hours)

Activity: Series or
Identifying, describing Suggested
parallel?
Investigating,
hypothesising,
Investigation: How
does adding resistors in
observing, interpreting, CAPS suggested
parallel affect the
current strength?
writing, working in
groups
Investigating,
hypothesising,
Investigation: What
happens to the current
strength when cells are
connected in parallel?
writing, working in
groups .
Investigating, following
instructions, observing,
Investigation: Testing
interpreting, recording, Suggested
the current strength
analysing, writing,
working in groups
Activity: Which metals Following instructions,
offer the most observing, interpreting, CAPS suggested
resistance? working in groups
3.3 Other output devices (0.5 hours)

Activity: Sankey
Drawing, explaining Suggested
diagrams
Research, summarising, CAPS suggested (can
Activity: History of
working in groups, be done as homework
electricity production
writing task)
Activity: Careers Research, writing Optional
..
KEY QUESTIONS:
• Are there different types of electric circuits?
• If all the light bulbs in a house are part of the same circuit, how can you
switch one light off without the rest also turning off?
• What is a series circuit?
• What is a parallel circuit?
• What happens when you connect more components in series or in
parallel?
In the last chapter, and in Gr 6 and 7, we have been looking at electric circuits.
These have mostly been series circuits. What does this mean? And how else can
a circuit be arranged?
. .
Chapter 3. Series and parallel circuits 61

3.1 Series. circuits
A series circuit is one in which there is only one pathway for the electric current
to follow. The components are arranged one after another in a single pathway.
When we connect the components we say that they are connected in series.
We have already seen examples of series circuits in the last chapter.
A series circuit with one pathway for the current, from the negative to the positive
terminal of the cell.
Ammeter
An ammeter is a measuring device used to measure the electric current in the
circuit. It is connected into the circuit in series. The current is measured in
amperes (A).
An ammeter.
What is the symbol for an ammeter? Draw it here.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
Do you think that an ammeter would have a high resistance or a low resistance
to the current? Explain your choice.
...

.
TEACHER'S NOTE
.
Ammeters have an extremely low resistance because they must not alter the TAKE NOTE
current they are measuring in any way. .
The ampere is often
shortened to 'amp'.
A series circuit only provides one pathway for the electrons to follow. Let's
investigate what happens when we increase the resistance in a series circuit.
INVESTIGATION: What happens when we add more

resistors in series?
.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
. learners that adding more resistors
The aim of this investigation is to show the
in series causes the overall resistance of the circuit to increase and that this
reduces the current strength.
AIM: To investigate the effect of adding resistors to a series circuit.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
This is a good opportunity for group work if you have enough equipment, but
.
make sure that each learner is able to connect an ammeter correctly and is able
to read the ammeter scale accurately. If you do not have sufficient equipment
for all the learners, you can do this experiment as a demonstration. Perhaps give
several learners an opportunity to come up to the front and help to connect the
ammeters. If you do not have any ammeters then you can use the brightness of
the bulbs to indicate current strength. The larger the current, the brighter the
.
bulb will glow. This means that if the bulb glows brightly, it must have a large
current moving through it. If the bulb is dimmer, it means that there is a smaller
current flowing through it.
If you do not have the physical apparatus for this investigation but you do have
internet access, use the PhET simulations found here: 2 bit.ly/17vBMBX
The simulations are also useful because the ammeters (and voltmeters)
commonly used in school laboratories are often not calibrated correctly or not
serviced regularly and so often give slightly inaccurate results.
HYPOTHESIS: Write a hypothesis for this investigation.
. .

.
TEACHER'S NOTE
This is a learner-dependent answer. The hypothesis should relate the dependent
and independent variables and make a prediction.
. The dependent variable will
change as the independent variable is changed. Here is an example of a
possible answer:
As the number of resistors increases, the current strength decreases.
MATERIALS AND APPARATUS:
• 1,5 V cells
• 3 torch bulbs
• switch
• ammeter
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
It is important that the torch bulbs have .the same resistance and are not
randomly selected. The switch is not an essential part of this investigation. It
can be left out of the circuit.
METHOD:
1. Construct the circuit with the cell, the ammeter, 1 bulb and the switch in
series. .
A photo showing the setup.
2. Close the switch, or the circuit if you are not using a switch.
3. Note how brightly the bulb is shining and write down the ammeter reading.
Draw a circuit diagram.
Circuit 1
4. Open the switch.

5. Add another light bulb into the circuit.
...

6. Close the switch.
7. Note how brightly the bulbs are shining and write down the ammeter
reading. Draw a circuit diagram.
Circuit 2
8. Open the switch.

9. Add the third light bulb into the circuit.
11. Note how brightly the bulbs are shining and write down the ammeter
reading. Draw a circuit diagram for the last circuit you built.
Circuit 3
RESULTS:
Complete the table:
Number of bulbs in Reading on ammeter

Brightness of bulbs
series (A)
..
. .

.
TEACHER'S NOTE
The brightness of the bulbs is a qualitative comparison. Learners should use
"bright, brighter, brightest" as a way to describe the glowing bulbs. The graph
should show the quantitative data of the ammeter reading and the number of
bulbs. If you do not have an ammeter to. take readings, either do not draw a
graph, or change the graph to a bar graph which has bright, brighter, brightest
as the values on the y-axis. This is not a particularly useful graph but will give
the learners a chance to practice drawing a bar graph and give them a visual
representation of the decrease in current strength as the number of bulbs
increases.
Draw a graph to show the relationship between the number of bulbs and the
current.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
These results are an example of possible results. The actual results obtained by
the learners will differ but the trend should be similar. As the number of bulbs in
series increases, both the ammeter reading and bulb brightness should
decrease.

Brightness of bulbs
series . (A)
1 brightest 0,15
.
2 bright 0,07
3 dimmest 0,05
Using standard ammeters may not give perfect results and if the bulbs are
allowed to heat up too much in between adding more bulbs, their resistance will
be higher. It is important that the learners see a downward trend.
ANALYSIS:
1. What happened to the brightness of the bulbs as the number of bulbs

increased?
The bulbs got dimmer as more bulbs were added.
2. When you had two bulbs, did they glow with the same brightness, or was
one brighter than the other?
The bulbs glowed with the same brightness.
3. When you had three bulbs, did they glow the same as each other or was
one brighter than the others?
4. What do your answers to the previous questions tell you about the current
in the series circuit?
If all the bulbs glow the same, it means that they all experience the same
current. This means that the current is the same everywhere in a series
circuit.
5. What happened to the reading on the ammeter as you added more bulbs
in series?
The ammeter reading decreased.
...

CONCLUSION:
1. Based on your answers, what happened to the current when more bulbs
were added in series?
As more bulbs were added, the current
. decreased.
2. Is your hypothesis accepted or rejected?
This answer will depend on the hypothesis written by the learner at the
start of the investigation.
.
.
As more resistors are added in series, the total resistance of the circuit
increases. As the total resistance increases, the current strength decreases.
What would happen if we increased the number of cells connected in series?
Would the current become larger or smaller? Let's investigate.
INVESTIGATION: How does adding more cells in

series affect the current?
.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
This investigation will show that adding more cells in series increases the
current strength. Be careful with this activity because if you do not have
enough resistance in your circuit, you can damage the torch light bulbs. Use at
least two torch light bulbs or a torch light bulb and a resistor in order to keep
.
the resistance high enough. If you have ammeters, you can use quantitative
data to show that adding more cells in series increases the current strength. If
you do not have ammeters, then use the brightness of the bulbs as qualitative
data. Use terms such as dim, bright, brightest. The learners will not be able to
draw effective graphs with the qualitative data but you could give them the
example data in the teacher's guide and. ask them to draw a line graph if they
need practice.
AIM: To investigate the effect of increasing the number of cells connected in

series on the electric current strength.
HYPOTHESIS: Write a hypothesis for this investigation. Remember to mention

how the increase in the number of cells will affect the current strength.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
This answer is learner-dependant. They must mention how the dependent
.
variable will be affected by the independent variable. Remember that the
hypothesis does not need to be factually correct. They will prove or disprove it
by completing the investigation. Here is an example of a possible hypothesis: As
the number of cells connected in series increases, the current strength increases.
. .

MATERIALS AND APPARATUS

• ammeter
• 2 torch light bulbs (or 1 torch light bulb and one resistor)
METHOD:
1. Construct a circuit with 1 cell, the ammeter and the two torch light bulbs.
2. Observe the brightness of the bulbs and record the ammeter reading in the
table of results. Draw a circuit diagram.
Circuit 1.
3. Add a second cell in series and observe the brightness of the bulbs. Draw a
circuit diagram of your circuit.
4. Record the ammeter reading in the table of results. Draw a circuit diagram.
.
Circuit 2.
5. Add a third cell in series and observe the brightness of the bulbs. Draw a
circuit diagram of your circuit.
6. Record the ammeter reading in the table of results. Draw a circuit diagram.
Circuit 3.
...

RESULTS:
Complete the table:
Number of cells in Reading on a mmeter

Brightness of bulbs
series (A)
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
These results are example results. The actual results obtained by the learners
. As the number of cells increases, both
will differ but the trend should be similar.
the ammeter reading and the bulb brightness should increase.
Number of cells in . Reading on a mmeter

Brightness of bulbs
series (A)
1 dimmest 0.07
2 bright 0.15
3 brightest 0.22
CONCLUSION:
1. What can you conclude from the shape of the graph?

As the number of cells connected in series increases, so does the current
strength.
2. Is your hypothesis true or false?
This answer depends on the learner's original hypothesis.
.
.
We have seen that increasing the number of cells in series increases the current,
but increasing the number of resistors decreases the current.
We will now investigate the current strength at different points in a series circuit.
. .

.
INVESTIGATION: Testing the current strength

.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
The first investigation looked at the decrease in current strength when more
resistors were connected in series. This investigation
. confirms that the current
strength is the same at all points in a series circuit. This is an optional
investigation. This can be a demonstration if your equipment is limited. This is a
good opportunity for group work, but make sure that each learner is able to
connect an ammeter correctly and understands the ammeter scale.
INVESTIGATIVE QUESTION:Is the current strength the same at all points in a

series circuit?
HYPOTHESIS: Write a hypothesis for this investigation. What do you think will
happen in this investigation?
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
This is a learner-dependant answer. Learners need to mention the independent
and dependent variables. The dependent variable will change as the
independent variable is changed. .
.
Here are two examples of an acceptable hypothesis:
• The current will be different at different points in the circuit OR

• The current will be the same at different points in the circuit.
• insulated copper connecting wires.

• two 1,5V cells
• two torch light bulbs
• ammeter
METHOD:
1. Set up a series circuit with two cells and two torch light bulbs in series with
each other.
2. Insert an ammeter in series between the positive terminal of the cells and
the first torch bulb.
3. Measure the current strength using the ammeter. Draw a circuit diagram of
this set up.
Circuit 1
...

4. Remove the ammeter and close the circuit again.
5. Insert the ammeter in series between the two torch bulbs.
this set up.
Circuit 2
8. Insert the ammeter in series between the last torch bulb and the negative
terminal of the batteries.
this set up.
. 3
Circuit
RESULTS:
Complete the following table:

Position of ammeter in
Ammeter reading (A)
circuit
Between positive terminal
of cell and first bulb
Between two bulbs
Between negative terminal
of cell and last bulb
.
TEACHER'S NOTE .
The ammeter readings should be the same at any point in the series circuit.
CONCLUSIONS:
1. Write a conclusion based on your results.

The current strength is the same at any point in a series circuit.
.
.
. .

In a series circuit, there is only one pathway for the electrons to move through.
The current strength is the same everywhere in that pathway.
What have we learned about series circuits?
• There is only one pathway for the electrons to follow.

• The current flows at the same strength everywhere in a series circuit,
because there is only one pathway. We say that the current is the same at
all points in the circuit.
• If you add more resistors in series, the current in the whole circuit
VISIT decreases.
.
Animation showing the
Why does the current stay the same at all points? Let's think about how electric
movement of electrons.
current moves through a circuit. Do you remember that we spoke about the
bit.ly/19Ww8pW
delocalised electrons in metals in the last chapter?
The electrons in a conductor normally drift in various different directions within

a metal, as shown in the diagram.
Delocalised electrons move freely in a When the wire is connected in a closed

conducting wire. circuit, the electrons move towards the
positive terminal of the cell.
When we build a closed circuit with a cell as an energy source, the electrons will
all begin to move towards the positive side of the cell. The rate at which the
electrons move, is determined by the resistance of the conductor.
VISIT
There are electrons everywhere in the conducting wires and electrical
. and watch
Flip the switch
components. When the circuit is closed, all the electrons start moving in the
the electrons with this
same general direction at the same time. This is why a light bulb turns on
simulation. bit.ly/15NlqBd
immediately when you close the switch.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
.
The simulation identified in the visit box helps to demonstrate how a light bulb
turns on immediately when the switch is turned on.
In a series circuit, all the electrons travel through every component and wire as
they travel through the circuit. All the electrons experience the same resistance
and so they all move at the same rate.
This means that in the diagram below, the readings on all three ammeters will
be the same, so: A1 = A2 = A3
...

.
3.2 Parallel circuits
Parallel circuits offer more than one pathway for the electrons to follow. When
constructing a parallel circuit, we say that components are connected in
parallel.
Look at the diagram which shows how two light bulbs are connected in parallel.
There are two paths for the current in this parallel circuit, one path through each of the VISIT
bulbs.
Watch a video that explains
.
the difference between
series and parallel circuits
How can you tell whether or not a circuit is connected in series or in parallel?
bit.ly/1f5hZ0W
Let's look at some circuit diagrams to tell the difference.
ACTIVITY: Series or parallel?

.
INSTRUCTIONS: .
Look at the following circuits and write down which are in series and which are
in parallel. The series circuits will only offer one pathway, but the parallel
circuits will have more than one pathway for the electrons to follow.
. .

.
TEACHER'S NOTE
series parallel
.
.
parallel series
Let's investigate how parallel circuits work.
...

.
INVESTIGATION: How does adding resistors in

parallel affect the current strength?
.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
This investigation will show the learners that increasing the number of resistors
. resistance of the circuit to decrease
in parallel to each other, causes the overall
and the current strength to increase. There is no need to discuss how to
calculate the effective resistance of a parallel circuit. The learners just need a
qualitative understanding.
AIM: To investigate the effect of adding resistors in parallel on the current

strength.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
.
If you do not have physical apparatus for this investigation but you do have
internet access, use the PhET simulations found here: 3 bit.ly/17vBMBX
.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
This is a learner dependant answer. Learners need to mention the independent
• As more bulbs are added in parallel, the current strength will decrease OR
• As more bulbs are added in parallel, the current strength will increase.
• 1,5 V cell
• three identical torch bulbs
• switch
• ammeter
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
. same resistance and not randomly
It is important that the torch bulbs are the
selected. The switch and ammeter are not strictly necessary for this experiment.
They can be left out if you don't have enough switches or ammeters.
. .

METHOD:
1. Construct the circuit with the cell, ammeter, one bulb and the switch in
series.
3. Note how brightly the bulb is shining and record the ammeter reading.
Draw a diagram of your circuit.
4. Open the switch.

5. Add another light bulb, in parallel to the first, into the circuit.
7. Note how brightly the bulbs are shining and record the ammeter reading.
8. Open the switch.

9. Add the third light bulb, in parallel to the first two, into the circuit.
11. Note how brightly the bulbs are shining and record the ammeter reading.
RESULTS:
Complete the table:

.
TEACHER'S NOTE
.
The brightness of the bulbs is a qualitative description. The learners should use
"bright, brighter, brightest" in order to describe the glowing bulbs.
...

Draw a graph to show the relationship between the number of bulbs and the
current.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
The graph will show the relationship between the main current (reading on the
ammeter) and the number of bulbs connected in parallel. As more bulbs are
connected in parallel, the current strength should increase because the overall
resistance of the circuit decreases. This means that the graph should be a
straight line with an increasing trend. Standard ammeters may not be accurate
enough to produce a perfectly straight line. This is not as important as seeing
the upward trend.
.
These results are just an example. The actual results will depend on the circuit
set up by the learner.

Brightness of bulbs
parallel (A)
1 dimmest 0.15
2 brighter 0.3
3 brightest 0.45
ANALYSIS:
.
1. What happened to the brightness of the bulbs as the number of bulbs
increased?
The bulbs got brighter as more bulbs were added.
2. When you had two bulbs, did they glow with the same brightness or was
one brighter than the other?
3. When you had three bulbs, did they glow the same brightness or was one
brighter than the others?
4. What do your answers to the previous questions tell you about the current
in the parallel branches of the circuit?
As all the bulbs are identical, if they all glow the same brightness, then they
all experience the same current. This means that the current is the same in
each branch.
5. What happened to the reading on the ammeter as you added more bulbs
in parallel?
The ammeter reading increased.
CONCLUSION:
1. Based on your answers, what happened to the current when more bulbs
were added in parallel?
As more bulbs were added, the current increased.
.
.
. .

As more resistors are added in parallel, the total current strength increases. The
overall resistance of the circuit must therefore have decreased. The current in
each light bulb was the same because all the bulbs glowed with the same
brightness. This tells us that the current of electrons must have split up and
moved through each of the branches.
We can also connect cells in parallel. What would happen if we increased the
number of cells connected in parallel? Would the current get stronger or
weaker?
INVESTIGATION: What happens to the current

strength when cells are connected
in parallel?
.
AIM: To investigate how increasing the number of cells connected in parallel

affects the current strength in a circuit.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
This is a learner-dependent answer. Learners need to identify the independent
• As more cells are added in parallel,. the current strength will decrease OR
• As more cells are added in parallel, the current strength will increase.
MATERIALS AND APPARATUS
• three 1,5V cells

• one torch light bulb
• ammeter
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
.
The ammeter is not essential to the experiment. The brightness of the bulb can
serve as a qualitative measure.
METHOD:
1. Set up a circuit which has one cell, the ammeter and the torch light bulb in
series with each other. Draw a circuit diagram of your circuit.
...

2. Observe the brightness of the bulb and record the ammeter reading.
3. Connect another cell in parallel with the first cell. To connect the second
cell in parallel, connect a wire from the positive terminal of the first cell to
the positive terminal of the second cell. Connect another wire between the
negative terminal of the first battery and the negative terminal of the
second battery. Draw a circuit diagram of your circuit.
4. Observe the brightness of the bulb and record the ammeter reading.
5. Connect a third cell in parallel to the other two cells. Draw a circuit
diagram of your circuit.
6. Observe the brightness of the bulb and record the ammeter reading. ..
. .

RESULTS:
Complete the table:
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
. description. The learners should use
The brightness of the bulbs is a qualitative
"bright, brighter, brightest" in order to describe the glowing bulbs. The
ammeter readings should stay the same.
Number of cells in Reading on ammeter

Brightness of bulb
parallel (A)
1
.
CONCLUSION:
1. What did you notice about the brightness of the bulbs?

The brightness of the bulbs should not change.
2. What did you notice about the ammeter readings?
The ammeter readings are the same.
3. What conclusion can you draw from your results?
Adding cells in parallel does not change the overall current strength.
Adding cells in parallel has no overall effect on the current strength. The current
strength stays the same if you add cells in parallel.
We saw that the current strength increased when bulbs were connected in
parallel. However, we were only testing the current strength at one point in the
parallel circuit. How does the current compare in the different pathways of the
circuit? Let's do an investigation to find out.
...

.
INVESTIGATION: Testing the current strength

.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
The first investigation looked at the increase in current strength when more
resistors were connected in parallel. This investigation confirms that the current
strength is not the same at all points in a. parallel circuit. This is a good
opportunity for group work, but make sure that each learner is able to connect
and read an ammeter correctly. If you do not have enough equipment to allow
for small groups to build the circuits, you can rather use this investigation as a
demonstration. Perhaps give several learners an opportunity to come up to the
front and help to connect the ammeters.
INVESTIGATIVE QUESTION: Is the current strength equal at all points in a

parallel circuit?
• insulated copper connecting wires.

• two 1,5V cells .
• three identical torch light bulbs
• ammeter
METHOD:
1. Set up a parallel circuit with two cells in series with each other and three
torch light bulbs in parallel with each other.
2. Insert an ammeter in series between the cells and the first pathway, as
shown in the diagram.
3. Measure the current strength using the ammeter.

5. Insert the ammeter in series in the first pathway.
. .

8. Insert the ammeter in series in the second pathway.

11. Insert the ammeter, in series, in the. third pathway.

14. Insert the ammeter in series between the first pathway and the cells on the
opposite side to the first reading.

...

RESULTS:
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
These are some example readings to show the trend:
Position of ammeter in
Ammeter reading (A)
circuit
Between cell and first
0.9
pathway
In the first pathway . 0.3
In the second pathway 0.3
In the third pathway 0.3
Between the cell and the 0.9
first pathway
.
If you do not use identical bulbs, then the readings in each of the branches will
not be identical, but they will add up to reading in the main branch. If possible,
it is worthwhile to demonstrate this to learners.
CONCLUSION:
1. Write a conclusion based on your results.

The current strength is not the same at all points in a parallel circuit. If the
bulbs are identical, then the current is the same in the three branches,
however the current in the main part of the circuit is greater than that in
the individual pathways. The current in the main part of the circuit is the
sum of the currents in the pathways.
.
.
What have we learned about parallel circuits?
• There is more than one pathway for the current to follow.

• The current divides between the different branches so that each branch
gets some of the current. As the torch bulbs in each branch in our example
were identical, the current divided equally between them.
• If you add more resistors in parallel, the total current supplied by the cell in
the circuit increases.
Why does the current divide when offered an alternative pathway?
Imagine that you are sitting in a school hall during assembly. You are bored and
waiting for it to end so that you can go out to break to chat to your friends.
There is only one exit from the hall. When you are dismissed, everyone has to
exit through the same door. It takes a while because only some learners can
leave at a time.
. .

Now imagine that there is a second door that is the same as the first door. Now
you and your friends have a choice of which door to go through. The speed at
which the learners exit the hall will increase and some of you will exit through
the first door while others will exit through the second door. No one can go
through both doors at the same time.
This is similar to the way current behaves when in a parallel circuit. As the
electrons approach the branch in the circuit, some electrons will take the first
path and others will take the other path. The current is divided between the two
pathways.
In the following circuit A1 = A4 and A1 = A2 + A3 and A4 = A2 + A3
We have looked at how resistors and cells behave in series and parallel circuits.
Let's look at how different metals conduct electricity. All conductors have some
resistance in a circuit. Are some metals better conductors of electricity than
others?
Let's have a look at which metals offer more resistance than others to the flow
of charge (current) through an electric circuit .
...

.
ACTIVITY: Which metals offer the most

resistance?
.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
This activity only compares the effect of the type of material on resistance. The
other factors that affect resistance will be covered in the Grade 9 Energy and
Change syllabus.
Each metal will have a particular resistance based on the resistivity. You do not
need to measure the resistance of each metal, all that is required is a qualitative
description of the light bulb. The brighter the light bulb, the higher the current.
If there is a high current it means that there
. is little resistance. So the brighter
the bulb glows, the less resistance offered by the metal wire. The learners may
make small mistakes if the brightness of the bulbs is difficult to distinguish.
Use whichever metal wires you have available. Try to get copper and nickel.
You could twist aluminium foil into a wire (just make sure it is the same length
and approximate thickness as the other metals). Aluminium wire will often
ignite if placed in a circuit so test it beforehand and make sure that it does not
get too hot. If you use the materials listed below, then nichrome will have the
highest resistance, followed by zinc, then . aluminium and copper has the lowest
resistance of the four.
MATERIALS:
• a cell
• torch light bulb
• insulated copper wires
• lengths of copper, aluminium, zinc and nichrome wire
• crocodile clips (if available)
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
The actual length of wire that you use is. not important, but they should all be
the same length and thickness. If you cannot find these metals, any other
combination of metals can be successfully used.
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Build a circuit with the cell and the torch light bulb and leave a gap for the
metal to be tested. You can use crocodile clips at the end of each piece of
metal for easy insertion.
2. Insert each metal into the circuit (one at a time).
. .

An example circuit with a cell, a light bulb and the piece of metal being tested.4
Observe the brightness of the bulb.
QUESTIONS:
1. Draw a circuit diagram of your apparatus.

An example circuit diagram with the break in the circuit where metals are
to be tested shown on the left.
2. Why can we use the brightness of the bulb to qualitatively measure

resistance?
High resistance opposes the movement of electrons, decreasing the
current so there is less energy for the light bulb. The higher resistance wire
TAKE NOTE will cause the bulb to be dimmer than the lower resistance wire.
In Gr. 9 we will look at the 3. List the metals in order of increasing resistance.
other factors that influence
. want to see
resistance. If you
Copper, aluminium, zinc and nichrome.
the content in other grades, 4. Why do you think copper is used for connecting wires in electrical circuits?
remember that you can visit
http://www.curious.
Copper has an extremely low resistance, and so has a minimal effect on the
org.za overall resistance of the circuit. Other materials would add to the overall
resistance of the circuit, decreasing the maximum possible current in that
circuit.
.
There are several factors which influence the amount of resistance a material
offers to an electric current. We have seen that the type of material is one of
those factors.
...

.
3.3 Other output devices
Light bulbs are not the only devices used in electrical circuits. Devices that use
electrical energy to function, including light bulbs, are called output devices.
Let's look at some other common examples of output devices.
LEDs (Light-Emitting Diodes)

LEDs are widely used electronic devices. They are small lights but they do not
have a filament like an incandescent bulb has. They therefore cannot burn out,
as there is no filament to wear out, and they do not get as hot. LEDs are used in VISIT
electronic timepieces, high definition televisions and many other applications.
Larger LEDs are also replacing traditional light bulbs in many homes because . about the
Watch this video
history of the LED
they do not use as much electricity. They last longer than incandescent bulbs
bit.ly/1bC5qKc
and are more efficient.
Different LED bulbs.
VISIT
In the last chapter, we looked at the energy transfers in an electrical system. We
will now represent energy transfer within electrical systems in a different way. . a basic
Video on drawing
Sankey diagram.
We will apply this new representation to the difference between energy outputs
bit.ly/19Wwxsu
in an LED and an incandescent light bulb.
ACTIVITY: Sankey diagrams

.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
.
Sankey diagrams were first introduced in the Gr 7 CAPS workbook as a way of
representing the transfers of energy within. a system, specifically focusing on
the transfer of input energy to useful and wasted output energy. They provide a
very clear illustration of the process. This links back to the previous chapter to
reinforce learning.
. .

You might have drawn Sankey diagrams in Grade 7. If not, here is some quick
revision.
In an energy system, input energy is transferred to useful output energy and

wasted output energy. A Sankey diagram is a visual and proportional
representation of the energy transfers that happen in a system.
For example, a kettle uses about 2000 J of input energy, but only about 1400 J
is used to heat the water. The remaining 600 J is wasted as sound. Here is the
Sankey diagram to represent the energy transfer.
TAKE NOTE
.
Remember that energy is
measured in joules (J).
QUESTIONS:
We will now compare an LED with an incandescent light bulb.
1. Draw a Sankey diagram for an LED if the input energy is 100 J, 75 J of

energy is used to produce light and the rest is lost as heat.
VISIT
.
An electricity timeline
animation. bit.ly/1fKZb8E
...

2. Draw a Sankey diagram for a filament light bulb if the input energy is 100 J,
the wasted heat energy is 80 J and the rest produces light.
3. Which bulb do you think is more efficient? Explain your answer.

The LED bulb is more efficient as more of the input energy is transferred to
useful output (light) than is wasted as heat. In the filament light bulb, much
more energy is wasted as heat.
.
.
Can you think of any other output devices? Make a list of as many as you can.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE .
Some are: motors, buzzers, beepers.
. .

.
ACTIVITY: History of electricity production

.
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Work in groups of three or four.

2. Research the history of electricity production: How was electricity
discovered and how did electricity become widely used?
3. Create a basic timeline for the discovery of electricity and it's production.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
The timeline does not need to be too specific. We want learners to realise that
this was not an overnight discovery, but involved many people over a
significant time. Here are some pertinent facts. This list is not complete and not
all of the dates are necessary. Another useful resource is available here:
http://bit.ly/1hmPfxF
• 600 BC - Discovery that amber, rubbed with silk, would attract light
objects such as feathers
• 1600 AD - William Gerbert coined the term electricity. He was the first to
make a link between magnetism and . electricity
• 1700s - Wimshurst machine, used to generate static electricity
• 1752 - Benjamin Franklin proved that lightning was a form of electricity
• 1800s - Sir Humphrey Davey discovered electrolysis; Volta created the first
simple cell
• 1831 - Michael Faraday demonstrated . electromagnetic induction
• 1825 - Ampere published his theories on electricity and magnetism. The
unit of current, the ampere, is named after him
• 1827 - George Ohm published his study of electricity. The unit of
resistance, the ohm, is named after him
• 1831 - Charles Wheatstone and William Fothergill created the telegraph
machine
• 1870 - Thomas Edison built a DC generator
• 1876 - Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone which uses electricity
to transfer speech
• 1878 - Joseph Swan demonstrated an electric light bulb
• 1880s - Nikola Tesla developed an AC generator
• 1881 - The first British public electricity generator was built in Surrey
• 1883 - Magnus Volk built the first electric train line
• 1896 - Nikola Tesla established hydroelectric power plants in America
• 1905 - Albert Einstein demonstrated the photoelectric effect which led to
the production of photovoltaic cells
...

.
ACTIVITY: Careers
.
INSTRUCTIONS:
.
1. Choose a career related to electricity production.
2. Write a short paragraph describing the career. Include information on how
one can study or prepare for your chosen career.
The Eskom website has information regarding various careers and the
internet has many different sources.
..
SUMMARY:
.
Key Concepts
• A series circuit has only one pathway for the electrons to travel through.
• A parallel circuit has more than one pathway for the electrons to travel
through.
• In a series circuit, the current is the same at all points in the circuit.
• In a series circuit, the resistance increases as more resistors are added
in series.
• In a parallel circuit, the current splits between the available paths.
• In a parallel circuit, the resistance decreases as more resistors are added
in parallel.
. Map
Concept
Complete the concept map on the following page to summarise what you
have learned about series and parallel circuits.
. .

.
.
.
REVISION:
.
1. Look at the following circuit diagrams and decide whether they are series
circuits or parallel circuits. Write the correct answer in the space below
each diagram. [6 marks]
Series Parallel Series
Parallel Series Parallel
2. Look at the three circuit diagrams. Rank the circuits from brightest bulb to
dimmest bulbs. [3 marks]
Brightest, bright, dim
...

3. Explain your choices in the previous question. [5 marks]
The first circuit has the brightest bulb because it has the least resistance
and so it has the highest current. The third circuit has the highest
resistance because it has two resistors connected in series with the light
bulb. The more resistors connected in series, the higher the resistance and
the lower the current.
4. Look at the three circuit diagrams. Rank the circuits from brightest bulb(s)
to dimmest bulb(s). [3 marks]
Dimmest, bright, brightest

5. Explain your choices in the previous question. [5 marks]
The third circuit will have the brightest bulb because adding resistors in
parallel lowers the overall resistance in the circuit. The current is therefore
greater and the bulb shines brighter. The first circuit is the dimmest
because it has no parallel branches, and so offers the highest resistance.
6. Look at the circuit diagram below. Each light bulb is identical.
a) Is this a series or parallel circuit? Explain your answer. [2 mark]

b) How do the brightness of bulbs A, B and C compare? (which is the
brightest?) [3 marks]
c) What would happen to the brightness of the bulbs if the switch was
opened? Explain your answer. [5 marks]
a) This circuit has both series components (the cell and bulb A are in
series) and a parallel branch consisting of bulb B and C.
b) Bulb A is the brightest, Bulbs B and C would have the same brightness
as each other.
c) If switch S is opened, then bulb C will not glow. Bulbs A and B would
now have equal brightness but they would be dimmer than when the
switch was closed. A and B would now be in series with each other and
there is no parallel branch. The overall resistance of the circuit would
therefore be higher, resulting in a smaller current. ..
. .

7. Study the following diagram.
.
a) What is the relationship between the ammeter readings on A1 and A4?
In other words, how do the current strengths compare at these points
in the circuit? Explain your answer. [3 marks]
b) What is the relationship between the ammeter readings on A1, A2 and
A3? In other words, how do the current strengths compare at these
points in the circuit? Explain your answer. [3 marks]
a) A1 = A4. The total current flows through the circuit at both of these
points.
b) A1 = A2 + A3. The current splits between parallel branches in a circuit.
Total [38 marks]
...

4 Visible light
.
.TEACHER'S
. ... NOTE
Chapter overview
3 weeks
This chapter focuses on the visible light spectrum and how we see and interpret
light. The concepts of absorption, reflection and refraction of light will be
covered. Some of these concepts were first introduced in Gr 7 Energy and
Change when talking about heat (the transfer of energy). This also links to what
learners would have covered in Gr 7 Planet Earth and Beyond on solar energy,
the seasons and life on Earth.
4.1 Radiation of light (1 hour)

Activity: Making a Following instructions,
CAPS suggested
pinhole camera observing, describing
4.2 Spectrum of visible light (1 hour)
Tasks Skills . Recommendation

Following instructions,
Activity: Splitting white
observing, describing, CAPS suggested
light
explaining
Follow instructions,
Activity: Colour
measuring, observing, Optional
spinning wheels
describing
4.3 Opaque and transparent objects (1 hour)

Following instructions,
Activity: Shadow play observing, describing, CAPS suggested
comparing, explaining
4.4 Absorption of light (1 hour)

Activity: Why do
objects look red under Observing, explaining Suggested
red light?
98
4.5 Reflection of light (2 hours)

Investigation: Is there a Investigating,
relationship between comparing, measuring,
CAPS suggested
the angles of incidence observing, describing,
and reflection? explaining
Activity: Light
Comparing, observing,
reflection off aluminium CAPS suggested
describing, explaining
foil
4.6 Seeing light (1 hour)
Activity: Seeing colours Interpreting, drawing CAPS suggested
4.7 Refraction of light (2 hours)

.
Investigation: Does Investigating,
light change direction comparing, measuring,
CAPS suggested
when it passes through analysing, describing,
a glass block? explaining
Activity: Magic coin Observing, describing,
Suggested
trick explaining
Activity: Diverging and
Observing, describing,
converging light with CAPS suggested
comparing, explaining
lenses
Activity: Research Researching, working in
Optional
careers in optics groups, writing
Note: An additional investigation has been included only in the Teacher's Guide
in this section:
• Investigation: The refraction of light as it enters water (PhET simulation)

• This can be performed if you have an internet connection and is an
alternative to the suggested investigation above.
..
KEY QUESTIONS:
• Where does light come from?
• How does light travel?
• How do we see?
• Why do leaves look green?
• How do mirrors work?
• Why do my legs look crooked underwater?
. .
Chapter 4. Visible light 99

In this chapter we will learn about visible light. We call it visible light because
we can see it with our own eyes. There are different forms of light which we
cannot see with our naked eyes. Ultraviolet light is an example of a form of light
which we cannot see with just our eyes. We will focus our attention on the
visible light spectrum and investigate how we are able to see different colours
and how light behaves.
.
4.1 Radiation of light
Where does light come from? Natural light comes from luminous objects such
as the Sun and light bulbs. We say that these objects emit light.
VISIT
.
The speed of light (video) The Sun is our main source of light on Earth. A light bulb is a luminous object as it emits
bit.ly/GAMgFW
light.
TAKE NOTE
The Moon is NOT a luminous
.
object as it does not emit its This image from NASA shows the Earth's lights at night. You can see how much we rely
own light light. It reflects the on light nowadays.
light from the Sun.
Light travels through space at a speed of 300 000 kilometers per second. We
say that energy is transferred by radiation. The energy of the light is transferred
through space as electromagnetic waves in straight lines.
...

Light and heat are transferred to Earth through space from the Sun by radiation.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
An exciting way to introduce this section is to turn your classroom into a camera
obscura. Use black paper to cover all the windows and tape to block out any
light coming in from under any doors. On. one window, leave a small area of the
window uncovered. Hang a white sheet in the centre of the room opposite to
the exposed window. The view from outside should be projected onto the
sheet. The image will be upside down. This is an inexpensive way to give the
learners an opportunity to understand the rectilinear propagation of light.
Let's look at how light travels. We will make a simple camera to investigate how
light travels.
ACTIVITY: Make a pinhole camera

.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
This activity allows the learners to produce images on a screen. The images
formed by a pinhole camera can be used to explain and demonstrate that light
travels in straight lines.
. for this activity. You could use any
The Pringles chip can is the perfect shape
.
cardboard tube. Instead of the lid from the Pringles can you can use a piece of
wax paper as the screen. This pinhole camera is essentially a miniature camera
obscura.
If you are struggling with time, you could make one of these and demonstrate it
to the learners instead of having each learner produce one.
MATERIALS:
• Pringles chip can

• craft knife
• aluminium foil
. .

• tape
• ruler
• drawing pin
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
. have aluminium foil. The foil is useful
You can also use black paper if you do not
because it molds to the shape of the tube and helps prevent ambient light from
entering.
INSTRUCTIONS:
TAKE NOTE
The Sun emits radiation in
. but in the
all directions,
1. Measure 5 cm from the bottom of the can (opposite end to the plastic lid)
diagram here, only the
and make a mark all around the can.
radiation which reaches
Earth has been shown.
2. Cut through the can along the line

so that you have cut the can into 2
pieces.
3. If you have a clear lid, put a piece of

wax paper on top of the lid before
sticking everything together.
4. Place the lid between the 2 pieces

and stick it all together using tape.
...

5. Wrap the aluminium foil around the
can to prevent any light from
coming in from the sides.
6. Use a drawing pin to make a hole in the centre of the metal base of the can.
7. Go outside with your pinhole camera.
.
8. Point the metal end with the hole at an object which is in bright sunlight. VISIT
9. Cup your hands around the other end and look through the open end. Light travels.in a straight
line? (video) bit.ly/19n4T7g
and bit.ly/174q6mx
QUESTIONS:
1. What did you see when you looked through the open end of the tube?
Learners should see an image on the "screen". The lid/wax paper is the
screen. The learners should notice that the image is upside down.
2. What happens when you move closer or further away from an object?
When you move closer to the object, the image appears bigger than when
you move further away.
.
.
Did you see an upside down image? Why is it upside down?
We see objects because light reflects off them and enters our eyes. If the image
is upside down it means that the light from the bottom of the object has arrived
at the top of the screen and the light from the top of the object has reached the
bottom of the screen, as shown in the following diagram.
When you moved closer to the object, the image appeared bigger, as shown in
the following diagram.
. .

VISIT
Can you use what you have
.
learnt to understand how
this shadow illusion works?
What does this mean? It means that light must be travelling in straight lines.
bit.ly/156mx1y
This is called the rectilinear propagation of light.
Ray diagrams
A ray diagram is a drawing that shows the path of light. Light rays are drawn
using straight lines and arrowheads, because light travels in straight lines. The
figure below shows some examples of ray diagrams.
A ray diagram showing how you see A ray diagram showing how you see a
another person. reflection in a mirror.
4.2 Spectrum .of visible light
The visible light spectrum is the light that we are able to see with our naked
eyes. Have you ever wondered why everything is colourful and not just black
and white? Have you ever seen a rainbow and wondered where the colours
have come from? The colours that we see everyday are part of the visible light
spectrum. Let's investigate the visible light spectrum.
...

.
ACTIVITY: Splitting white light

.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
This activity is very simple and usually gives clear results. Try to darken the
room as much as possible in order to get clear spectra. A ray box and power
source are not essential for this activity. . You can make your own simple ray box
by using a piece of cardboard with a small slit cut into it. Hold the cardboard in
front of a light bulb and the light will shine through the slit in a single beam of
light. Use a table lamp or set up a circuit with a high wattage light bulb as a
source of light.
MATERIALS:
• triangular perspex prism

• ray box and power source
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Connect the ray box to the power source. If you do not have a ray box,
your teacher will show you how to use a piece of cardboard with a slit cut
into it.
Remember that if you do not have a ray box then you can use a light bulb
with a cardboard screen to produce a coherent beam of light.
2. Place the triangular prism on a white. background.
3. Shine a beam of white light through the side of the prism.
Make sure that the learners rotate the prism until they get it at the right
angle to refract the light and see the colours.
QUESTIONS:
1. Draw a picture showing what you observe.

The drawing should show the beam of white light entering the prism,
passing through and emerging on the other side as the 7 colours of the
visible spectrum. This is a typical image, which learners will see later in the
chapter when we discuss refraction of light. They must note the relative
bending of red versus violet light.
2. Write a description of what you observed.

The white light enters the prism, passes through it and emerges on the
other side as a beam of seven colours (a rainbow).
. .

3. Write down the order in which the colours appear.
Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet.
4. If you repeat the experiment, does the order of the colours change?
No, the order is always the same.
5. What do the different colours we see tell us about the composition of
white light?
They tell us that white light is a mixture/blend/combination of the 7 colours
of the visible spectrum. .
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
.
There are actually a large range of colours, but our eyes allow us to distinguish 7
colours.
So, what have we learned so far? Light radiates from luminous objects and
always travels in straight lines. The white light that we see is made up of the 7
different colours of the spectrum. When the 7 colours are travelling together we
see them as white light.
The 7 colours of the visible spectrum are Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue,
Indigo and Violet. Each colour has a different wavelength and frequency. Have
a look at the following image which shows the spectrum of visible light.
TAKE NOTE
You can use the. abbreviation
ROYGBIV to remember the
order of the colours.
TAKE NOTE
.
The primary colours of light
are red, green and blue.
The colours combine to form white light.
...

.
ACTIVITY: Colour spinning wheels

.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
This is a very simple, fun activity to show. that the 7 colours combine to make
white light. You can either get learners to each make their own, or else make a
couple before class yourself and hand them out for learners to experiment with.
MATERIALS:
• white cardboard
• coloured pens or pencils (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet)
• string
• scissors
• round object
INSTRUCTIONS:
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
To do this accurately, find the centre of the circle and mark a dot there. Then
draw a straight line from the centre to the edge of the circle. Next, align the
straight edge of a protractor with the line
.. you just drew, placing the end of the
protractor right on the center of your circle. Look for 52 degrees and make a
dot to mark this angle. Draw a line from the centre dot to this dot on the edge.
The angle you drew is 1/7 of the circle. Repeat this until you have measured and
drawn all segments. A complete rotation is 360 degrees and 360/7 = 51.4 which
is why each segment you draw should be about 52 degrees. The correct angle
for 6 segments would be 60 degrees.
1. Draw a circle on the cardboard. You can trace around a round object such
as a cup or saucer to do this. Cut out the circle.
2. Now divide the circle into 7 equal segments. If you do not have indigo and
violet colours, but just one purple pen or crayon, then you can divide the
circle into 6 equal segments rather.
3. Shade in each segment a different colour, in the order red, orange, yellow,
green, blue, indigo, violet (or just purple if you do not have indigo and
violet).
. .

4. Next, make two holes, one on either side of the centre as shown below.
5. Thread the string through the holes and tie it in a loop.
.
VISIT
.
There is no pink light.
bit.ly/1b2gFXU
6. You are now ready to spin the wheel. Holding the ends of the loop in each
hand, twirl the string over, like you would a skipping rope, so that the
string twists. Once the string is tightly twisted, pull your hands apart, then
bring them back together. Continue bringing your hands in and out and
watch the circle spin.
7. What do you observe about the colour of the wheel as it spins faster?
Learners should observe that the colours appear to 'mix'. Depending on the
quality of the pens or pencils used, you should see a light grey. The goal is
to see white, but this might take some more experimenting.
.
So far we have been talking about the visible light spectrum. As we mentioned
in the beginning, this is the light that we can see. We also spoke about how light
travels in electromagnetic waves. We can only see light with a certain range of
wavelengths. What does this mean?
The size of a wave is measured in wavelengths. A wavelength is the distance

between two corresponding points on two consecutive waves. Normally this is
done by measuring from peak to peak or from trough to trough. Have a look at
the following diagram which illustrates a wavelength.
...

The wavelengths of the different colours of visible light are different lengths, as
shown in the following diagram.
We can also talk about the frequency of a wave. If a wave has a long
wavelength, then it has a low frequency; if it has a short wavelength, then it has
a high frequency.
Of visible light, orange and red light have the longest wavelengths (and lowest frequency)
and violet, indigo and blue have the shorter wavelengths (and highest frequency).
When it comes to visible light, we only see wavelengths of 400 to 700 billionths
of a meter. This is called the visible spectrum. But, light waves are just part of
the wave spectrum. There is invisible light with shorter wavelengths, such as
ultraviolet light, and there are longer wavelengths, such as infrared light.
Have you ever looked through a window and wondered why it is made of glass?
Let's find out how light behaves when it strikes the surface of different types of
materials in the next section.
.
4.3 Opaque and transparent substances
Three different things happen when light hits a surface, it can be reflected
(bounce off), absorbed or transmitted (pass through). Glass reflects some light
but most of the light is transmitted straight through. That's why we can see
objects on the other side of a closed window.
We say that glass is transparent. Let's find out more about what this means. If a
substance is not transparent, it is opaque.
. .

.
ACTIVITY: Shadow Play

.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
This activity will show learners that opaque objects cast shadows. You can give
them specific shapes to cut out from cardboard or allow them to be creative
with their designs. Have them cut out various
. shapes of different sizes from
cardboard. This will allow them to see that larger objects cast larger shadows.
The learners can use a white piece of paper as a screen or use the wall of the
classroom. If they hold the shape on the desk then the shadow would be cast on
the desk but a screen would be more useful. The classroom should not be
brightly lit when doing this activity as overhead lights may affect the shadows.
MATERIALS:
• cardboard
• clear plastic
• plastic shopping bag
• scissors
• light source (ray box or light bulb)
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Cut out three shapes from your cardboard. All of the shapes should be
.
similar but three different sizes: small, medium and large.
2. Switch on the light source.
3. Hold your first shape a short distance in front of the light source.
4. Look at the shadow that forms. Write down what you observe.
The shadow forms on the side of the shape which is furthest from the light.
It is a dark colour.
5. Hold your second shape the same distance in front of the light source.
The shadow is formed on the side furthest from the light source. It is dark
in colour and larger than the first shadow.
7. Hold your third shape the same distance in front of the light source.
9. The shadow is formed on the side furthest from the light source. It is dark
in colour and larger than the first and second shadows.
10. Use your first cardboard shape as a template and cut the shape from the
clear plastic and the plastic shopping bag.
11. Hold the clear plastic shape the same distance from the light source. Write
down what you observe.
No shadow is formed by the clear plastic shape. There may be a slight
outline of the shape as a shadow. This sometimes happens if the cut edges
of the shape have curled over, the double thickness reduces the
transparency. If any of the learners notice this you should explain it to them.
12. Hold the plastic shopping bag shape the same distance from the light
source. Write down what you observe.
The shadow that forms is on the side opposite the light source but it is
significantly lighter than the cardboard shadows. It has a darker outline and
a lighter centre.
...

QUESTIONS
1. When you held the cardboard up to the light, did it allow light to pass
through it? How do you know this?
No, light did not pass through as it forms a shadow on the opposite wall.
2. Is the cardboard shape opaque or transparent?
It is opaque.
3. What did you notice about the shadows formed by the different size
cardboard shapes?
The larger the shape, the larger the shadow.
4. Draw a diagram to show how the shadow is formed behind the opaque
shape. Use straight lines with arrowheads to represent the rays of light.
This is an example of the type of diagram the learners may draw. They
need to show the opaque object between the light source and a screen.
They need to show rays of light leaving the light source and moving in
straight lines on either side of the shape.
.
5. The distance between the shape and the light source was kept the same.
What do you think would have happened to the shadow if the distance
was increased?
The answer calls for learners to predict something they have not tested.
The shadow should become larger if the object is closer to the light source
and smaller if the object is further from the light source.
6. Test your idea from question 5 by moving your cardboard shapes closer to
and further away from the light source. What do you see? Were you
correct in your prediction?
This answer is learner dependant because it depends on their prediction for
question 5. Learners should describe seeing that the size of the shadow
decreased as the distance increased or that the size of the shadow
increased as the distance decreased.
7. Is the clear plastic shape opaque or transparent?
The clear plastic is transparent.
8. Did the clear plastic cast a shadow?
No
9. Explain why the cardboard casts a shadow but the clear plastic does not.
Light travels in straight lines. It cannot bend around an object. Light cannot
pass through the cardboard and so a shadow is formed. Light can pass
through the clear plastic and so the area behind the plastic is bright.
10. Is the plastic shopping bag shape opaque or transparent?
It is neither completely transparent or completely opaque. The shopping
bag is translucent or semi-transparent.
11. Explain why the shopping bag casts a lighter shadow.
Some of the light can pass through the translucent plastic but not all of it,
this means that the shadow is not as dark. .
.
. .

What have we learned? Shadows are formed because light travels in straight
lines and cannot pass through opaque objects.
Substances which transmit most of the light and only absorb or reflect a little bit
are called transparent. Can you list some everyday objects which are
transparent?
.
TEACHER'S NOTE .
Glass, some plastics, cellophane, water etc.
Substances which completely reflect or absorb light without transmitting any

are called opaque. Can you list some everyday objects which are opaque?
.
TEACHER'S NOTE .
Bricks, wood, walls, skin etc.
Some substances, such as the plastic shopping bag, allow some light to pass
through, but not all of it. This substance is translucent, or semi-transparent.
Shadows can be useful. Sundials have

been used since ancient times as a
time-keeping device, like a watch or a
clock. As the position of the Sun
changes in the sky, the shadow cast by
the style moves across the surface of
the sundial. The surface is marked with
numbers, allowing the shadow to
indicate time of day.
We can use transparent objects to make filters. If we want red light we use a
red glass bulb or a red plastic film placed in front of the light. Only red light is
able to transmit through the red glass or plastic. The other colours are absorbed
by the filter.
These are different colour filters for a camera. The red filter will only allow red light
through and so the photograph will have a red effect applied to it. The other colours of
light are absorbed by the filter.
Now that we have seen some examples of transparent and opaque substances,
let's take a closer look at what it means to absorb or reflect light.
...

.
4.4 Absorption of light
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
The absorption of the different colours of light links back to Grade 7 Energy and
Change. Learners will have learnt that matt
. black surfaces absorb heat from the
Sun and that white and silver objects reflect the heat from the Sun. The energy
which is reflected from surfaces can be seen as different colours. This is
because each colour has its own frequency which is determined by the amount
of energy of the released photons.
Look at this picture of a ladybird. Why

is it red and black? And why is the leaf
so green? How do we see the different
colours? It all has to do with what
happens when light hits a surface.
When light hits a surface, some of the
light is absorbed and the rest is
reflected. It is the reflected light that
reaches our eyes and allows us to see
the object. A ladybird.
Previously, we learned that white light is a mixture of different colours. When

white light from the Sun hits the red shell of the ladybird all of the colours are
absorbed, except red. Red light is reflected back to our eyes and so we see a
red ladybird.
We see the red shell of the ladybird as red light is reflected and the other colours are
absorbed.
The green leaf absorbs all the colours except green which it reflects back into
our eyes.
. .

We see a green leaf as green light is reflected and the other colours are absorbed by the
TAKE NOTE leaf's surface.
Although we can get black
. black is
paint as a pigment,
not a colour of light. Black is What about the black spots of the ladybird? Is black a colour? The black spots
the result of the complete on the ladybird absorb all the colours and no light is reflected. That is why they
absorption of light. appear black.
Do you remember learning about heat as energy transfer in Gr 7? We looked at

the absorption of heat. We saw that black, matt objects absorbed all of the light
energy, while white objects reflected all of it. Black, matt (not shiny) objects
absorb all of the colours of light and reflect none and so appear black to our
eyes.
What about a white object? Why do you think white objects look white? Have a
look at the following diagram for a clue.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
.
White objects do not absorb any of the colours but reflect all of them together
and so the object appear white to our eyes.
...

.
ACTIVITY: Why do objects look red under red

light?
.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
.
Try to use a dimly lit classroom for this activity so that the main source of light
is the torch or light bulb.
MATERIALS:
• piece of red plastic to act as a filter

• light source (light bulb or torch)
• white object
INSTRUCTIONS:
.
1. Place a white object on the desk.
2. Switch on your light source and place the red plastic in front of the light.
3. Shine the light (with the red plastic in front) onto the piece of white paper.
QUESTIONS:
1. What colour was the page under normal light?

White.
2. Why does the page appear white in normal light?
The normal light contains all 7 colours of the visible spectrum mixed
together. All the colours are reflected from the page and enter our eyes.
We see a white page.
3. What did you see when the red plastic filter shone on the white page?
The page looked red instead of white.
4. Explain why the paper changed colour.
The red plastic only allowed red light to pass through it. Red light was
reflected off the paper and so that is the only colour that reached the eye.
The paper appears to be red.
Let's now look more at what we mean by reflection of light.
. .

.
4.5 Reflection of light
When light hits a surface it is

often reflected off the surface.
This photograph shows how
light is reflected off a still lake,
creating a mirror image of the
tree. The still, flat surface of the
lake has acted as a mirror.
A tree reflection.
Have some fun with these photos of reflections in water. One photograph is the
right way up and the other one is upside down! Which one is which?
.
TEACHER'S NOTE .
The photograph of the bridge in Italy is upside down.
Reflections on the Negro River in the Reflections in the Arno River in Italy.
Amazon.
Most surfaces reflect light. When light strikes a reflective surface, it can change
direction. Let's look at how this happens.
When light reflects off a surface the ray which hits the surface, it is called the
incident ray. The ray of light which is reflected from the surface is called the
reflected ray. When we draw diagrams of reflection we also draw in an
imaginary line to help us measure different angles. This line is called the normal.
The normal line is always drawn perpendicular to the surface.
Between the normal line and the incident and reflected rays, there are two
angles. These are:
...

• angle of incidence - the angle between the incident ray and normal line
• angle of reflection - the angle between the reflected ray and normal line
The following diagram explains these concepts.
Let's investigate the relationship between the angle of incidence and the angle
of reflection.
INVESTIGATION: Is there a relationship between the

angles of incidence and reflections?
.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
Learners will see that the angle of reflection is equal to the angle of incidence.
Learners must save some of the sheets for the next activity where you will use a
.
piece of crumpled aluminium foil instead of the mirror.
.
Another way to do this investigation is to use a sheet of corrugated cardboard
instead of paper. Learners can then stick pins into the cardboard along the light
ray and then draw in the lines later.
AIM: To investigate the reflection of light from a surface.
INVESTIGATIVE QUESTION:
Look at the diagram above and try to formulate an investigative question for
this investigation.
. .

.
TEACHER'S NOTE
Learners will have their own versions. An. example of an appropriate question
would be: 'How is the angle of reflection related to the angle of incidence of the
incident ray?' It is important that the question relates the two angles in some
way.
HYPOTHESIS: The angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection
• mirror
• white paper
• pencil
• protractor
• ruler
• ray box
.
TEACHER'S NOTE .
A laser pointer also works very well instead of a ray box.
METHOD:
.
1. Put a white piece of paper on the desk.

2. Use your ruler to draw a straight line near the top of the white paper.
3. Use your protractor to make a right

angle in the middle of your pencil
line. This is the normal line.
Marking a right angle with a protractor.
4. Place your mirror upright along the

first line.
5. Shine a light from the ray box along
the paper so that it "hits" the mirror
where your normal line and your
mirror meet.
A mirror is placed on the line and a ray
shone to strike the mirror at the normal
line.
...

6. Use a pencil to mark the incident
light ray.
Marking the incident light ray.
7. Use a pencil to mark the reflected

light ray.
Marking the reflected ray.
8. Remove the mirror and switch off

the ray box.
9. Use a ruler and pencil to draw a line .
from the points you have marked on
each ray to the normal line.
Drawing in the rays.
10. Mark the angle of incidence (i) and

angle of reflection (r).
Your ray diagram should look similar to

this.
11. Turn the ray box on again to confirm

that your pencil lines follow the rays.
The ray diagram overlaps the actual rays. ..
. .

12. Use a protractor and measure the
angle of incidence and the angle of
reflection and record your results in
the table.
13. Repeat this method 3 more times,
each time using a different angle of
incidence.
A different angle of incidence.
TAKE NOTE
RESULTS:
. sheets with
Keep one of the
your drawn ray diagram for
the next activity. Fill your results into the following table.
Repeat Angle of Incidence Angle of Reflection
1
2
3
4
. .
TEACHER'S NOTE
The answers in the table will depend on .the angles of incidence which the
learners use for their investigation. It is important that they see that the angles
of incidence and reflection are equal to each other in each repetition.
ANALYSIS:
1. Has your investigation provided everything you need to answer your

investigative question?
This answer would be learner-dependent as it would depend on the
investigative question they chose.
2. How could you improve this investigation to get more accurate results?
This answer is learner dependent. An example of an improvement could be
to use a protractor printed on the page already in order to measure the
angles accurately.
CONCLUSION:
What can you conclude based on your results?
.
TEACHER'S NOTE .
In reflection, the angle of reflection is always equal to the angle of incidence.
...

Whenever light is reflected from a surface, the angle of incidence to equal to
the angle of reflection. On a smooth surface all the light rays are reflected in the
same way and so the image is clear and focused.
A mirror is an example of a smooth surface. The image you see is focused and
clear. As you can see in the photograph, the scientists and engineers are clear
and focused in the mirror image.
TAKE NOTE
In reflection, not only is the
angle of incidence equal to
.
the angle of reflection, but
the incident ray and
reflection ray are also in the
same plane.
VISIT
.
What colour is a mirror?
(video) bit.ly/GABdNZ
A mirror segment from one of NASA's telescopes provides a clear and focused reflection.
What happens when we do not have a smooth surface? Have a look at the
photo.
Why is the reflection of the grass and reeds not clear, but rather blurred?
. .

.
ACTIVITY: Light reflection off aluminium foil

.
MATERIALS:
• aluminium foil
• white paper
• ray box
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. If possible, use the white sheets of paper from the last investigation where
VISIT you drew your ray diagrams.
Watch a video about the
2. Similar to what you did in the last investigation,
. set up a ray box and direct
the ray along the line of incidence which you drew.
. scientists
creative way that
have tried to answer the
3. Crumple a piece of aluminium foil and place this in the spot instead of the
question: "What is light?"
mirror.
bit.ly/GAMvAL
4. Observe the reflected ray.
QUESTIONS:
1. Describe the reflected ray off the aluminium foil and how this compares to
the reflected ray off the mirror.
Learners should note that the reflected ray off the aluminium foil is
scattered and does not provide one clear ray, as the mirror does.
2. Why do you think you observed these differences?
This is because the aluminium foil is crinkled and provides a rough surface
whereas the mirror is a smooth surface.
Can you now see why reflections off rippled water are not clear, but rather
TAKE NOTE blurred? This is because the light rays have not reflected parallel to each other
'Diffuse' can mean unclear as
as they do from a smooth surface, but have scattered in different directions.
. out. In this
well as spread
The following table shows the difference between a smooth surface and a rough
example, the reflection is
surface. Straight parallel rays are approaching the surface. You need to draw in
unclear because the rays are
the reflected rays to show specular (clear) reflection from a smooth surface and
spread out or diffuse.
diffuse (unclear) reflection from a rough surface.
Specular diffusion from a smooth Diffuse reflection from a rough

surface surface.
...

.
TEACHER'S NOTE
Here are the answers for what learners should draw.
Specular diffusion from a smooth Diffuse reflection from a rough

surface surface.
Visible light is the range of frequencies of light that are visible to the human eye,
and is responsible for the sense of sight. Are you curious to find out how we
actually see light? Let's discover more in the next section.
.
4.6 How do we see light?
How is it that we are able to see light? Light that is absorbed by objects does
not enter the eye. Only reflected light or direct light from luminous objects can
enter the eye and be interpreted. Have a look at the following image which
shows the outer structure of the eye.
We can see the iris, the pupil and the sclera. The sclera is a the tough white,
outer part of the eye, which acts as protection. The iris is the coloured part of
the eye which differs from person to person. It is circular and surrounds the
pupil. Light enters the eye through the pupil.
VISIT
.
2012 Nobel Prize: How do we
see light? bit.ly/1a4zs2D
. .

The size of your pupil changes in different light conditions. In bright light, the pupil
contracts (gets smaller) to let less light through (as on the left), and in low light your
pupil dilates (gets bigger) to let more light through (as on the right).
TAKE NOTE Let's take a look at the internal structure of the human eye. The following
diagram shows a cross section through the eye. The eye is actually a large ball,
The fovea is the part of the
. and only a small part is visible on the outside. Covering the iris is a tough,
eye located in the centre of
transparent layer called the cornea. Behind the iris is the lens. Both the cornea
the retina where the clearest
and the lens help you to focus the light entering your eyes, as we will learn
image is formed.
about in the next section.
TAKE NOTE
The cell is the basic
structural and functional unit
.
of all living things. We will
be learning more about the
A diagram of the eye.
cell next year in Gr 9 Life and
Living.
VISIT The light travels through the eye and hits the retina at the back of the eyeball.
The retina is a layer of tissue lining the back of the eyeball, as indicated in the
. spot with
Find your blind
this optical illusion.
diagram, it is the yellow layer. The retina consists of cells which are sensitive to
bit.ly/19jumEr
light. Light enters the eye and forms an image on the back of the eyeball. The
way in which light hits the back of the eye, is similar to what happens in a
pinhole camera. The receptor cells convert the light energy into electrical nerve
impulses. These impulses travel out of the eye through the optic nerve and to
the brain where they are interpreted as sight.
So how do we see colour? Do you remember when we spoke about why the
ladybird appears red and black? Look at the following diagram again.
...

The white light hits the ladybird's surface. The white light has all the colours of
light, but when it hits the red surface, only the red light is reflected. The other
colours are absorbed by the red surface. This means that when we look at the
red parts of the ladybird, we only get red light reflected into our eyes.
Therefore, when this reflected light hits our retina and the electrical impulse is
sent to our brains, we see the red colour.
ACTIVITY: Seeing colours

.
MATERIALS:
• coloured pens or pencils
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Answer the following questions about how we see objects.

2. Draw a ray diagram to accompany your written answer.
3. An example has been done for you.
Look at the picture of a sunflower.
A black and yellow sunflower.
. .

We can draw a ray diagram to show why we see the green leaves as green, as
shown below. The green surface of the leaves absorb all the colours of white
light except green light which is reflected into our eyes.
Now explain why the petals appear yellow and the centre appears black. Use
the concepts of absorption and reflection in your explanation. Draw diagrams
to support your answer.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
Light striking the yellow petals. Light striking the black centre.
The white light that strikes the sunflower has all the colours. The yellow petals
absorb all the colours of the spectrum except yellow which is reflected into our
eyes. The black centre absorbs all of the colours of the spectrum and does not
reflect any light into our eyes, hence our brain interprets a lack of light/colour
as black.
Heath has bought himself a blue car.

Explain why we see the car as blue by
using the absorption and reflection of
light. Draw a diagram to support your
answer.
Heath's blue car.

...

.
TEACHER'S NOTE
..
Light striking the blue car.
White light from the Sun hits the car. All of the colours of light, except blue, are
absorbed by the surface of the car. Only blue light is reflected from the surface
of the car and enters our eyes. Our brain can only see the blue light and so we
perceive that the car is blue.
.
.
We have looked at opaque and transparent substances, absorption of light,

VISIT
reflection of light and how we see light. We are now going to go back to
.
transparent substances and see how light can interact with these materials. A simulation on colour
vision. bit.ly/18TbpEA
4.7 .
Refraction of light
Do you remember the last time you drank a cold drink with a straw? Did you
notice that the straw did not look straight anymore once it was in the water or
cool drink?
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
. else put a glass of water in front of
You should do this in front of the class, or
each learner. It is a really easy demonstration. All you need is a glass of water
and a straw. If you do not have a straw, a pencil works really well.
. .

Why does the pencil in this glass of water look bent?
Let's investigate this by examining what happens to light when it passes

through a glass block.
INVESTIGATION: What happens to light when it

passes through a glass block
.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
You do not need a ray-box for this investigation.
. A laser, such as those found on
keyrings, or a light bulb can be used. If you use a light bulb, you need to make a
cardboard screen. Cut a thin slit into the cardboard and hold it in front of the
light bulb, this will create a ray of light suitable for the investigation.
We are going to investigate what happens to a ray of light when it passes from
air and into a glass block and then from the glass block back into air. We are
going to use a glass block with parallel sides.
.
Before we start the investigation, we need to think about how we are going to
determine if light changes direction or not. Do you remember in the
investigation on reflection where we measured the angle of incidence and the
angle of reflection? What did we find in this investigation?
.
TEACHER'S NOTE .
The angle of incidence equals the angle of reflection.
When light passes through a transparent substance, we can also measure the
angles. Look at the following diagram. The angle of incidence (i) is measured
between the incident light ray and the normal line. As the light passes through
the transparent substance, the angle of refraction (r) is the angle between the
refracted light ray and the normal.
...

A light ray passing from one medium to another.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
Learners can come back to this diagram. and mark in which is the more dense
medium (glass) and which is the less dense medium (air). In this diagram,
medium 1 is air and medium 2 is glass.
In the diagram above, you can see that the angle of refraction is smaller than
the angle of incidence. Therefore, the refracted light ray changed direction
when it entered the transparent medium. We can also say something about
which direction it bent towards. Did the .light ray bend towards or away from
the normal line?
.
TEACHER'S NOTE .
The refracted ray bent towards the normal line.
The next diagram shows another outcome.
A light ray passing from one medium to another.
..
. .

.
TEACHER'S NOTE
Learners can come back to this diagram. and mark in which is the more dense
medium (glass) and which is the less dense medium (air). In this diagram,
medium 1 is now the glass and medium 2 is air.
In the diagram above, does the refracted ray change direction when it enters
the transparent medium? Give a reason for your answer.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
.
Yes, it changes direction as the angle of incidence is not equal to the angle of
refraction. The angle of incidence is smaller than the angle of refraction.
In which direction did the refracted ray change?
.
TEACHER'S NOTE .
The refracted ray bent away from the normal line.
We are now ready to start our investigation.
AIM: To determine whether light changes direction when it passes through a

parallel-sided glass block.
TAKE NOTE .
. ray from a
The emergent
parallel sided block is
.
parallel to the incident ray.
TEACHER'S NOTE
.
Learners must hypothesize about whether they think the light ray will change
direction or not when it passes through the glass block.
• glass block
• ray box, laser pointer or other light source
• protractor
METHOD:
1. Put the glass block in the centre of a piece of white paper and trace around
it.
2. Shine a ray of light into the glass block. The ray should be at an angle to
the surface of the block.
...

3. Trace the light ray with pencil and mark the point at which it enters the
glass block.
4. The light ray emerges on the other side of the glass block. Mark the point
at which it emerges with a pencil and trace the emergent ray.
.
5. Remove the glass block. Your diagram should look similar to the one
above.
6. Draw a line joining the incident ray and emergent ray. You have traced the
refracted ray through the glass block.
7. Draw the normal lines where the incident ray meets the block and where
the emergent ray leaves the block.
8. Measure the angles labelled 1, 2, 3 and 4 as shown on the diagram with a

protractor.
9. Fill in the measurements in the table.
10. Repeat the steps above three times using different angles of incidence
(angle 1).
RESULTS AND OBSERVATIONS:
Fill your results into the following table. ..
. .

Experimental
Angle 1 Angle 2 Angle 3 Angle 4
repeat
1
2
3
4
1. Which pairs of angles are equal in the measurements you have taken?
Learners should note that angle 1 is equal to angle 4 and angle 2 is equal to
angle 3 in all the sets of measurements.
NOTE: Discuss this with your learners as to why angles 2 and 3 are equal.
The explanation for this is to do with parallel lines and alternate angles. This
links well with what learners would have covered in Mathematics in the
beginning of the year. The normal lines are parallel and so the alternate
angles between them are equal. You can draw this on the board to explain
it in more detail and show that the normal lines are parallel as the
corresponding angles are equal (they are 90o ).
2. Which of the angles you measured are the angles of incidence and which
are the angles of refraction? Write this down below and mark them on the
diagram above.
Angles 1 and 4 are the angles of incidence and angles 2 and 3 are the
.
angles of refraction.
3. What do you notice about the angle of incidence and angle of refraction
for each of your sets of measurements?
The angle of incidence is always different to the angle of refraction.
4. Did the light entering the glass block bend towards or away from the
normal line?
The light bends towards the normal line. NOTE: This is because the light is
moving from a less dense to a more dense medium, which will be discussed
later on.
5. Make the angle of incidence zero (make the light ray enter the block
perpendicular to the surface). What is the angle of refraction?
Zero.
CONCLUSION:
What can you conclude from your results?
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
. angle of refraction. This means that
The angle of incidence is not equal to the
the light ray changes direction when it passes from the air into the glass block,
and again when it passes from the glass block back out into the air.
VISIT
. refraction
Learn more about
with this simulation.
bit.ly/GAxLmc
...

.
TEACHER'S NOTE
Investigation: The refraction of light as it enters water (PhET simulation)
This investigation requires the use of the PhET simulation listed in the visit box.
This can be used as an alternative to the previous investigation if you would
prefer to run the simulation, otherwise learners can discover more by
experimenting with different mediums and playing with prisms to make a
rainbow. On the webpage given here you can download a pdf file which gives
you tips on how to manipulate the simulation 1 bit.ly/1fL0pkf
Familiarise yourself with the use of the simulation before getting your learners to
use it. That way you can help learners with any problems they might encounter.
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Open the simulation. You should be on the introductory page.

2. Click the red light on the laser.
3. Use the protractor to measure the angles of incidence, reflection and
refraction. Fill in those angles in the table below. The angle of refraction is
between the normal line and the refracted ray of light.
4. Move the laser so that the angle of .incidence changes.
5. Use the protractor to measure the angles of incidence, reflection and
refraction. Fill in those angles in the table below.
6. Change the angle of incidence and reflection three more times and
complete the table.
RESULTS:
Experimental
Angle 1 Angle 2 Angle 3 Angle 4
repeat
1
2
3
4
CONCLUSIONS:
1. Compare the angles of incidence and reflection. What do you notice?

The angle of incidence is always equal to the angle of reflection.
2. Compare the angles of incidence and refraction. What do you notice?
The angle of refraction is not equal to the angle of incidence.
The angle of incidence is not equal to the angle of refraction because the light
has changed direction as it enters the glass. Therefore, when light travels from
one medium to another, it bends, or changes direction. This is called refraction.
When light enters a different medium at right angles then it does not change
direction.
So why does the light refract? Light behaves as a wave does and waves travel
at different speeds in different media. For example, light travels faster in air
than it does in water. When light enters a different medium, it changes speed,
and if it entered at an angle other than 90o , then it also changes direction. The
more dense the medium, the slower the light moves.
Do you remember learning about density last term in Matter and Materials?
Write down your own definition for density in the space below.
. .

.
TEACHER'S NOTE
This question is included to check what learners remember from the previous
TAKE NOTE term and to reinforce learning. We also need to show that although we learn
.
about Natural Sciences within the four Knowledge Strands, many concepts are
Remember that although we
learn about Natural Sciences
integrated and linked across the strands. Density is a measure of how much
. mass of a material fits into a given volume. We say density is the ratio of mass
in 4 strands throughout the
year, there are many
to volume, or mass per unit volume. We can write a mathematical relationship
connections and links
to show this ratio as follows: density = mass/volume.
between the strands.
VISIT
If light moves from a less dense medium, like air, into a denser medium, like
.
The speed of light in glass. glass, then the light slows down. The light will bend towards the normal line.
bit.ly/1fcfJVZ
If light moves from a more dense medium to a less dense medium then the light
speeds up and moves away from the normal.
When light refracts and changes direction as it passes through different

mediums, it can distort what we see. Think back to the pencil or straw in a glass
of water at the start of the section. We can now explain why a drinking straw or
pencil in a glass of water looks bent. The light bends when it moves from one
medium to another. Light moves from the air to glass to water, and therefore
changes direction.
If you have stood in a pool of water before and looked down, have you noticed
how short your legs appear to be? Let's have a look at this a bit more in the
next activity.
...

.
ACTIVITY: Magic coin trick

.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
This activity will show the learners that bending
. of light will affect what we are
able to see. The coin is not visible until the water is added. The water causes the
light rays from the coin to refract (bend) towards the learner's eye. This allows
the learner to see the coin.
MATERIALS:
• coin
• prestik
• opaque bowl or cup
• water
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Work in pairs for this activity. .

2. Put a small amount of prestik onto the bottom of the bowl.
3. Stick the coin to the bottom of the bowl.
4. Take small steps back from the desk/table until you cannot see the coin
over the lip of the bowl.
5. Ask your partner to slowly pour water into the bowl and observe.
. VISIT
TEACHER'S NOTE
. that shows
Watch a video
The learners should stick the coin to the. bowl in order to keep the coin still and explains the coin
when water is poured into the bowl. Often learners do not pour the water in activity. bit.ly/15NmXXO
gently and if the coin moves then it will affect the results.
QUESTIONS:
1. What happened when your partner poured the water into the bowl?
Learners responses may vary slightly but they should all have seen the coin
"appear" when the water was deep enough. When more water is added the
entire coin can be seen.
2. Where does the coin appear to be?
The coin appears to be higher than it actually is.
. .

3. Explain why the coin can be seen when the water is added, but not before.
The diagrams below will help you explain what is happening in words.
TAKE NOTE
The diagrams used here
show the container as
.
transparent so that you can
see the coin inside, whereas
you will actually be using an
opaque container.
.
Empty container. Container with water.

When there is no water in the bowl there is no direct line of sight from the
learner's eye to the coin. When water is added the light from the coin
leaves the water and is refracted. The learner's brain detects the refracted
light and as the brain knows light travels in straight lines, the coin appears
to be higher in the water.
.
Refraction can be used to explain why images appear to be distorted when we

view them through transparent mediums. For example, if you are looking at
your legs or hands through some water, they will appear closer than they
actually are as the light is refracted. Look at the photograph of the glass with
water in it in front of diagonal lines. Can you see how the lines are distorted
when the light travels through the water and glass compared to when it does
not?
Light refraction through glass and water.
...

Can you remember how we split white light into the separate colours of the
visible spectrum in the beginning of this chapter? What did we use to do this in
the activity?
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
We used a triangular prism. Learners have . already experimented with this to
show that white light is actually composed of 7 different colours. However, you
can repeat this activity again to explain why this happens in terms of refraction.
We can do this because the different

colours of light bend by different
amounts when the light enters a
different medium. Different colours of
light will slow down to different
speeds, causing them to bend by
different amounts.
Refraction through a triangular prism.
When the white light entered the prism it refracted. The different colours of
light travel at different speeds in the prism so they refracted at different angles
and split up. Red light refracts the least and the violet light refracts the most as
you can see in the following diagram.
Prisms are not the only objects that can split white light into separate colours.
In fact, a rainbow is a good example of white light splitting up.
. .

A rainbow.
Light from the Sun enters the raindrops and refracts. The light is then reflected
off the back of the raindrop. When the light passes out of the raindrop it is
refracted again and the colours split up even more as shown in the diagram.
A raindrop refracts and reflects light, dispersing white light into the colours of the visible
spectrum.
What colour is at the top of a rainbow and which colour is at the bottom?
.
TEACHER'S NOTE .
Red is at the top and violet is at the bottom.
Does this match the order which we see in the diagram showing how light is
refracted and reflected in a raindrop?
.
TEACHER'S NOTE .
No, it does not. It is the reverse order.
How does this happen? When we see a rainbow, we see a combination of

millions of raindrops. Although each raindrop refracts and reflects all 7 colours,
...

we only see only colour of light reflected from each particular raindrop. This
depends on the angle of the raindrop from our position. Therefore, the
raindrops higher up in the sky reflect red light to us and the rain drops lower
down reflect violet light to us. This is shown in the following diagram.
We see rainbows with red at the top and violet at the bottom due to the combination of
millions of raindrops. We only see one colour reflected from a particular raindrop,
depending on its position in the sky.
We are now going to look at an application of the refraction of light.
Lenses
Do you remember when we spoke about how we see light and the structure of
the eye, we mentioned that there is a lens just behind the iris? Another place
where you may have seen lenses before are in reading glasses which some
people wear to correct their vision. Or, have you seen how a magnifying glass
makes things appear bigger. What are lenses and how do they work?
A magnifying glass makes things look bigger.
A lens is a transparent object which focuses or refracts light. When light is

spread out, we say it has diverged. Some lenses will diverge light while others
will converge light, bringing the light rays together. When light rays are all
brought to the same point, we say they have been focused. Let's have a look at
this more closely.
. .

.
ACTIVITY: Diverging and converging light with

lenses
.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
You will need a ray box or light source which lets at least two rays of light
through so that learners can observe how they are either focused or dispersed.
In the absence of a ray box, you can use. any light source and use a piece of
cardboard with two slits cut into it to let the light through.
If you are not able to do this activity as you do not have lenses, photographs
have been provided so that learners can still answer the questions and see what
happens.
MATERIALS:
• ray box or light source

• concave lens
• convex lens
• piece of paper
• pencil
Before we start, it is important that you know the difference between a convex
.
and a concave lens.
TAKE NOTE
Convex lens Concave lens
A lens can have two sides
which are concave and it is
.
then called a biconcave lens
or two sides which are
convex and it is then called a
biconvex lens.
A convex lens has one A concave lens has one

side which curves or side which curves or is
bulges outwards. A hollowed inwards. A
convex lens converges concave lens diverges
light. light.
...

INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Place a ray box or light source on one side of a piece of paper and turn it
on. Observe the light rays. You might see something as shown in the
photograph here.
Three rays coming out of a ray box.
2. Turn the ray box off.

3. Place the convex lens (with the rounded surface) on the piece of paper
where the light rays will pass through it. Trace around it.
4. Turn on the ray box or light source and observe what happens to the rays
when they pass through the lens.
.
Light rays passing through a convex lens.
5. Trace the path of the light rays on your piece of paper.

6. Describe what has happened to the light rays.
The light rays have been focused as they come to a point.
7. Mark the point where the light rays cross. This is called the focal point of a
convex lens.
8. Turn off the ray box or light source and place a new piece of paper in front
of it.
9. Now place the concave lens in the path of the light rays and trace around
the lens.
10. Turn on the light source and observe what happens to the rays.
11. Trace the path of the rays on the piece of paper. ..
. .

A concave lens in front of the rays of light.
12. Describe what has happened to the light rays.

The light rays have diverged as they spread out after passing through the
lens.
13. Turn off the light rays and extend the rays you have drawn until they meet
at a point in front of the lens. This is the focal point of a concave lens.
14. If you still have your pin hole cameras, place a convex and concave lens in
front of the camera and observe the . image that forms.
Viewing a light source through a pinhole camera with different lenses.
15. Is the image larger or smaller when you observe through a concave lens?
The image will be larger.
16. Is the image larger or smaller when you observe through a convex lens?
The image will be smaller.
We have now seen how lenses can disperse or focus light. Have a look at the
following diagrams which show how a biconvex lens converges light and a
biconcave lens diverges light.
...

Converging lens Diverging lens
A diverging lens refracts the light

A converging lens refracts the light entering it and bends the light rays
entering it and bends the light rays away from each other. The light
to a focal point on the other side of rays can be traced back to a focal
the lens. point in front of the lens.
What do we use lenses for? Think of a magnifying glass. If you hold a

magnifying glass over a picture or words then it enlarges the image. Is a
magnifying glass an example of a diverging or converging lens?
.
TEACHER'S NOTE .
A magnifying glass is an example of a converging lens.
Let's think about how this works. Imagine you are looking at the ladybird from
the beginning of the chapter through a magnifying glass. The ladybird looks
bigger than what it actually is. When the object you are viewing is closer to the
lens than the focal point, you see a virtual image of the ladybird that is larger
than the object.
Have a look at the first diagram below. Can you see that the ladybird is between
the focal point and the lens? The rays reflected from the ladybird are refracted
by the magnifying glass and enter the person's eye.
. .

In the next diagram you can see how your eyes see a virtual image of the
ladybird which is bigger than the object. The more curved the convex lens is in
a magnifying glass, the greater its ability to magnify objects.
TAKE NOTE
When you hold a magnifying
glass up and view a distant
object, the object appears
smaller and upside down.
.
Unlike when viewing the
ladybird close up, the distant
object is beyond the focal
point of the lens, which
results in this effect.
Do you remember what the human eye looks like? We have lenses in our eyes
to allow us to see. The light enters the eye and passes through the lens. The
lens focuses the light onto the back of our retina so that a clear image is formed.
What type of lens do we have in our eyes? Give a reason for your answer.
VISIT
.
How do lenses work? .
bit.ly/GABjoO TEACHER'S NOTE
.
A biconvex (converging) lens as it needs to focus the light rays onto the back of
the retina.
In order for a clear image to form, the lens in our eye needs to focus the light
rays coming into our eyes so that the focal point falls on the retina. This
depends on the shape of the lens in our eyes. Sometimes, people have lenses in
their eyes that cannot focus properly. Have a look at the following diagram
which shows a normal eye and then an eye which focuses before the retina
(near-sighted) and behind the retina (far-sighted).
...

Optical glasses, or spectacles, are used to correct near or far-sightedness.
If you are near-sighted you need a diverging lens. Would this be a biconcave or
biconvex lens?
.
TEACHER'S NOTE .
You would need a biconcave lens.
If you are far-sighted you need a converging lens. Would this be a biconcave or
biconvex lens?
.
TEACHER'S NOTE .
You would need a biconvex lens.
An optometrist holds a lens in front of a patient's eye to correct her vision.
. .

The following image shows how lenses can be used to correct far and
near-sightedness.
TAKE NOTE
Next term in Planet Earth
. will look at
and Beyond we
how lenses are used in
optical telescopes to view
objects in space.
Careers in optics
ACTIVITY: Research careers in optics

.
There are many different careers in the field of geometric optics.
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Work in groups of 3.
2. Interview someone in the field of geometric optics and find out how they
.
chose their career and what and where they studied.
3. Write a paragraph explaining the career and the study options available in
order to qualify for that career.
4. Here are some examples of careers in geometric optics.
VISIT a) Optometry
b) Ophthalmology
.
An interview conducted with
an optometrist.
c) Optoelectronics
bit.ly/19WxYYa
d) Illumination engineering
...

.
TEACHER'S NOTE
Here is some information about each of these careers:
Optometry
Optometrists measure the efficiency of the patient's eyes. They examine eyes
for vision problems, disease and other abnormal conditions. They test for
proper depth and colour perception and the ability to focus and coordinate the
eyes. They specialize in visual defects They are able to prescribe spectacles or
contact lenses to rectify or alleviate visual defects such as far-sightedness,
short-sightedness, astigmatism (image distortion) and presbyopia
(far-sightedness as the result of age).
School Subjects
National Senior Certificate meeting degree requirements for a degree course
National Senior Certificate meeting diploma requirements for a diploma course
Each institution will have its own minimum entry requirements.
Compulsory Subjects: Mathematics, Physical Sciences
Recommended Subjects: Life Sciences
Training
Degree: BOptometry - UJ, UFS, UL. The duration of the course is 4 years of
full-time study. After the completion of the degree course, students may be
expected to complete a one-year internship. before registration as professional
.
optometrists.
Diploma: N.Dip: Optical Dispensing and B.Tech - CPUT. The duration of the
course is three years. A fourth year of study culminates in the BTech
Optometry. During their third and fourth year, students have contact with
patients. Students are required to complete a one-year internship.
Optometrists are required to register with the Interim National Medical and
Dental Council (INMDC) of SA before they may practise.
Ophthalmology
Ophthalmologists diagnose and treat diseases of the eye, including glaucoma

and cataracts, vision problems, such as near-sightedness, and eye injuries. Most
ophthalmologists practice a combination of medicine and surgery, ranging from
lens prescription and standard medical treatment to the most delicate and
precise surgical manipulations.
School Subjects
National Senior Certificate meeting degree requirements for a degree course
Each institution will have its own minimum entry requirements.
Compulsory Subjects: Mathematics, Physical Sciences
Recommended Subjects: Life Sciences
Note: Competition to enter medical studies is stiff and there are usually many
applicants with excellent grades who naturally would be given preference.
..
. .

.
TEACHER'S NOTE
Training
MBChB degree at UP, UCT, UFS, Wits, US, UL, UKZN:
• Theoretical training: 6 years

• Student internship: 1 year
• Practical work at a hospital: 1 year (also known as the house doctor year).
• Post-graduate study for specialisation as an ophthalmologist: 3 - 5 years.
Registration: on successful completion of the examination to qualify as a

specialist, the candidate must register with the International Medical and
diagnostic Centre as an ophthalmologist.
A useful website: bit.ly/18SxQty
Optoelectronics ..
Optoelectronics is the study and application of electronic devices that source,

detect and control light, usually considered a sub-field of photonics.
This career would require a degree in electrical engineering which could be

obtained at any South African university. Entry requirements will depend on the
institution involved.
Illumination engineering
illumination engineering is the study and use of lighting in various situations,

buildings and community spaces, such as sports and recreational lighting,
lighting industrial facilities, roadway lighting, museum lighting. Illumination
engineering can be studied at university by pursuing a degree in electrical
engineering. The Illumination Engineering Society of South Africa also offers
courses, details are on their website.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
The Zooniverse website provides a great overview of the various citizen science
projects that learners can get involved in. There is a huge variety of projects,
including helping to identify possible planets around stars, analysing real life
cancer data, looking at tropical cyclone data and listening to the calls from
whales or bats. .
VISIT Citizen science is scientific research that is conducted in whole or in part by

Want to take part in some
nonprofessional scientists, specifically the general public. Encouraging learners
.
real science research? Check
to get involved in some of these projects will open their eyes to the possibilities
out these citizen science
out there, and also add meaning and value to what they learn within the Natural
projects to get involved
Sciences classroom. http://bit.ly/14JxLsw
easily. bit.ly/15KjnmD
Remember to discover more online by visiting http://www.curious.org.za and

by typing the links in the Visit margin boxes into your internet browser to watch
...

any videos, play with simulations or read an interesting article.
Type the bit.ly link for the video or site that you want to visit into the address bar of your
browser on your computer, tablet or mobile phone.
..
SUMMARY:
.
Key Concepts
• Light travels in straight lines.
• White light consists of all the colours of the visible spectrum.
• The colour spectrum can be seen when white light is dispersed by a
prism or a raindrop (rainbow).
• Light cannot pass through opaque objects.
• Light can pass through transparent objects.
• Light is absorbed by some materials.
• A material appears to be a certain colour because it reflects that part of
the colour spectrum. Other wavelengths of light are absorbed.
• In reflection, the angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection.
• On a smooth surface, parallel rays of light are all reflected at the same
angle.
• On rough surfaces, the light is scattered and the image produced is not
clear.
• The human eye has specialised cells in the retina which convert light
into electrical nerve impulses. The nerve impulses are transmitted to
the brain via the optic nerve, where they are interpreted.
• Light travels at different speeds in different media.
• When light enters a different medium at an angle, the light is refracted.
• If the light slows down, the light bends towards the normal line.
• If the light speeds up, the light bends away from the normal line.
• Converging lenses refract and focus light.
• Diverging lenses and triangular prisms refract and disperse light.
• Lenses have many applications, for example, in glasses to correct vision,
microscopes, telescopes and magnifying glasses.
. Map
Concept
The concept map on the next page shows how all the concepts relating to
visible light link together. Complete the map to reinforce what you have
learned in this chapter.
. .

.
.
.
REVISION:
.
1. Match the correct definitions to the terms in the following table. Write the
letter of the definition next to the correct number below. [12 marks]
Term Definition
A. Light cannot pass

1. Radiation through.
B. The angle of incidence

equals the angle of
2. Visible light reflection when a ray is
reflected off a smooth
surface.
C. One of the ways in

which energy is
3. Opaque transferred, specifically
.
through a vacuum
D. When light enters a

4. Transparent transparent medium it
can change direction.
5. Absorption E. Curved inwards.
F. The spectrum of light

6. Reflection which we are able to see.
7. Retina G. Bulging outwards.
H. A transparent object
8. Refraction able to refract and focus
light.
...

Term Definition
9. Diverging I. Light can pass through.
J. When light rays are

10. Lens spread out from a point.
K. A layer of tissue at the

11. Concave back of the eye which is
sensitive to light.
L. When the surface of a

12. Convex substance absorbs
certain colours of light.
Answers:
1: C
2: F
3: A
.
4: I
5: L
6: B
7: K
8: D
9: J
10: H
11: E
12: G
..
. .

2. A beam of white light is shone through a glass prism. It splits up into seven
colours which are shone on a screen. A learner took a photograph which is
shown below and drew a ray diagram to show the prism. The colours are
marked 1 to 7 in the diagram.
A photograph of the prism. A diagram drawn by the learner.

a) What does this tell us about white light? [1 mark]
b) Why does the light do this when it passes through the prism? [3
marks]
c) What colour is at label 1 and what colour is at label 7? Explain your
answer. [3 marks]
d) What label corresponds to the colour of grass? [1 mark]
e) Can you see there are two other lighter, white rays emerging from the
prism? What do you think this is the result of? [2 marks]
a) White light is made up of a spectrum of 7 colours.
b) When the light passes from the air into the glass at an angle, it refracts
and bends. The colours of the spectrum
. bend by different amounts
causing the light to disperse. When the light leaves the other side of
the prism, it refracts again and the colours bend even more and split
up showing the seven colours.
c) Colour 1 is red and colour 7 is violet as red light bends the least and
violet light bends the most.
d) Label 4, green.
e) These rays are the result of some reflection off the inner surfaces of
the prism as not all the light passes directly through.
Note:This is an extension question.
3. Why does an opaque object cast a shadow? [2 marks]
An opaque object casts a shadow as it does not let any light pass through
it. The light is either reflected or absorbed. There will be a shadow on the
opposite side to the light source as the light cannot reach there due to the
object.
4. Look at the following photograph of water in a pond and answer the
questions.
Water in a pond.
...

a) How are we able to see the image of the wooden poles sticking up on
the edge of the pond? [2 marks]
b) Why is the image not clear, but blurred? [2 marks]
a) The light is reflected off the poles and then it reflects off the surface of
the water and into our eyes.
b) This is because the light rays are not reflected off a smooth surface,
but rather an uneven surface, due to the ripples in the water. The light
rays are scattered.
5. Two learners are discussing the colours of light. They decide that white
and black are not really colours of light. If they are not colours, then how
can we see them? [5 marks]
White is a combination of all of the colours in the visible spectrum. White
objects reflect all the colours equally and so we see the mixture of colours
as white. Black is an absence of colour. Black objects absorb all of the
colours and reflect none. This means that we don't see any coloured light
from that object.
6. Explain how we are able to see the different colours on the South African
flag. [6 marks]
Black: All the colours are absorbed and none are reflected.
Yellow: All the colours except yellow are absorbed and the yellow is
reflected.
Green: All the colours except green are absorbed and the green is reflected.
Blue: All the colours except blue are absorbed and the blue is reflected
Red: All the colours except red are absorbed and the red is reflected.
White: All the colours are reflected, none are absorbed and so the
combined colours appear as white.
7. Draw a ray diagram in the space provided to show how we see the green
part of the flag. [5 marks]
..
. .

8. Which diagram shown below correctly shows the path of a ray of light
through a triangular piece of glass? [2 marks]
C
9. Complete the following sentence and write it out in full on the lines
provided: When light travels from a less dense into a more dense
transparent medium, it refracts and bends the normal line.
When light travels from more dense to a less dense medium, it refracts and
bends from the normal line. [2 marks]
When light travels from a less dense into a more dense transparent
.
medium, the light refracts and bends towards the normal line. When light
travels from more dense to a less dense medium, it refracts and bends
away from the normal line.
10. Draw a diagram to show what is meant by 'when the refracted ray bends
towards the normal'. Mark the angle of incidence and angle of refraction.
Indicate which medium is denser [4 marks]
...

11. Study the following diagram and answer the questions that follow.
a) This diagram is a drawing that a learner made during an investigation

into the refraction of light. What does the red line represent in this
diagram? [1 mark]
b) What do the blue lines represent? Label this on the diagram. [1 mark]
c) The light passes from the air and into a block of another medium. Is
this medium more or less dense than air? Give a reason for your
answer. [2 marks] .
d) What type of medium could the block be made from? [1 mark]
e) Label the incident ray and the emergent ray on the diagram. [2 marks]
f) Label the angles of incidence (i) and angles of refraction (r) on the
diagram. [2 marks]
a) The ray of light.
b)
c) The block is more dense than air as when the light enters the block, the
ray bends towards the normal line indicating that it travels more
slowly. The ray then bends away from the normal line when it leaves
the block and enters a less dense medium (the air) and travels faster.
d) It must be a transparent medium, such as glass.
e)
f) 0.5 marks for each label. The learner's completed diagram with labels
should look as follows:
..
. .

12. Which diagram shown below shows the path of a light beam passing
through a rectangular glass prism correctly? [2 marks]
13. Why does it look like the tree trunk in the photograph is skew? [2 marks]
This is due to refraction. The light that passes through the piece of glass is
bent and so the image becomes distorted and looks as though the trunk is
skew. .
14. What shape does a lens have to have in order to focus the light? [1 mark]
It must be convex.
15. Draw a ray diagram to show how a converging lens focuses light to a point.
[4 marks]
16. Which eyesight defect can be fixed by using a converging lens? Explain
what this defect is and why it can be corrected. [4 mark]
Far-sightedness can be corrected using a convex lens. This is when the light
focuses on a point behind the retina so the image is blurred. A convex lens
is used to bend the light rays before they enter the eye so that when they
do pass through the lens in the eye they are focused clearly on the retina.
Total [74 marks]
...

.
.
GLOSSARY
ammeter: device that measures the strength of an electric

current
ampere: the standard unit for measuring electric current
angle of incidence: the angle between the incident ray and the normal
line
angle of reflection: the angle between the reflected ray and the normal
line
attract: to pull something closer
cell: a source of energy for an electric circuit
component: a part of a larger system
composition: the parts of a mixture
conductor: a substance which easily transmits electricity, heat,
sound or light
converge: light rays that come together and focus on a point
delocalised: not limited to a particular place, free to move
discharge: the sudden flow of charged particles between two
electrically charged objects
dispersion: spreading of something over an area
diverge: light rays that spread apart as they move further
and further away from a point
earth: (or ground) to. connect with a conductor to the
ground, or the earth
earthing: a way to prevent electrical charge from building up
on an object, or to neutralise an electric charge, by
allowing the excess charge to flow into the Earth
electric circuit: a complete path through which electrons can move
electric current: the movement of charge in an electric circuit
electrodes: a conductor which allows electricity to enter a
substance
electrolysis: the use of electricity to separate chemicals in a
solution
electromagnet: a device which becomes a magnet when electric
current passes through it
electroplating: covering an object with a thin layer of metal using
electrolysis
electrostatic charge: the electric charge resulting from static electricity
caused by an excess or deficiency of electrons on
the surface of an object
flammable: something is easily set on fire
focus: bring together to the same point
friction: the resistance that results when two surfaces are
rubbed or moved against each other
fuse: a safety device designed to melt and break the
circuit if an electric current reaches too high a level
. .

ignite: to light something
incident ray: the ray of light which hits a surface
luminous: bright or shining
medium: substance through which waves (such as light) can
travel
neutral: when the number of positive charges (from the
protons) is equal to the number of negative
charges (from the electrons); the (positive and
negative) charges balance each other so that the
object is neither positively nor negatively charged
normal line: this is an imaginary line which is drawn at 90o to
the surface
opaque: something that you cannot see through; no light
passes through the object
optical density: a measure of how well a medium allows light to
travel through it
optics: the scientific study of sight and the behaviour of
light
parallel circuit: a circuit that provides more than one pathway for
the current to pass through it
perpendicular: at right angles
propagation: spreading into new areas
qualitative: describing something in terms of its properties or
characteristics rather than by a number or
measurement.
radiation: the emission of energy as electromagnetic waves
rectilinear: straight lines
reflect: throw back without absorbing
reflected ray: the ray of light which leaves a surface
refraction: the change in direction of a wave passing from one
medium to another caused by its change in speed
repel: to push something away
resistance: the opposition to the movement of charge in a
conductor
resistor: a component in an electrical circuit which slows the
movement of charge
retina: a layer at the back of the eyeball which is made up
of light sensitive cells
series: components connected in series provide only one
pathway for electrical current; they are connected
one after another
static electricity: the build-up of a stationary electric charge (either
positive or negative) on the surface of an object
stimulate: to cause activity
switch: a control component in an electrical circuit which
opens or closes the circuit
translucent: semi-transparent; some light is able to pass through
but not enough for details to be seen clearly
transmit: to cause light to pass through space or medium
...

transparent: something that you can see through; light passes
through the object
variable: something that
. can vary or change
visible spectrum: the portion of the wave spectrum that is visible to
the human eye
. .

SB 103_Siyavula NEW Gr7-9 divider E&B DBE A4.indd 1 2013/12/11 3:52 PM
SB 103_Siyavula NEW Gr7-9 divider E&B DBE A4.indd 2 2013/12/11 3:52 PM
1 The solar system
.
.TEACHER'S
. ... NOTE
Chapter overview
(3 weeks)
The ordering of the chapter in Gr 8 Planet Earth and Beyond in CAPS is as

follows:
1. The solar system

2. Beyond the solar system
3. Looking into space
Although this is the order in CAPS and it is the way in which the content has
been ordered here in these workbooks, we suggest starting with Chapter 3 on
'Looking into space' first, and then going on to the other two chapters. This
makes more sense conceptually to first learn about how we see into space, and
then go on to look at the objects that have been observed in our solar system
and beyond, making use of a variety of telescopes.
In Grade 6 learners covered material regarding the solar system, and in Grade 7,
they focused on the Sun, Earth, Moon system. Learners should be familiar with
the fact that the Sun is a star located at the centre of the solar system and they
should understand that the planets orbit around the Sun. They should also be
aware that there are two types of planets: smaller rocky planets and larger gas
. introduced in more detail, and the
giants. In this chapter, the solar system is
physical explanation for the two types of planets is summarised. They will
compare the properties of the different planets, information that they will then
use to explain why the Earth is presently the only planet suitable for life in our
solar system. The main aims of this chapter are to ensure that learners
understand the following:
• The Sun is a star and produces heat and light (energy) via nuclear
reactions.
• The planets, dwarf planets and asteroids all orbit around the Sun, held in
their orbits by the force of gravity.
• Different planets have different observed properties and characteristics.
• The Earth is located in a special zone around the Sun, where life is possible.
Section 1.1 covers the properties of the Sun, section 1.2 introduces all the other
objects in the solar system and section 1.3 covers our special place in the solar
system.
Concept maps: The concept maps in these workbooks were created at Siyavula
using an open source programme called CMapTools. You can download the
programme from this link if you would like to use it to create your own concept
maps.bit.ly/1fMyJsQ
Do you think it is important to teach astronomy to learners at school? Read this

interesting and informative article detailing the benefits and applications of
astronomy. bit.ly/17iVgpw
164
Citizen science offers you a free, easily accessible and inspiring opportunity to
bring real science into the classroom. Find out more about incorporating real
science into your classroom with Zooniverse citizen science projects at
ZooTeach: bit.ly/H6krWT. ZooTeach is a website where teachers and educators
can share high quality lesson plans and resources that complement the
Zooniverse citizen science projects.
Did you know that these workbooks were created at Siyavula with the input
from many contributors and volunteers? Just turn to the front to see the
long list. Read more about Siyavula at our website:
www.siyavula.com
You can also sign up at our community page if you would like to stay in
touch and get involved in our projects.
Siyavula has also created a range of textbooks for other grades and
subjects, and we are going to be producing more. These textbooks and
workbooks are openly-licensed and freely available for you to use,
download, copy, rework and redistribute. The Siyavula textbooks that are
currently available are:
• Gr 4-6 Natural Sciences and Technology:

www.thunderboltkids.co.za
• Physical Sciences Gr 10-12:
www.everythingscience.co.za .
• Mathematics Gr 10-12, Mathemtaical Literacy Gr 10:
www.everythingmaths.co.za
1.1 The Sun (1.5 hour)

Activity: Observing the
observing, describing Suggested
Sun with a telescope
Alternative to above
Sun with a pinhole observing
activity
camera
observing, identifying,
Activity: Sunspots Optional, extension
analysing
. .
Chapter 1. The solar system 165

1.2 Objects around the Sun (6 hours)

Activity: The scale of simulating, visualising,
CAPS suggested
the solar system taking measurements
CAPS suggested (also
Activity: Make a simulating, visualising,
alternative to above
hanging solar system taking measurements
activity)
Activity: Planetary reading tables, labelling
CAPS suggested
temperatures graphs
Activity: Comparing
terrestrial planets and comparing, recalling Optional
gas giants
Activity: Comparing the comparing, reading
CAPS suggested
inner and outer planets tables, analysing
Activity: Planetary
writing, researching CAPS suggested
holidays .
CAPS suggested (also
Activity: Planet
writing, researching alternative to above
factsheet
activity)
investigating,
Investigation: Impact observing, taking
Suggested
craters measurements,
analysing
Activity: A comet's ion
observing Suggested
tail
1.3 Earth's position in the solar system (1.5 hours)

plotting graphs,
Activity: The Sun's
interpreting graphs, CAPS suggested
habitable zone
analysing
..
KEY QUESTIONS:
• How does the Sun produce its energy?
• How can we observe the Sun without damaging our eyes?
• What objects are in orbit around the Sun in our solar system?
• Why are there two types of planets?
• How do the planets in our solar system differ?
• What are asteroids and comets?
• What is the difference between a planet and a dwarf planet?
• Why is life possible on Earth?
Our solar system includes the Sun and all the objects that orbit around the Sun.
As you will find out, a variety of objects are in orbit around the Sun: eight
planets, many dwarf planets, asteroids, Kuiper Belt objects and comets.
...
166 Planet Earth and Beyond

.
1.1 The Sun
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
In this section students learn how the Sun produces its energy in its core and
how this energy is transported to the surface and then into space. The effect
that the Sun has on the Earth is also briefly mentioned. This section focuses on
.
conducting observations of the Sun and looking at images of the Sun to study
the surface features, including sunspots.
There are two activities in this section which involve observations of the Sun. It
is very important that learners DO NOT LOOK DIRECTLY AT THE SUN, even
with sunglasses on, as they may permanently damage their eyes.
Before we look at the Sun close up, let's summarise what you learned about the
Sun in Grades 6 and 7:
1. The Sun is our closest star and is very important for life on Earth as it
provides us with light and heat.
2. The Sun is located at the very centre of our solar system.
3. The Earth and other planets all orbit around the Sun, held in orbit by the
force of gravity.
What do you think the Sun would look like if it was further away, like the other VISIT
stars we see at night? .
Secrets of a dynamic Sun
(video) bit.ly/1h0io4b
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
Although the Sun is the brightest object. in our sky, this is only because it is so
close to us. The Sun is actually a medium sized star of average brightness
compared with other stars. If the sun were farther away, it would look like a
small point of light like the other stars in the sky.
VISIT
.
How the Sun works.
bit.ly/1gy769C
Let's look at the Sun in more detail.
TAKE NOTE
It is very important that you
do not look.at the Sun
directly! The Sun can
An image of the Sun taken with the SOHO space satellite. damage your eyes
permanently!
. .

Do you know what the Sun is made of? The Sun is mostly made up of hydrogen
gas (about 71%), and also helium gas (about 27%) with a tiny amount of other
gases. The temperature at the Sun's surface is very high, around 5500 o C.
However, that is nothing compared to deep inside the Sun. At the Sun's centre,
or core, it is about 15 million o C. It is so hot at the Sun's centre that nuclear
reactions can occur, which change atoms from one element to another. In the
Sun's case, four hydrogen nuclei are squeezed or fused together to form a new
helium nucleus. This process is called nuclear fusion.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
.
At the temperatures encountered at the centre of the Sun the atoms are ionized
and so nuclear fusion involves the merging of atomic nuclei rather than atoms.
This nuclear fusion reaction releases energy because the new helium nuclei
produced have very slightly less mass than the four hydrogen nuclei used to
make them. How can this be? Well, according to the famous scientist Albert
Einstein, energy and mass are equivalent. Some of the mass in the hydrogen
nuclei is converted and released as energy when the nuclei fuse to make helium.
VISIT A very large amount of energy is released. This energy travels outwards from
. the Sun's core towards its surface. The energy eventually reaches the Sun's
The birth of the solar system
surface somewhere between 17,000 and 100,000 years later! The Sun's energy
(video) bit.ly/1i8Bfrx
then spreads out into the solar system in the form of heat and light.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
Different studies of the transport of photons within the Sun estimate different
travel times to reach the surface. Much older studies reported times of order of
millions of years, but these have now all been revised downwards to either tens
or hundreds of thousands of years.
.
Although we often say that the Sun "burns" its hydrogen fuel into helium, the
Sun does not burn in the same way that a fire does, because it is not on fire. The
energy generated from the Sun comes from fusing atomic nuclei together to
form a new atomic nucleus. As a result of the extreme temperatures throughout
the Sun, its gas glows, giving off light. Our usual experience of burning (or fire)
is actually a chemical reaction where atoms combine to form molecules, e.g.
when oxygen combines with carbon to form carbon dioxide.
You are now going to observe the Sun to look at its surface features.
Remember, you should never look directly at the Sun as it can permanently
damage your eyes. You can use either a telescope with a filter on it or a pinhole
to project an image of the Sun onto a screen to safely view the Sun's image.
...

.
ACTIVITY: Observing the Sun using a telescope

.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
This is an outdoors activity. You will need a telescope or binoculars for this
activity. An alternative activity is included after this,which does not need a
telescope or binoculars.You will be projecting an image of the Sun onto a white
card or screen for your learners to observe.
If you do not have access to a telescope or binoculars it could be worth

contacting a local amateur astronomy club as they are often keen to get
involved in educational activities. It is vital that learners do not look directly at
the Sun, with or without sunglasses. The projection method used in this activity
is safe and also has the bonus that any sunspots on the Sun's surface can also
be seen. Sunspots are regions of slightly lower temperature on the Sun's
surface, and therefore appear darker. If you do not have access to a telescope,
but do have internet access, then an image of the Sun is posted daily at
1
1.usa.gov/1a2n1cE
.
It is assumed that this will be a teacher-led demonstration, however, there is no
reason why learners cannot contribute by . building the shade collar and setting
up the white card. If you are using binoculars instead of a telescope, be sure to
cover one of the lenses so that only one side of the binoculars is used. When
trying to point the telescope at the Sun, a useful trick is to watch the shadow of
the telescope tube: if pointed directly toward the Sun, then the sides of the
tube will cast no shadows. Preparing for the activity can sometimes take a bit of
fiddling, so it is a good idea for you to set your learners a short task to do while
you set up if you have not had the opportunity to set up ahead of time.
Sunspots are sometimes (not always) visible on the Sun's surface. You are more
likely to see sunspots when the Sun is most active during solar maximum. The
Sun's activity varies over an 11 year cycle. Solar maximum is currently predicted
to be in 2013. Solar minimum is currently predicted to be in 2019. As an
extension you could repeat this activity over the course of several days to see if
any sunspots or sunspot groups change shape, size, or position over time.
MATERIALS:
• telescope
• white card
• chair to rest the card on
• cardboard to make a shade collar
• pair of scissors
• pencil
. .

VISIT
Interact with this simulation
. effects of
to visualize the
gravity on orbital paths of
the Sun, Earth and Moon.
bit.ly/1a2mJCL
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Take a piece of cardboard and place it up against the narrowest end of the
telescope.
TAKE NOTE 2. Draw an outline around the edge of the telescope on the card to use as a
NEVER look directly at the guide for cutting to make the collar.
.
Sun, even with sunglasses 3. Cut out inside the circle you just drew so that the cardboard can fit over
on as you can permanently the telescope as shown in the figure above. You can cut a single slit into
damage your eyes. the circle from the edge of the card as shown in the diagram
.
4. Place the collar on the telescope. Adjust the size of the cut out circle if
necessary (for example if your telescope is slightly wider in the middle
than at the end, you may want to make your circle slightly larger). This
collar shades the area, where the image will fall, from stray light.
5. Select the lowest magnification eyepiece lens you have and insert it into
the telescope's eyepiece.
6. Focus the telescope by looking at a distant object (NOT the Sun).
7. Point the telescope at the Sun (do NOT look through the telescope to do
this).
8. Place a chair behind the telescope and rest a white piece of card on it. The
card should be tilted towards the telescope.
9. Adjust the direction in which the telescope is pointing until the image of
the Sun appears on the white paper card. This may take some time.
10. Keeping the telescope still, move the white card toward or away from the
eyepiece until the image of the Sun fits neatly in the middle of the card.
Adjust the chair's position as needed.
11. Adjust the tilt of the white card until the Sun's image is circular.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
Ask the learners to point out any interesting features they notice about the
image. There may be sunspots (dark spots) visible. Also you should see that the
image is brighter in the middle of the Sun's
. disc than at the edges. This is
because when we look at the middle of the Sun's disc we can see deeper into
the Sun than when we look towards the edge. The temperature of the Sun
increases with increasing depth. At the centre of the Sun's disc we are seeing a
hotter region. As the intensity of light is proportional to the temperature, the
Sun looks brighter in the centre.
...

QUESTIONS:
1. Looking carefully you should see that the Sun's image moves slowly across
the white card. What causes this motion?
The spin of the Earth on its axis.
2. Draw a picture of what the surface of the Sun looks like on the white card
in the circle below.
.
TAKE NOTE
Revise the model of the
atom that you learned about
in Matter and Materials if you
are unsure of some of the
.
terms used here, such as
nucleus, which is at the
centre of an atom, and
consists of protons and
neutrons.
Learner-dependent answer.
.
.
Alternatively, if you do not have access to a telescope or binoculars, you can

perform the following activity to view the Sun.
ACTIVITY: Observing the Sun with a pinhole

camera
.
In this activity you will reflect an image of the Sun onto a white card or screen
for your learners to observe. This method has the advantage of not needing a
telescope or binoculars, however, the solar image produced will be a bit fuzzy.
However, it should be good enough to show . large sunspots. This activity is
designed as a teacher-led demonstration. If you have a sunlit window or door to
your class you can do this activity in the classroom. If you do not have a
classroom with a sunlit window, or if your class is very small, you can do the
activity outdoors, reflecting the Sun's image onto a shaded wall or back into a
darkened classroom.
VISIT
As a rough guide, begin with a distance of around 8 m between the white card . the Sun in
Three years of
and the mirror. The further away you place the mirror from the white screen the three minutes.
bit.ly/19nCfGu
. .

fainter and larger the image will appear. At closer distances the image will be
brighter but it may not be in very good focus.
As mentioned in the previous activity, sunspots are sometimes (not always)

visible on the Sun's surface. Therefore, you could repeat this activity over the
course of several days to see if any sunspots or sunspot groups change shape,
size, or position over time.
VISIT
.
Where does the Sun get its
energy? bit.ly/1azFmsM
.
MATERIALS:
• small pocket mirror or hand mirror

• piece of plain cardboard (or paper) to fit over the mirror (or alternatively
tape)
• white cardboard screen
• bin bags or curtains for darkening the classroom
METHOD:
1. Cut the plain cardboard or paper so it fits over the mirror.

2. Cut or punch a very small hole, about 5 mm, in the middle of the plain
VISIT cardboard.
2 .
E = mc explained (video). 3. If you do not have cardboard, you can use tape to cover all but a small
bit.ly/16mVFNI portion of the surface of the mirror.
4. Place the mirror on a window sill in the Sun and tilt it so that it catches the
sunlight and reflects it into the classroom. If your classroom is very small,
placing the mirror outside on a chair may be a better option in order to get
a larger image.
5. Darken the classroom using curtains or bin bags, excluding where the
mirror is.
6. Reflect the sunlight from the mirror onto a wall of the darkened room.
7. Put the white cardboard or paper on the wall where the reflected light
showing the Sun's image falls.
8. Observe the image of the Sun.
9. Remove the white cardboard from the wall and take three steps towards
the mirror with the cardboard still facing the mirror. Note what happens to
the image of the Sun on the cardboard.
QUESTIONS:
...

1. As you moved the white cardboard screen closer towards the mirror, what
did you notice happened to the image of the Sun?
The image should get smaller and brighter.
2. Draw a picture of what the surface of the Sun looks like on the white card
in the circle below.
Learner-dependent answer.
3. When the Sun reflects off the surface of the mirror, what can you say about
the angle of incidence and the angle of reflection of the ray?
The angles are equal. This links back to what learners covered last term in
Energy and Change.
.
.
VISIT
Did you notice any features on the Sun's surface when you viewed it in class? .
Fiery looping rain on the Sun
Let's find out what some of these surface features could have been in the next
(video) bit.ly/16qmriQ
activity.
. .

.
ACTIVITY: Observing sunspots on the Sun's

surface
.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
This is an additional, extension activity. In this activity learners will look at
images taken over three consecutive days in 2013. The images were taken using
the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager instrument on board the Solar Dynamics
Observatory space satellite. In the images two major sunspot groups are visible,
one in the Sun's northern hemisphere and . one in the Sun's southern hemisphere.
Learners should identify the two groups and observe that they move across the
Sun from left to right in each successive image. The sunspots move like this
because the Sun is rotating on its axis.
You could begin this activity by asking learners if they noticed any features on
the Sun's surface when they observed it in class, before asking them to look at
the pictures below.
INSTRUCTIONS:
.
1. Look at the images of the Sun which were taken in June 2013.
2. Answer the questions that follow.
VISIT
Learn more about the
research that NASA is doing
.
about our Sun with the Solar
and Heliospheric
Observatory (SOHO).
bit.ly/1fQhd8u
A: DATE: 02.06.2013
...

B: DATE: 03.06.2013
C: DATE: 04.06.2013
QUESTIONS:
TAKE NOTE
1. How many groups of dark spots do you see in each image? This information about the
There are two main groups, one in the top half of the Sun and the other . sunspots is
Sun's surface and
group in the bottom half. additional information for
2. What do you notice about the positions of the spots in each image? your interest. Be curious and
They are moving across the Sun's disc from left to right. discover more!
3. Why do you think the spots have moved?

The Sun is rotating on its own axis (once roughly every 25 days).
4. What do you think these spots are?
They are called Sunspots and they are regions where the temperature is
cooler than the rest of the Sun's surface.
.
.
. .

Sunspots and the Sun's surface
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
This is enrichment material to extend learners'
. knowledge beyond what they
have covered in previous grades about the Sun. Here is a link to a pdf download
for an activity to track sunspots in real time, using data from SOHO:
2
1.usa.gov/16mW96j
The Sun's surface often has little blemishes on it. These dark spots on the Sun
are called sunspots. They are areas that are slightly cooler than the rest of the
Sun's surface. The Sun's surface is typically about 5500 o C and a typical
sunspot has a temperature about 3900 o C.
VISIT
View real time.images of the
Sun and track sunspots. Image of a sunspot. For perspective, take note of the size of the Earth in the lower left.
bit.ly/19ZoU6c
As the Sun is made up of gas, there is no solid surface like on Earth. So when
one says that you are looking at the Sun's surface what are you actually looking
at? Imagine that you are standing in thick fog (mist) with a friend. You can see
things close to you, like your hand in front of you and your friend standing next
to you. However, because the fog is so thick you cannot see far into the
distance. Similarly, when we look at the Sun, we cannot see right into the centre
of the Sun. As you go deeper and deeper in towards the centre of the Sun the
gas begins to get thicker and thicker so that we cannot see through it. The
deepest depth that we can see into the Sun's gas is what we call the Sun's
surface.
Sunspots are areas that are slightly cooler, and therefore darker, than the rest of
the Sun's surface. A typical sunspot only lasts a few days. When a sunspot lasts
for several days you can observe it move across the Sun's disc. The sunspot
...

appears to move across the Sun because the Sun is spinning slowly on its own
axis.
The outer atmosphere of the Sun is called the corona. Gas particles from the
corona are constantly escaping into space, forming the solar wind. When the
Sun is very active, violent eruptions called solar flares occur on its surface.
A large loop of gas extending over 35 Earth diameters out from the Sun's surface.
.
1.2 Objects around the Sun
VISIT
.
Explore the solar system
TEACHER'S NOTE from your computer with
This section covers all the objects in orbit around the Sun including the eight .
this 3D environment
planets, dwarf planets, asteroids, Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud and comets. bit.ly/1c9rpbM and view
Learners should be familiar with the eight planets in the solar system, which any objects in the solar
were covered in Gr 6, however it is very likely that they are unfamiliar with the system with this interactive
remaining components of the solar system. The first half of this section is simulator bit.ly/1gyasJR
.
intended as revision, to remind learners about the properties of the eight
planets. The two types of planets, the terrestrial (rocky) planets and gas giants
are compared and contrasted in detail. The second half of this section covers
the smaller bodies in the solar system such as dwarf planets, comets and
asteroids. It should be stressed to learners that new discoveries are made all the
time and so the numbers of moons discovered around planets and the number
of dwarf planets in the solar system will change over time.
The Sun is by far the largest and most massive object in our solar system
making up 98% of the total mass of the solar system. Due to the Sun's massive
size, its large gravitational pull causes the planets and other objects in the solar
system to orbit around it.
. .

TAKE NOTE In orbit around the Sun are the eight planets along with their moons, dwarf
. planets and many much smaller objects like asteroids, Kuiper belt objects and
'terra' is the Latin word for
land or earth.
comets. You will learn all about these objects later on in this chapter.
The four planets closest to the Sun are Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. These
are called terrestrial planets because they have solid rocky surfaces. Further
out, lie the gas giants Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. These are much
larger than the terrestrial planets and are mainly made of gas with small cores of
rocky materials. In between the terrestrial planets and the gas giants lies the
asteroid belt and out beyond the orbit of Neptune lies the Kuiper belt.
As you can see, there are lots of different types of objects orbiting the Sun, and
not all of them are planets! To be classed as a planet, an object must:
1. orbit around the Sun

2. be large enough that its own gravity pulls it into a spherical shape
3. clear out smaller objects in its orbit, by either flinging them into another
orbit or by attracting and then sticking them to itself (this means that there
are no other similar sized objects orbiting in their vicinity)
You will learn about planets and the other objects orbiting the Sun in more
detail later on in this chapter. Let's begin by learning more about the size and
scale of the solar system.
ACTIVITY: The scale of the solar system

.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
In this activity learners will get a sense of the scale of the solar system. Using a
model where the Sun is scaled to the size of a grapefruit, the other planets are
also scaled down and are placed in orbit. around the grapefruit Sun at the
correctly scaled distance. This activity needs a lot of space. The distance you
.
need from the Sun to Neptune is 321 m. The scaling used in this activity is 14
billion to one. You can change the scaling to suit the space you have available.
A summary table is included here with the scaled sizes and distances for the
planets for your reference. Learners can use a measuring tape to measure out
VISIT the distances. If no measuring tape is available then the approximate distance in
.
Is there gravity in space? strides is also given.
bit.ly/180O2Xl
...

.
TEACHER'S NOTE
Actual
diameter (D) or Measurements
Model
Object distance from scaled to in
suggestion
the Sun (d) model
(km)
Sun D = 1.4 x 106 10 cm Grapefruit
D = 4.9 x 103 d Salt grain 4 big

Mercury 0.35 mm 4.2 m
= 58 x 106 strides
D = 12 x 103 d = Poppy seed 8

Venus 0.86 mm 7.7 m
108 x 106 big strides
D = 13 x 103 d = Poppy seed 11

Earth 0.91 mm 10.7 m
150 x 106 big strides
D = 6.8 x 103 d Salt grain 16 big

Mars 0.48 mm 16.3 m
= 228 x106 strides
.
3
D = 143 x 10 d Small grape 55
Jupiter 10.0 mm 55.6 m
= 778 x 106 big strides
D = 128 x 103 d Pea 100 big

Saturn 8.57 mm 102 m
= 1426 x 106 strides
.
Peppercorn
3 200 big strides
D = 51 x 10 d =
Uranus 3.65 mm 205 m About twice
2868 x 106
the length of a
football pitch.
Peppercorn
320 big strides
D = 45 x 103 d= About three
Neptune 3.55 mm 321 m
4500 x 106 times the
length of a
football pitch.
Alpha Centauri Cape Town to

d = 4.0 x 1013 2900 km
(nearest star) Lusaka!
..
. .

The orbits and planets in the solar system which we are going to model.
.
MATERIALS:
• grapefruit
• peppercorns
• salt grains
• poppy seeds
• pea
• grape
• measuring tape
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Go outside to a large field for this activity. Start at one end of the field.
2. Put the grapefruit on the ground, this represents the Sun.
3. Measure 4.2 m away from the grapefruit and put a grain of salt on the
ground. This represents Mercury. If you do not have a measuring tape then
count four big strides away from the Sun instead.
4. Repeat this for each of the planets in the solar system. Your teacher will
tell you the distance each planet lies from the Sun and will give you the
appropriate object to represent your planet.
5. Guess how far away you think the next closest star after the Sun is.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE .
See the table provided.
...

Let's now make a smaller model of the solar system.
ACTIVITY: Make a hanging solar system

.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
.
In this activity learners will work individually to make a hanging model of the
solar system.
MATERIALS:
• cardboard about 30 cm across

• paper
• string or thread
• pair of scissors
• tape
• string
• pencil, crayons, or markers VISIT
• compass (for drawing circles)
Compare the .planets using
• nail (for making a hole in the cardboard)
this tool from NASA.
INFORMATION TABLE: bit.ly/16qofIJ
Object Orbit radius (cm) Object radius (cm)
. 5.0* - this is NOT to

Sun -
scale
Mercury 0.4 0.2
Venus 0.7 0.8
Earth 1.0 0.8
Mars 1.5 0.4 TAKE NOTE

The scale of the orbits differs
Jupiter 5.0 5.1 from the scale of the object
. here. If
sizes in the table
Saturn 9.2 4.1 they were on the same scale
then the Sun and planets
Uranus 18.6 1.6 would be much much
smaller.
Neptune 29.1 1.6
* Note that if the Sun were drawn at the same scale as the rest of the planets, its
radius should be 50 cm rather than 5 cm!
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Cut out the cardboard into a circle of radius 15 cm. Use a compass and
pencil to mark out the circle for cutting.
2. Mark the centre of the circle. This will be the position of the Sun.
3. Using a compass, draw the orbits of the 8 planets on the card. The first four
. .

planets orbit relatively close to the Sun, then there is a gap (the asteroid
belt), then the last five planets orbit very far from the Sun. The radius of
each circle, representing each planet's orbit, is shown in the table above.
4. Using the sharp point of the scissors' blade, or a large nail, punch a hole in
the centre of the card (this is where the Sun will hang).
5. Punch one hole on each circle (orbit); a planet will hang from each hole.
6. Cut out one circle from the paper to represent the Sun.
7. Repeat this for each of the planets. The range in size of the Sun and the
planets is far too large to represent accurately, so as a rough
representation use the radii listed in the table to make your circles. The
sizes of Mercury and Mars are very small in relation to the other planets. If
you are battling to cut circles this size, then make them slightly bigger.
8. Colour in each planet and the Sun according to the pictures later in this
chapter.
9. Tape a length of string or thread to the Sun and each planet.
10. Lace the other end of each string or thread through the correct hole in the
large cardboard circle.
.
11. Tape the end of the string to the top side of the cardboard.
12. After all the planets and the Sun are attached, adjust the length of the
strings so that the planets and Sun all fall to the same depth when the
circle is held up in the air.
VISIT 13. To hang your model, tie three pieces of string to the top of the cardboard
Read more about the current
around the edge. Then tie these three together and tie them to a longer
.
research taking place at
string (from which you'll hang your model).
NASA's Mars Science
QUESTION:
Laboratory. bit.ly/18Cv79E
Why did you adjust the string lengths so that the Sun and all the planets hang at
the same height?
.
TEACHER'S NOTE .
The planets orbit the Sun in a flat plane that includes the Sun.
VISIT
Build your own. solar system Now that you have an idea of the size and scale of the planets in our solar
with this orbit simulator. system, let's compare the two groups of planets, the inner worlds, Mercury,
bit.ly/H6mWsc Venus, Earth and Mars with outer worlds, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune,
in more detail. Look at the following pictures which compare the features of the
two groups of planets.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
The aim of this section is to remind learners about the two types of planets.
They were introduced to the two planetary . types, the inner rocky terrestrial
planets and the outer gas giants in Grade 6. This section covers this information
again and goes on to explain why there are two types of planets. For a
summary of each planet's properties see 3 1.usa.gov/1cO92WC
...

The relative sizes of the terrestrial planets and gas giants, from left to right: Mercury,
Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Note that the planets are not
spaced at equal separations from each other, but are shown in this way to fit on the page.
How do the sizes of the terrestrial planets and gas giants compare with each
other?
.
TEACHER'S NOTE .
The gas giants are much larger than the terrestrial planets.
Let's now look at the compositions of the two types of planets.
The above image shows the internal structure of the terrestrial planets. They all
have a metal core, a rocky mantle and a thin outer crust. They also have a thin
atmosphere (Mercury has an extremely thin atmosphere). The Earth's
atmosphere is unique in the solar system in that it contains abundant oxygen,
which is necessary to sustain life on Earth.
The image below shows the structure of the gas giants. They are mostly made
of hydrogen and helium gases and are much less dense than the rocky
terrestrial planets.
. .

As you go deeper into the atmospheres of Saturn and Jupiter their atmospheres
get denser and denser until they gradually become a liquid. This liquid
hydrogen is called metallic hydrogen. Deeper down they have a solid core
made of rocky materials.
Uranus and Neptune have thick atmospheres which have methane in addition to
hydrogen and helium. The methane gives them their blue colour. Scientists
think that below their atmospheres they have a slushy mantle made of water,
ammonia and methane ices. At their centres they have a rocky-icy core.
Look at the pictures below. They show images of the gas giants. What features
do you see that the gas giants all have in common?
.
TEACHER'S NOTE .
They all have rings.
This image of Jupiter in shadow was taken This image of Saturn was taken with the
by the space probe Galileo as it studied Hubble Space Telescope. Can you see
Jupiter in 1998. some of its moons?
...

Uranus, taken with the Hubble Space Telescope. What do you notice that is strange
about Uranus?
.
TEACHER'S NOTE .
Uranus is on its side.
VISIT
Discover more online at
Neptune is to the bottom right of this picture, just out of view. This image was taken by .
NASA's Solar System
the space probe Voyager 2 as it flew past Neptune in 1989. Exploration site.
bit.ly/1azHL6M
You can see that all the gas giants have rings. None of the terrestrial planets
have rings.
Another difference between the inner rocky and outer gas giant planets, are the
number of moons orbiting each planet. Look at the table below which shows
the number of moons each planet in our solar system has.
. .

Planet Number of Moons
Mercury 0
Venus 0
Earth 1
Mars 2
Jupiter 67
TAKE NOTE Saturn 62

Some older textbooks or
websites that .you visit may Uranus 27
still refer to Pluto as a planet
as they have not been Neptune 13
updated.
What can you say in general about the number of moons that the two types of
planet have?
.
TAKE NOTE TEACHER'S NOTE
.
New moons are discovered The terrestrial planets have no or few moons whereas the gas giants have lots
. of moons.
all the time, so these
numbers may change over
time.
The terrestrial planets are much closer to the Sun than the gas giants. Because
of this, the terrestrial planets orbit the Sun in less time than the gas giants,
because they have a shorter distance to cover.
Lets see how the distance from the Sun affects the planets' temperatures.
...

.
ACTIVITY: Planetary Temperatures

.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
In this activity learners will compare the .temperatures of the different planets.
Using the table provided they must label each planet on the thermometer
drawn below. This activity therefore requires that learners can read information
from a table and also from a graph.
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Look at the table, it shows the surface temperatures of each of the planets.
2. Correctly label each of the planets on the thermometer using the
temperature information provided in the table.
TAKE NOTE
Ice does not just refer to
water ice, but other frozen
elements and compounds
too. Also, the rocky-ice
materials do not resemble
.
any rock or ice you would
see on Earth, since the
temperatures and pressures
on these planets and gas
giants are much, much
higher.
. .

Planet Temperature (o C)
Mercury 167
Venus 464
Earth 15
Mars -65
Jupiter -110
Saturn -140
Uranus -195
Neptune -200
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
The labeled image:
...

QUESTIONS:
1. Which planet has the lowest average temperature?

Neptune.
2. Why do you think this is?
It is the furthest planet from the Sun.
3. What do you notice about the average temperatures of the terrestrial
planets compared with the gas giants?
.
The average temperatures of the terrestrial planets are much higher than
the average temperatures of the gas giants.
4. If you exclude Venus, how does the ordering of the planets from the Sun
compare with their average temperature?
In general, the further away from the Sun a planet is, the lower its
temperature.
NOTE: Venus is the exception because it has a very thick atmosphere and is
undergoing a runaway Greenhouse effect which learners will discover later
on in this chapter. .
.
Clearly the terrestrial planets and gas giants have very different properties.
Let's compare them.
ACTIVITY: Comparing terrestrial planets and gas

giants
.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
..
In this activity learners must compare and contrast the two types of planet
using the information already provided in this section.
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. The table below compares the two types of planet. Fill in the missing gaps.
. .

.
TEACHER'S NOTE
Terrestrial Planets Gas Giants
close to the Sun far from the Sun
closely spaced orbits widely spaced orbits
small masses large masses
small radii large radii
mainly rocky mainly gaseous

.
solid surface no solid surface
high density low density

.
slower rotation faster rotation
few or no moons many moons
no rings many rings
thick and dense

thin atmosphere
atmosphere
warm cold
Why do you think the two types of planets are so different?
.
TEACHER'S NOTE .
Learner-dependent answer. Answer in text below.
When the solar system was forming, the difference in temperature across the
early solar system caused the inner planets to be rocky and the outer ones to be
gaseous. Close to the Sun it was hot and only materials with very high melting
points, such as metals, could remain solid and form planets. Further away from
the Sun, where it was cold, compounds like water and methane were frozen.
Astronomers call these frozen compounds ices. Therefore the cores of the gas
giants contain rocky and icy compounds. As the abundance of metals in the
universe is very small, the inner planets are much smaller than the gas giants.
The gas giants could also attract large amounts of hydrogen and helium to their
atmospheres due to their size.
Let's continue to compare the rocky planets and the gas giants.
...

.
ACTIVITY: Comparing the inner and outer planets

.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
In this activity learners will use the information
. provided in the table below to
answer questions which compare the properties of the rocky planets and the
gas giants. This is a good exercise to get learners to read information from
tables and to look for patterns in data.
INSTRUCTIONS:
Use the information in the table below to answer the questions that follow.
Distance
from the Year length
Density Diameter Day length
Planet Sun (Earth
(kg/m3 ) (km) (hours)
(million days)
km)
Mercury 5427 4879 57.9 4222.6 88
Venus 5243 12104 108.2 2802.0 224.7
Earth 5514 12756 149.6 24.0 365.25

.
Mars 3933 6792 206.6 24.7 687.0
Jupiter 1326 142984 740.5 9.9 4331
Saturn 687 120536 1352.6 10.7 10747
Uranus 1271 51118 2741.3 17.2 30589
Neptune 1638 49528 4444.5 16.1 59800
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
The day length given here is the average time in hours for the Sun to move from
the noon position in the sky at a point on the equator back to the same position.
This is not the same as the time for the planet
. to complete one revolution on its
axis with respect to the stars. For example the Earth completes one revolution
on its axis with respect to the stars in 23.9 hours, however, because the Earth
moves along in its orbit as it rotates, it actually takes 24 hours for the Sun to
return to the same position in the sky again (which is how we conventionally
define a day on Earth - from noon to noon).
QUESTIONS:
1. Given that the density of water is 1000 kg/m3 , which of the planets would
float on water? Explain your answer.
. .

Saturn would float on water as its density is less than that of water.
NOTE: This links back to what learners covered in Term 2 in Matter and
Materials on the Particle Model of Matter.
2. Compare the densities of the rocky planets and the gas giants. Which type
of planet tends to be more dense? Explain why.
The inner rocky (terrestrial) planets are more dense than the outer gas
giants, as the inner planets are made of solid rock, which is denser than gas.
3. Which planet has the shortest day?
Jupiter.
4. Compare the day length for the rocky planets and the gas giants. Which
type of planet tends to have the shortest day? What does this tell you
about how fast the two types of planet rotate on their axis?
The gas giants tend to have the shortest days which means that these
planets must spin on their axes faster than the terrestrial planets.
5. Which planet orbits around the Sun the fastest? Why is this?
Mercury, because it is the closest planet to the Sun and has the least
distance to cover.
6. Which planet's year is shorter than its day?
Mercury.
7. Plot a bar graph to show the distance. each planet is from the Sun. Use the
following space for your graph.
An example graph is given below. You can use Assessment Rubric 3 at the
back of your teachers guide if you would like to assess this translation task.
VISIT
Solar System 101: NASA's
.
'Homework helper' can show
you where to look to find out
more. bit.ly/H6nbDD
...

TAKE NOTE
The following pages provide
.
some interesting, extra
information about the
Mercury planets in our solar system.
• Mercury's atmosphere is very thin

and constantly being lost into
space because the planet's
gravity is too small to hold onto it.
• Mercury has the most extreme
temperatures in the solar system,
reaching 426 o C during the day
and -173 o C during the night.
Mercury, imaged by the Messenger

spacecraft, is covered with craters like our
Moon.
Venus
TAKE NOTE
Venus has a thick dense
atmosphere mostly made up
of carbon dioxide which is
.
an effective greenhouse gas.
This is why Venus has the
• Venus is the hottest planet in the highest surface temperature,
solar system, the temperature is as you saw in the activity of
hot enough to melt lead! Planetary Temperatures.
• Venus has clouds of sulphuric
acid.
• Venus rotates in the opposite
direction to all the other planets.
The surface of Venus in false colour

(bottom left) and the top of the
atmosphere (top left) as seen with the
Magellan spacecraft.
. .

Earth
• To date, Earth is the only planet in

VISIT the universe known to harbour
.
Carl Sagan - Pale Blue Dot life.
(video) bit.ly/1h0msBx • The average distance between
the Sun and Earth is called an
astronomical unit (AU) and is
equivalent to 150 million
kilometres.
This famous image is a photograph taken of

Earth in 1990 by Voyager 1 from 6 billion
kilometers away. Earth appears as a tiny
dot (the blueish-white speck approximately
halfway down the brown band to the right).
The coloured bands are scattered light rays
from the Sun.
Mars
• Mars' surface is like a dry red

desert. Mars has mountains,
volcanoes and valleys just like
Earth.
• Mars is home to the deepest and
longest valley in the solar system,
Valles Marineris, which is almost
as wide as Australia!
Mars is nicknamed the Red Planet because

of its red surface, as the rocks on are rich in
iron. The white smudges in the middle are
water-ice clouds.
...

Mars and the Search for Life
Scientists are interested in Mars because they think that Mars might have
once had liquid water on its surface, and perhaps life. Channels, valleys,
and gullies are found all over Mars, suggesting that liquid water might have
once flowed through them. Although there is no liquid water on the planet's
surface now, scientists think that there may still be some water in cracks and
tiny holes in underground rock. Mars has been visited many times by robotic
landers.
The first lander, NASA's Viking 1, landed on Mars in 1976, a long time before
you were born! It took the first close-up pictures of the Martian surface but
found no evidence of life. Water ice has been discovered below the planet's
surface, and minerals indicating that liquid water was once present have also
been found by Mars landers. The latest lander currently exploring Mars is
NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission, with its rover named Curiosity.
Curiosity landed on Mars in August 2012 and is busy investigating the planet's
rocks near a giant crater called the Gale crater. One of the main aims
of the Mars Science Laboratory is to determine whether Mars ever had an
environment capable of supporting life.
VISIT
Watch the first.12 month's of
Curiosity's explorations in 2
minutes. bit.ly/1b7mAKH
VISIT
. finds water
NASA's curiosity
in Martian soil in 2013.
bit.ly/HasUIX
The Curiosity rover.
One of the first colour images of Mars' surface taken by the Curiosity rover. You can
see part of the rover at the bottom of the photograph.
. .

Jupiter
• Jupiter's diameter is over ten

times the Earth's diameter.
• Jupiter rotates slightly faster at
the equator (remember it is not a
solid object, but a large ball of
gas).
• Jupiter's famous great red spot, is
a giant hurricane that has been
raging for at least 300 years. This
storm's area is larger than the
Earth.
Magnetic storms cause the aurorae seen on

VISIT Jupiter near its poles.
.
Saturn close-up (video).
bit.ly/15XvvyG Saturn
• Saturn would float on water if you

had an ocean large enough.
• Saturn is famous for its rings. The
rings are over 200 000 km wide
and only a few tens of metres
thick.
Saturn's beautiful rings, imaged with the

Cassini spacecraft.
...

Uranus
VISIT
Take a virtual ride with
.
Voyager 1 and 2 past Jupiter,
• Uranus is believed to have an
Saturn, Uranus, and
ocean of liquid water, ammonia,
Neptune. bit.ly/1azPLVm
and methane above a rocky core.
• Uranus was the first planet
discovered using a telescope.
Uranus spins on its side. Scientists think

Uranus may have been knocked on its side
by a collision with a large object early in its
history.
Neptune
• Neptune has the strongest winds

in the solar system. With storm
winds recorded at over 10 times
that of hurricanes on Earth.
• Neptune has the most methane in
its atmosphere out of all the gas
giants, which gives it its blue
colour.
Neptune and its "Great Dark Spot" (middle

left). This is a giant storm that was raging
on the planet until very recently. The winds
reached nearly 1931 km/hour.
. .

.
ACTIVITY: Planetary holidays

.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
This is a creative writing activity for learners to explore the solar system in an
imaginative way. Learners will play the role of cosmic travel agents and will
write a travel brochure for one of the planets in the solar system (not Earth!).
.
This activity can be done as a team or individually. Encourage learners to
research information about their chosen planet at the school or local library or
on the internet. Alternatively, they can use the information provided in this
chapter. You could also provide some examples of travel brochures for them to
look at as a guide. These are available free at travel agents. You could also ask
the learners to present their work in class..
In this activity you will write a travel brochure for a trip to your favourite planet.
MATERIALS:
• information about the planets

• pictures of the planets
• example travel brochures
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Research information about your chosen planet.

2. Write a travel brochure for a trip to your chosen planet. Include real facts
about the planet and think about what unusual things you could see and
do on the planet.
ACTIVITY: Planet fact sheet

.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
.
In this activity learners must summarise .all the information they know about a
particular planet on a one page fact sheet. This activity is easier than the
Planetary holidays activity as it requires less imagination, and can therefore be
done as an alternative activity.
In this activity you will make a one page fact sheet about your chosen planet.
...

MATERIALS:
• information about the planets

• pictures of the planets
.
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Research information about your chosen planet.

2. Write a one page fact sheet about your chosen planet.
.
.
Let's now look at some of the other objects that we find in our solar system.
Asteroids
Asteroids are small rocky objects that are believed to be left over from the
formation of our solar system 4.6 billion years ago. They range in size from tens
of metres across to several hundred kilometres across and come in a variety of
shapes. Most asteroids are found in the asteroid belt, which lies between the
orbits of Mars and Jupiter. More than 100,000 asteroids lie in the asteroid belt
and several thousand of the largest ones have been named.
. .

An image of asteroid 951 Gaspra taken with the Galileo spacecraft 5300 kilometres away.
Gaspra is 19 x 12 x 11 km. Notice how the asteroid's surface has many craters.
VISIT Although science fiction movies give the impression that the asteroid belt is a
tightly packed region of dangerous rocks, in reality the asteroids are separated
. asteroid
A record close
from each other by millions of kilometres. However, very rarely, collisions
fly-by past Earth.
between asteroids do occur which is why asteroids are covered with impact
bit.ly/180Pmte
craters. We will look at impact craters more closely in the following activity.
INVESTIGATION: Impact craters

.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
In this activity learners will investigate how craters are formed by dropping balls
into a tray of sand. Although you can do this activity with flour, it works best
with sand. There are two parts to this experiment. In the first part learners will
investigate how the mass of an object affects the crater size formed. In the
second part, learners will investigate how the height at which an object is
dropped affects the size of the crater it leaves.
. You can use more objects in the
investigation if you have time, and as an extension you can examine the effect
of impact angle on the shape of the crater . formed.
You will need to experiment beforehand with the type of sand that you are
using. Before your class performs this investigation, drop marbles into the sand
that you have, to observe what kinds of craters the marbles leave. Experiment
with the best possible option, for example, you might need to add some
moisture to the sand so that you are able to see the craters.
INVESTIGATIVE QUESTIONS: How does the mass of an object affect the size of
the crater it leaves? How does the height at which an object is dropped affect
the size of the crater it leaves?
HYPOTHESIS:
What do you think will happen?
...

VISIT
. Join NASA on an underwater
TEACHER'S NOTE . mission, called NEEMO,
which is actually about
Learner-dependent answer. Learners should give reasons for their answers. .
practicing exploration to an
asteroid. Help the crew
IDENTIFY VARIABLES: prepare by classifying the

underwater images.
1. What are you keeping constant in this experiment? bit.ly/15XvI4P
While investigating the effect of object mass, the height that the objects
are dropped from should remain constant.
While investigating the effect of dropping height, the mass of the object
being dropped should be kept constant.
2. What are you changing in this experiment?
In the first case - the mass of the object being dropped.
In the second case - the height from which the object is dropped.
MATERIALS:
• deep tray or large plastic container

• measuring scales
• ruler
• sand
• a marble
• a ball bearing
• chair or step ladder
• measuring tape (at least 2 m long)
METHOD: .
1. Fill the tray or plastic container with sand to a depth of 10 cm.
2. Smooth the surface of the sand using the long edge of a ruler.
3. Measure the mass of the marble and record it in the table below.
4. Drop the marble from a height of 1 m into the tray of sand and observe the
crater that forms.
5. Carefully remove the marble, without disturbing the shape of the crater
and measure the diameter of the crater using the ruler.
6. Record the diameter of the crater in the table below.
7. Smooth the sand.
8. Repeat steps 3-7
9. Measure the mass of the ball bearing and record it in the table below.
10. Drop the ball bearing from a height of 1 m into the tray of sand and
observe the crater that forms.
11. Carefully remove the ball bearing and measure the diameter of the crater
using the ruler.
12. Record the diameter of the crater in the table below.
13. Smooth the sand.
14. Repeat steps 9 -13.
15. Drop the ball bearing into the sand from a height of 2 m. You may need to
stand on a chair or step ladder to do this.
16. Record the size of the crater formed in the table below.
17. Smooth the sand.
18. Repeat steps 15-17, dropping the ball bearing from heights of 1.5m, 0.5m
and 0.25m. Record all your measurements in the table below.
19. If you have time you can make repeated measurements.
RESULTS AND OBSERVATIONS:
Record your results and observations in the following table. ..
. .

Crater Crater Average
Drop diameter - diameter - crater
Object Mass (kg)
Height (m) reading 1 reading 2 diameter
(cm) (cm) (cm)
marble 1
ball bearing 1
ball bearing 2
ball bearing 1.5
ball bearing 0.5
ball bearing 0.25
EVALUATION:
How reliable was your experiment? How could it be improved?
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
.
Learner-dependent answer. Answers might include conducting more
measurements.
CONCLUSIONS:
.
Write a conclusion for this investigation based on your results.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
.
Learner dependent answer. Learners should summarise their results and
provide a reason why they think they got the results they did.
QUESTIONS:
1. How did the mass of the object affect the size of the crater?
The larger the mass of the impacting object, the larger the diameter of the
crater.
2. How did the height at which the object was dropped affect the size of the
crater?
The greater the height at which the object was dropped, the larger the size
of the crater.
3. Why do you think the drop height affected the size of the crater?
Objects dropped from greater heights hit the sand with a higher speed and
therefore have greater energy (kinetic energy). As they have more energy
they make a larger impact crater.
4. What does this investigation tell us about craters on the surfaces of
planets?
It tells us that craters on the surfaces of other planets are formed due to
impacts. The impacting objects must have been travelling very fast or have
been very massive, because the craters we observe on other planets are
much larger than the craters made in this experiment.
...

Kuiper Belt objects
The Kuiper belt is a region of space filled with trillions of small objects that lies
in the outer reaches of the solar system, past the orbit of Neptune. The Kuiper
belt is a region between 30 and 50 times the Earth's distance from the Sun. This
belt is similar to the closer asteroid belt, except that the objects are not made of
rock, but rather of frozen ices. These icy objects can range in size from a
fraction of a kilometre to more than a 1000 km across and are called Kuiper belt
objects. The two largest known members of the Kuiper Belt are Eris and Pluto,
both dwarf planets.
VISIT
Gerard Kuiper (1905 - 1973)
is regarded by many as the
. planetary
father of modern
science. He is well known for
his many discoveries. Read
more about them here.
bit.ly/16mZX7C
The Kuiper belt (the pale blue dot dots) is shown beyond the orbit of Neptune. Its
members include the dwarf planets Pluto and Eris.
What keeps the objects in the Kuiper Belt in orbit around the Sun?
.
TEACHER'S NOTE .
Gravity (the gravitational pull of the Sun).
Dwarf planets
Dwarf planets are objects that orbit the Sun, just like the planets. However, they
are smaller than planets. Due to their small size, they are unable to meet the
official definition of a planet. Can you remember what the three criteria are to
be classed as a planet? List them below.
. .

To be classed as a planet an object must:
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
1. orbit around the Sun. .

VISIT 2. be large enough that its own gravity pulls it into a spherical shape.
Why Pluto is.not a planet 3. clear out smaller objects in its orbit, by either flinging them into another
anymore (video). orbit or by attracting and then sticking them to itself.
bit.ly/1fQiWLd
Asteroids are clearly not planets as they have irregular shapes and they are not
spherical. Some dwarf planets are spherical, but they do not meet the third
criterion. With their weak gravities they are unable to clear out other objects
from their orbits. Which famous ex-planet is now considered a dwarf planet
because it failed to meet the third criterion?
.
TEACHER'S NOTE .
Pluto.
For many years the object Pluto was considered to be a planet. However, since
the 1990s many more objects very similar to Pluto have been discovered
orbiting the Sun out past Neptune's orbit. This resulted in new criteria to be
drawn up to be considered a planet and Pluto was demoted to dwarf planet
status
VISIT
.
Read more about dwarf
planets. bit.ly/H6nJtd This image shows the five dwarf planets that have been discovered to date, Pluto,
Haumea, Makemake, Eris and Ceres in relation to the size of the Earth. Some even have
their own moons, which are shown. Ceres is in the asteroid belt and the other four are in
the Kuiper Belt.
...

Comets and the Oort Cloud
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
The Oort Cloud has not been observed. .At this point, it is purely hypothetical
although very likely. Its existence cannot be stated as fact since it has not yet
been confirmed to exist. We therefore refer to the Oort Cloud as hypothetical
or predicted.
Comets are icy, dusty objects, orbiting around the Sun at great distances.
Comets are found in the Kuiper Belt and in the predicted Oort Cloud. The Oort
Cloud is thought to be a huge cloud of icy objects surrounding the Sun at the
very edge of our solar system at a distance between 5,000 and 100,000 times
the Earth's distance from the Sun!
A comet will remain in the Kuiper Belt or Oort Cloud unless it is disturbed by
another comet. If this happens, then the comet's orbit changes and occasionally
the comet will come into the inner solar system for us to see.
The hypothetical Oort Cloud is a huge cloud of icy objects or comets surrounding the
outer reaches of our solar system.
We can only see comets directly when they come into the inner solar system
because they are small and only visible by reflected sunlight. As a comet
approaches the Sun, the Sun's heat evaporates the dust and ices it consists of,
forming a bright dust tail which is visible from Earth. Some comet dust tails can
be millions of kilometres long. The dust tail usually points back along the path
of the comet.
. .

Comets often have a second tail called an ion tail. The ion tail is made of ions
that are pushed away from the comet's head by particles emitted from the Sun's
atmosphere, called the solar wind. Let's find out more about this type of tail.
ACTIVITY: A comet's ion tail

.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
In this activity learners will discover that. a comet's ion tail always points away
from the Sun, no matter which way the comet is travelling! You can either get
learners to make their own comet tails or if you do not have many materials you
can make one comet yourself and pass it around for the learners to see.
In this activity you will make your own comet and explore how a comet's ion tail
moves.
MATERIALS:
• table tennis ball

• sellotape
• tissue paper or crepe paper
• scissors
INSTRUCTIONS:
.
1. Cut the tissue paper or crepe papers into several strips (at least 4) about 1
TAKE NOTE cm wide by about 15 cm long.
2. Attach the paper strips to the ping pong ball, evenly spread around the
. with an
An ion is an atom
equator of the ball using the sellotape. Wrap the sellotape around the ball
electrical charge due to the
a few times if needed to secure the paper in place. You have now made
gain or loss of electrons.
your comet and ion tail.
3. Hold out your comet in front of you and blow on the ball hard so that the
ion tail is blown away from you. You are representing the Sun and your
breath represents the solar wind, blowing on the comet's ion tail.
4. Continuing to blow fairly hard on the ball, move the ball from left to right
and observe which way the paper moves.
VISIT
QUESTIONS:
. comets
Learn more about
with this interactive website. 1. Which direction did the ion tail move when you held up the comet in front
bit.ly/GXWfFL of you and blew on the comet?
Directly away from you (as it is blown away by your breath).
2. Which direction did the ion tail move when you moved the ball left and
right while still blowing?
It still moves directly away from you as it is blown away by your breath. It
does not follow the direction of movement of the comet.
In a similar way, a comet's ion tail always points away from the Sun.
...

Comet West, photographed in 1995. Here you can see that the comet actually has two VISIT
tails. The white tail is the dust tail and the blue tail is the ion tail made of charged Halley's comet.is visible from
particles evaporated from the comet's surface. Earth every 75 to 76 years.
bit.ly/16n0y9k
Comets that come into the inner solar system do not live forever. The Sun's
heat melts comets, just like a snowman melts out in the Sun. After several
thousand years the remains are so small that they no longer form a tail. Some
comets completely melt away.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
At the time of producing these workbooks, comet ISON was approaching very
near to the Sun. Astronomers did not know
. if it would break up or not. Read
more about it here 4 1.usa.gov/15Xwsa1 and here 5 1.usa.gov/174cdbK
See if you can find out what happened to comet ISON in the beginning of 2014,
and tell your learners about this, or set it as a fun, small homework task.
1.3 Earth's position. in the solar system
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
In this section learners will discover just how fortunate they are to be on Earth,
which is currently the only planet known to harbour life. They will consider the
conditions thought necessary for life and. compare those with the conditions
found on Earth and on Earth's neighbours. A nice way to introduce this topic is
to have a class discussion about whether learners think aliens exist on other
planets and, if so, what they might be like. This could then lead into a discussion
about what conditions learners think are necessary for life. Talking about aliens
usually excites learners!
As you discovered in the last section, the Earth, along with the other planets,
orbits around the Sun. The Earth is the third most distant planet from the Sun,
lying in between Venus and Mars. Let's compare the Earth and its two
neighbours in more detail.
. .

.
ACTIVITY: The Sun's Habitable Zone

.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
In this activity learners will plot a graph of
. distance versus temperature for the
planets Venus, Earth and Mars. They will also be provided with information
regarding the habitable zone around the Sun. Using this information learners
will have to decide which of the three planets lie within the Sun's habitable zone.
Property Venus Earth Mars
Distance from Sun (AU) 0.7 1.0 1.5

.
Average Temperature (o C) 464 15 -63
MATERIALS:
• pencil
• ruler
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Look at the data provided in the table. It shows the distance from the Sun
for three planets (in units of one Earth-Sun distance or Astronomical Unit).
It also shows the average temperature on each planet in degrees Celsius.
2. Plot a graph to show the data in the table. Mark each point with an X.
3. The Sun's habitable zone extends from 0.8 to 1.4 AU and is shaded in red in
the graph paper. This is the region where scientists think a planet has to lie
in order for there to be life on the planet.
...

.
TEACHER'S NOTE
Learners should plot the following points:
.
VISIT
. habitable
Our solar system's
zone (video) bit.ly/15XwDT1
QUESTIONS:
1. What is the average temperature on Venus?

464 o C.
2. Can liquid water exist on Venus? Why?
No, it is too hot. Water boils at 100 o C.
3. What is the average temperature on Mars?
-63 o C.
4. Is liquid water likely to be found on Mars? Why?
No, it is too cold. Water freezes at 0 o C.
5. What is the average temperature on Earth?
15 o C.
6. Can liquid water exist on Earth? Why?
Yes, because the temperature on Earth is between water's melting and
boiling points.
7. Which planet/s lie within the Sun's habitable zone (the red shaded region
in the graph)?
Only Earth. .
.
The average temperature on Earth is a moderate 15 o C. Because of this, water

can exist in liquid form on Earth. This is important because scientists think that
liquid water is one of the key things needed for life. Venus has an average
temperature of 464 o C and no liquid water exists on Venus because it is too hot.
On Mars, the opposite is true. The average temperature on Mars is -63 o C and
any water on Mars would be frozen. Earth is unique in our solar system as it is
. .

the only planet known to have liquid water on its surface and to harbour life.
If the Earth were too close to the Sun it would be too hot and all the water
would evaporate from the oceans, like it has on Venus. If the Earth were too far
from the Sun it would be too cold, and all the water would be frozen, like on
Mars. Earth is at just the right distance from the Sun to have liquid water on its
surface. The other planets in the solar system are either too close or too far
TAKE NOTE from the Sun. The range of distances that a planet can lie from the Sun and still
have liquid water on the planet's surface is called the habitable zone. Estimates
An astronomical unit
. for the habitable zone in our solar system range from 0.8 - 1.4 astronomical
corresponds to the average
units (AU).
distance between the Earth
and the Sun.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
You will probably find different quoted ranges for the habitable zone from
. scientists have used slightly different
different sources. This is because different
criteria to define what "habitable" means. Many studies focus on how life on
Earth would be affected if the Earth were closer to or farther from the Sun.
However, the point at which life can no longer exist on Earth is uncertain.
Our Sun's habitable zone (light green). The Earth is the only planet in our solar system
which lies within our Sun's habitable zone. It is just the right distance from the Sun for
liquid water to remain on the planet, something which scientists think is essential for life.
What other conditions do you think are necessary for life on Earth or other
planets? List your answers in the space below.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
Learner-dependent answer. This is also an ideal opportunity for a class
.
discussion. Answers could include, sunlight for energy, oxygen, carbon (we are
carbon based), liquid water. Note that other life forms might not be carbon
based and that life comes in many forms like bacteria, animals and plants.
Scientists are looking for more than just human-like beings and other forms of
...

TAKE NOTE
life that we find on Earth. Also, we are likely to be biased in what we think the Other stars also have
.
conditions are that are needed for life, because we only know about life on habitable zones. Scientists
Earth. .
believe that planets orbiting
other stars within the
habitable zone could
Scientists think that in order for life to arise and survive on a planet: support life forms.
• there must be sunlight for plants to grow. VISIT

• the planet must be located in the habitable zone of a star so that there are
Kepler Mission:. A search for
moderate temperatures and liquid water.
habitable planets.
• there must be oxygen for respiration.
bit.ly/HdBXYI
Which of the planets in the solar system receive light from the Sun?
.
TEACHER'S NOTE .
All the planets in the solar system receive light from the Sun.
Which of the planets in the solar system have moderate temperatures and liquid
water on their surface?
.
TEACHER'S NOTE .
Only Earth.
Which of the planets in the solar system have significant amounts of oxygen in
their atmosphere or oceans?
.
TEACHER'S NOTE .
Only Earth.
As you can see the Earth is very fortunate, because it lies at just the right
distance from the Sun to have moderate temperatures and abundant liquid
TAKE NOTE
water. The Sun provides the energy for plants to grow. There is plenty of
oxygen in Earth's present day atmosphere and oceans, which means that life You may have heard a lot
can survive on land and in the Earth's oceans. The Earth is unique in that it is the .
about global warming and
only planet we know of that has life. the greenhouse effect in the
news and in our studies in
The greenhouse effect Energy and Change.
During the day, the Sun shines through the atmosphere heating the Earth's
surface. At night, the Earth's surface cools, releasing the heat back into space.
Some of the heat is trapped by greenhouse gases in the air like carbon dioxide,
which causes the Earth to remain warmer than it would have otherwise. This is
called the greenhouse effect.
Scientists think that due to human activities, like cutting down forests and
burning fossil fuels, the greenhouse effect is now too strong. Scientists are more
than 90 % certain that the increase in greenhouse gases has caused the average
temperature on Earth to rise. This is known as global warming.
. .

Venus provides us with a clue as to what might happen to the Earth if global
warming continues. Venus' thick atmosphere has led to a runaway greenhouse
effect on the planet, heating it to 462 o C. Venus's oceans have boiled away
leaving behind a hot, inhospitable planet. We should therefore try our best to
look after our precious planet!
The beginnings of life

Scientists do not know how life began on Earth, but they estimate that the early
ancestor of modern bacteria was alive on Earth 3.5 billion years ago. The early
Earth's atmosphere had almost no oxygen. Instead, it was composed mainly of
carbon dioxide, nitrogen and water vapour with some methane and ammonia.
Carbon dioxide and water vapour were pumped into the atmosphere during
volcanic eruptions, which caused the atmosphere to change over time.
Eventually the water vapour in the atmosphere condensed to form rain, forming
the first oceans. Eventually living organisms (bacteria) appeared in the oceans.
These simple organisms used sunlight, water and carbon dioxide in the oceans
to produce sugars and oxygen. What is this process called?
.
TEACHER'S NOTE .
This process is called photosynthesis.
This is where the first oxygen in the ocean and atmosphere came from. That
oxygen made it possible for other organisms to develop and flourish and is the
reason that you are here today.
Scientists are busy exploring the possible locations for the origin of life, including hot
VISIT springs and tidal pools. Recently, some scientists have started to support the hypothesis
Do you enjoy English and that life originated in deep sea hydrothermal vents, as shown in the image. These vents
.
Science? Read more about a are like underwater volcanoes. The investigation continues to try to understand how life
career as a science writer. originated on Earth.
bit.ly/18CxYiZ
...

..
SUMMARY:
.
Key Concepts
• The Sun produces its energy at its centre via nuclear fusion reactions,
where hydrogen nuclei are squeezed together to form helium nuclei.
• The Sun's energy is transported to the surface and radiates equally in
all directions.
• Our solar system consists of the Sun and all the objects that are held in
orbit around the Sun by gravity.
• Objects such as planets, dwarf planets, asteroids, comets and Kuiper
Belt objects orbit around the Sun.
• The 8 planets in our solar system have their own properties and
characteristics.
• The planets can be split into two groups, the inner small rocky terrestrial
planets and the outer large gas giants.
• The asteroid belt is the area where most asteroids are found in our solar
system, lying between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter
• The Oort Cloud is a hypothetical huge cloud of icy objects (comets)
surrounding the Sun at the very edge of our solar system.
• Sometimes, comets from the Oort Cloud come close to the sun. We can
only see them when they come into the inner solar system because they
are small and only visible by reflected sunlight.
• Scientists think that some of the conditions necessary for sustained
life include moderate temperatures, liquid water, sunlight (energy) and
oxygen.
• The Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only planet in the solar
system known to harbour life.
• The Earth lies within the Sun's habitable zone; the range of distances
that a planet can lie from a star and still have liquid water on the planet's VISIT
surface.
. How
Global warming:
. Map
Concept humans are affecting our
planet. bit.ly/1c9toNa
Complete the concept map which summarises the key concepts from this
chapter about our solar system.
. .

.
.
.
REVISION:
.
1. How does the Sun produce its energy? [2 marks]

By nuclear fusion reactions, where hydrogen is converted to helium.
2. Why do sunspots look darker than the rest of the surface of the sun? [2
marks]
They are much cooler than the rest of the surface. A typical sunspot
temperature is around 3900 o C whereas the rest of the surface is around
5500 o C. (Intensity is proportional to temperature).
3. What keeps the planets and other bodies in our solar system in orbit? [1
mark]
The gravity between these objects and the sun.
4. Name the terrestrial planets. [4 marks]
Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars.
5. Name the gas giants. [4 marks]
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune.
6. Where is the asteroid belt located? [1 mark]
In between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
7. Where is the Kuiper belt located? [1 mark]
Out beyond the orbit of Neptune.
8. Why are the gas giants so much larger than the terrestrial planets? [2
marks]
They are mostly made of hydrogen and helium which are the most
abundant elements in the universe.
9. List the planets in increasing distance from the Sun. [4 marks]
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, . Saturn, Uranus, Neptune.
10. Which planets have rings? [4 marks]
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune.
11. Why is Venus so hot? [2 marks]
Its atmosphere is so thick, there is a runaway greenhouse effect on the
planet heating the planet to high temperatures.
12. On which planet have landers found frozen water in the rocks under the
planet's surface? [1 mark]
Mars.
13. The following diagram shows the solar system at the centre.
a) What does the blue space represent? [1 mark]

b) What is mostly found in this space? [1 mark]
...

a) The hypothetical Oort Cloud.
b) Comets and icy objects.
14. Why can we only see comets as they come close to the Sun? [3 marks]
As comets come close to the Sun, the Sun's heat evaporates their surface,
resulting in long bright tails which we can see. Far from the Sun it is too
cold for the tails to form, so we have to wait until the comet is close
enough to the Sun for it to form a tail before we can see it.
15. What is the official definition of a planet and why was Pluto downgraded
to a dwarf planet? [4 marks]
The official definition of a planet states that a planet must orbit the Sun, be
large enough so that its own gravity squashes it into a spherical shape and
that it has cleared out other objects from its orbital path. Pluto has not
swept out other objects from its orbit and so it was downgraded from
planet to dwarf planet status.
16. Why can the Earth support life? [4 marks]
Earth has a moderate temperature, with liquid water on its surface. There is
also abundant oxygen for respiration and plenty of sunlight (energy) for
plants to grow.
17. What would happen to the Earth if it warmed significantly, like Venus has
in the past? [2 marks]
It would eventually lose all its liquid water and therefore would not be able
to sustain life.
18. The following diagram shows the system of planets around the star Gliese
667C.
.
The planets around another star.
a) Which of these planets are possible candidates for life? [1 mark]

b) Explain your answer above. [2 marks]
a) Planets c, f and e.
b) The orbits of these three planets lie within the habitable zone around
the star. This is the zone which is the right distance from the star for
water to exist as a liquid, making these planets possible candidates to
support life.
Total [46 marks]
.
.
. .

2 Beyond the solar system
.
. ... NOTE
.TEACHER'S
Chapter overview
3 weeks
Thus far, the learners have only been exposed to solar system astronomy. In this
chapter learners will now be introduced to astronomy outside the solar system,
which focuses on the studies of galaxies and the Universe.
The main aims of this chapter are to ensure that learners understand the
following:
• The Sun is our closest star, but if it were farther away it would appear just
like all the other stars in the sky at night.
• Stars are arranged in galaxies, held together by the force of gravity.
• Our own galaxy is called the Milky Way Galaxy.
• There are billions of other galaxies in the Universe and they come in a
variety of shapes and sizes.
• The distances between stars and galaxies are enormous and so new units
of measurement are needed because familiar units like kilometres are too
small to be useful.
• On the largest scale, matter in the Universe is arranged rather like a bath
sponge, into thin filamentary structures. with large voids between them.
If you have internet access and a projector in your class, an interesting and fun
way to introduce what lies beyond our solar system, and beyond the Milky Way,
is to use this interactive animation 'Scale of the Universe', where you use a
sliding scale to either zoom in or zoom out, available here: 1 bit.ly/1iaQkZV .
Start with the human sized scale and zoom out. For interest, you can also go
back to the start and zoom in to get to the microscopic level and even smaller
for learners to appreciate the size of atoms.
2.1 The Milky Way Galaxy (2.5 hours)
Activity: Draw the Milky observing, identifying, CAPS suggested

Way drawing
Activity: Make the Milky observing, identifying, CAPS suggested

Way (modelling)
2.2 Our nearest star (1 hour)
218
2.3 Light years, light hours and light minutes (3 hours)

Suggested
Activity: Travelling fast calculating
Activity: Scale of the calculating, reading Suggested

solar system tables, analysing
Activity: Our closest reading tables, Suggested

stars analysing
.
2.4 What is beyond the Milky Way Galaxy? (2,5 hours)
Activity: Comparing observing, identifying, Optional

galaxies describing, ranking
Note: There are two optional, extension activities included in this section. They
are:
• Activity: Wine glass gravitational lens

• Activity: The expanding Universe
..
KEY QUESTIONS:
• How far is our second closest star, Proxima Centauri?
• What is a galaxy and how many different types of galaxy are there?
• Where is our Sun located within our own Milky Way Galaxy?
• How do galaxies arrange themselves on the largest scales in the
Universe?
• How large is the observable Universe and how many galaxies does it
contain?
2.1 The Milky. Way Galaxy
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
In this section learners will discover that the Sun is one of about 200 billion stars
in our home galaxy, the Milky Way. Learners. will be introduced to the main
features of the Milky Way Galaxy which include its central bulge, flat disk and
spiral arms. Students will also learn the Sun's place within the Milky Way: we are
not in the centre of our galaxy, but rather are out on the edge of our galaxy,
about halfway out from the centre.
. .
Chapter 2. Beyond the solar system 219

Some learners have difficulty in envisioning what they are actually looking at
when they see the Milky Way in the sky at night. In fact, every individual star
that we see in the sky at night is part of our Milky Way. If the Milky Way were
spherical in shape, then we would not see the thin band of the Milky Way across
the sky, stars would be more uniformly distributed across the whole sky.
.
However, because the Milky Way is flat, when you look at the band of the Milky
Way across the sky at night you are actually looking along the plane of the disk
of the galaxy in towards the centre where there is a high density of stars. The
density of stars is so high that they cannot be individually distinguished by the
naked eye, and so the Milky Way appears as a white band of light across the sky.
At the darkest places on Earth, far away from city lights, you can see thousands
of stars at night using nothing but your eyes. In fact there are many more stars
in the sky which are too faint for us to see.
All of the individual stars that you can see are members of our Milky Way
Galaxy. A galaxy is a massive collection of stars, gas and dust all held together
by gravity. The Milky Way has about 200 billion stars and our Sun is just one of
those stars in the Milky Way Galaxy.
From the Earth, the Milky Way looks like a bright hazy band of light across the
sky, mixed in with dark dusty patches. This was called Galaxies Kuklos by the
Greeks which means the Milky Circle because they thought it looked like milk
spilled across the sky. The Romans changed the name to Via Lactea which
means the Milky Road or the Milky Way.
The Milky Way stretching across the sky viewed from Sutherland. The dark shape of the
SALT telescope can be seen in the foreground with the night sky in the background
(SAAO)
VISIT
.
Time lapse video of the
If you could travel outside the Milky Way and look down on it from above, the
Milky Way. bit.ly/19Ylkal
galaxy would look like a giant spiral in space as shown in the following image.
...

VISIT
Discover more online and
.
read about missions beyond
our solar system.
bit.ly/1iaQrog
This is what the Milky Way would look like if you could see it from far away in space.
Scientists only know this from many observations made from Earth. No one has actually
been that far away from our galaxy to look at it. The structure is what we have inferred
from other observations.
The image shows what scientists think our galaxy looks like. You can see the
spiral arms of our Milky Way. These are bluish in colour and are filled with dust
and gas and hot young stars. The thin dark wisps in the image are dust lanes,
regions where the gas is very dusty. The central part of the galaxy is more
orangey in colour than the spiral arms. This is because the stars found at the
centre of the galaxy tend to be older and cooler than the young hot blue stars.
Scientists think that there are five major spiral arms in our galaxy. These are the
Norma Arm, the Scutum-Crux Arm, the Sagittarius Arm, the Perseus Arm and
the Cygnus Arm.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
Some of the arms have alternative names, a table is included here for reference
in case other names are listed in books or online.
Common Name Alternative Name
Norma Arm 3 kiloparsec Arm

.
Scutum-Crux Arm Centaurus Arm
Sagittarius Arm Sagittarius-Carina Arm
Orion Arm Local Arm
Perseus Arm -
Cygnus Arm Outer Arm
. .

Our Sun is located in a small spiral arm called the Orion (or Local) Arm which
lies between the Sagittarius Arm and the Perseus Arm. Our Sun is about halfway
out from the centre of the galaxy.
All the stars in this galaxy are revolving around the centre of the galaxy. Just as
the Earth travels around the Sun, the Sun and our entire solar system is
travelling around the centre of the Milky Way Galaxy at a speed of 250 km/s.
Even though we are travelling incredibly fast, it takes the Sun about 225 million
years to complete one orbit around the galaxy centre. The Milky Way is truly
massive, measuring a staggering 950 000 000 000 000 000 km across!
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
.
If learners are familiar with scientific notation, then the above diameter of the
Milky Way can be written as 9.5 x 1017 km.
The Sun's position in the Milky Way.
...

If, instead of looking down on the Milky Way Galaxy, you looked at it from one
side you would see that the Galaxy looks like this:
TAKE NOTE
To us the Earth seems big,
but the Earth is only a very
small part of the Solar
. our Solar
System. And
System is a very small part
of the Milky Way Galaxy.
And our galaxy is only a very
Looking at the Milky Way from the side. small part of the whole
Universe.
The Milky Way is shaped like a giant fried egg. It is about a hundred times wider
than it is thick, and it bulges in the middle. The central lump is called the bulge
and the rest of the galaxy outside the bulge is called the disk.
As you know, we are inside the Milky Way Galaxy. So when you look at the thin
milky-looking band stretching across the sky at night, what do you think you are
actually looking at?
The thin band of light that you see is actually the stars in the Sagittarius arm as
you look inwards towards the centre of the galaxy. There are so many stars VISIT
densely packed together that you cannot make out individual stars with your .
Why is it dark at night?
eyes. Therefore you just see a haze of light. Above and below the plane of the
bit.ly/HcrKgf
disk there are very few stars.
If you look closely at the image of

the Milky Way above, you can
see several round fuzzy blobs
dotted about above and below
the disk. These are called
globular clusters and are vast
collections of hundreds of
thousands of ancient stars tightly
packed together by gravity. The
Milky Way has an estimated 160
globular clusters. The oldest
stars in the galaxy are found in
these globular clusters, some are
almost as old as the Universe A globular cluster called M80. The stars in this
itself. globular cluster are around 12.5 billion years old.
Our Sun is a mere 4.5 billion years old.
. .

.
ACTIVITY: Draw the Milky Way

.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
The aim of this activity is to reinforce the idea that the Milky Way Galaxy is a
spiral galaxy with five major spiral arms .in addition to some smaller arms.
Learners will also be reminded that the Sun and Earth are not at the centre of
the galaxy, but rather about half way out along a minor arm called the Orion
Arm.
MATERIALS:
• black paper
• white crayon, pencil or paint
• glue - optional
• glitter or sand - optional
.
• newspaper for working on
• white or silver pencil/pen for labelling
• sticker - optional
INSTRUCTIONS:
VISIT
Video showing. us zooming 1. Draw or paint a picture of the Milky Way. You can use the picture in the
out from the Earth to outside text above as a guide. The galaxy has five major spiral arms, and some
our galaxy. bit.ly/1iaQDnt smaller ones including our Orion Arm. The galaxy also has a bulge in the
middle.
2. If you are going to use glitter or sand, glue along your spiral arms and in
the central bulge.
3. Scatter glitter or sand over the picture, each grain represents a star in our
Milky Way.
4. Tilt the picture onto the newspaper to remove any excess glitter.
5. Label each of the major arms of the Milky Way Galaxy.
6. On the Orion Arm place a sticker or mark a point halfway out from the
galaxy centre. This marks the position of the Sun.
VISIT How do you think astronomers know what the Milky Way looks like from the
. outside when they have never been outside the Milky Way? The task is similar
The sound of interstellar
to trying to figure out the shape of a forest from outside when you are in the
space. bit.ly/1cbfjil
middle of the forest. How would you go about this?
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
.
Learner-dependent answer. Ask learners to explain their answers. A typical
response could be that we count the number of stars we see in each direction.
...

Astronomers look at the sky in all directions and count the number of stars that
they see, they also measure the distance to each of the stars so that they can
build up a three dimensional map of the galaxy. One of the difficulties that
astronomers have in doing this is seeing through all the dust in the galaxy which
dims the optical light coming from the stars.
ACTIVITY: Make the Milky Way

.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
In this activity learners will make a model of the Milky Way. They must come up
with the best materials they can think of and obtain for their models. For
example, they can use cardboard, cotton wool balls and glitter. This can be
done as a group model, where learners are given the task a couple days before
the lesson and they must collect the materials, or else you can supply a
selection of materials in class which they can then use to build the model.
Encourage learners to be creative when .thinking about the materials to use to
represent the different components.
The aim of this activity is to give learners a three dimensional view of the Milky
Way, including the structure of the central bulge and the disk containing the
spiral arms. The glitter is used to represent the distribution of stars and the
colours are used to demonstrate how old and young stars are distributed in the
galaxy. The life cycle of stars in not covered until Grade 9. Therefore, although
you may want to mention that the stellar populations in the bulge and the disk
of our galaxy are different, it is not essential to do so.
.
MATERIALS:
• thick piece of black cardboard at least 30 cm across

• other materials for your model, either collected by you or supplied by your
teacher
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
Examples of other materials to supply are: TAKE NOTE
• a bag of cotton balls or pillow stuffing We will learn more about the
.
• glue life cycle of stars in Gr 9.
• string Younger stars .are hotter and
• pencil bright white or blue in
• red, blue, gold and silver glitter colour, while older stars are
• star sticker cooler and more yellow and

red in colour.
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. You need to build a 3 dimensional model of the Milky Way Galaxy. You will
either need to collect the most appropriate materials for your model
beforehand, or else your teacher will supply you with a selection of
materials to use in class.
. .

2. Cut out a circle of radius 15 cm from the black card and use this to build
your 3D model.
3. You must show the central bulge, the spiral arms and the different
coloured stars.
4. Mark the position of our Sun on your model.
5. Using your model, view it from different angles and compare the view you
have with the images of the Milky Way in this chapter.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
Learners must come up with their own model designs. An example design is
included here if you would prefer to make one which you then use to
demonstrate to learners, instead of them making their own:
1. Build a dome of cotton balls in the centre of one side of the cardboard.
Use glue to keep the cotton balls in place. The dome should be about 8 cm
across and 4cm high.
2. Repeat on other side of the board. The cotton ball dome represents the
bulge of our galaxy.
.
3. Pull the outer cotton balls into six spirals around the cotton ball dome.
These represent the five major spiral . arms found in the disk of our galaxy,
in addition to the minor spiral arm that our Sun is found in.
4. Dribble glue on the spiral arms and sprinkle blue and silver glitter on the
glue. These represent hot newly forming stars.
5. Dribble glue all over the cotton wool dome ball in the middle and sprinkle
this glue with gold and red glitter to represent cooler, older stars.
6. Mark a position 8 cm from the centre inside one of the spiral arms.
7. Stick the star sticker on the spiral arm at the marked position. This marks
the position of our Sun.
8. Make a hole in the centre of the model and thread it with a string so that it
can be hung up.
QUESTIONS:
1. What are the two main parts that make up our Milky Way Galaxy?
The disk and the bulge.
2. Where are the spiral arms located; in the disk or the bulge of our galaxy?
In the disk.
3. Is our Sun found in the central bulge or in a spiral arm in the disk?
Our Sun is located in a spiral arm.
4. How far from the centre of the galaxy is our Sun located?
Just over half way out from the centre.
.
.
2.2 Our nearest star
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
.
In this brief section learners will be introduced to the large distances found
between stars in preparation for the following section on light hours, minutes
and seconds.
...

The Sun is our closest star, and is only 150 million kilometres from Earth. When
you look up at the sky at night, if you are lucky enough to be far from the glare
of city lights, you can see thousands of stars. For those of you in a city, perhaps
you can see hundreds of stars, depending on the amount of light pollution from
street lights and other light sources. As you know, there are actually billions of
stars in our galaxy but most of them are too faint to see from Earth.
A constellation is a group of stars that, when viewed from Earth, form a pattern
in the sky. One famous constellation that is visible, even from big cities in South
Africa, is the Southern Cross or Crux. The two bright stars at the bottom left
pointing towards the cross are called the pointers.
The Pointers (circled) and the Southern Cross.
The brightest of the Pointers looks slightly orange if you look closely. This star is
called Alpha Centauri and is our closest easily visible star after the Sun. Alpha
Centauri is actually part of a triple star system which is where three stars are in VISIT
orbit around each other. The two main stars of the system are called Alpha .
Scale of the Universe.
Centauri A and Alpha Centauri B. They orbit close together, on average about
bit.ly/185Yjlc
eleven times the Earth-Sun distance from each other.
A smaller, fainter star, called Proxima Centauri, orbits much farther out. If you
were to look at Alpha Centauri through a small telescope, instead of one star
you would be able to make out the two separate stars Alpha Centauri A and B
next to each other. Proxima Centauri is much fainter and further away from the
other two so you would not see this one with the other two.
A comparison of the sizes of the Alpha Centauri star system and the Sun.
. .

Proxima Centauri, the closest star to our own Sun, is about 40 trillion km away
from the Earth. Alpha Centauri A and B are slightly farther away, at 42 trillion
km away from us. Our closest star is 694 times farther away than Pluto is. These
numbers are astronomically large! As the numbers are so large, astronomers do
not use kilometres to measure the distances to stars, but use larger units based
on the speed of light, which you will discover in the next section of this chapter.
Do you know how much a trillion or a billion is? Have a look at the following
table:
In words In number format
one thousand 1 000
one million 1 000 000
one billion 1 000 000 000
one trillion 1 000 000 000 000
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
The following is an optional, extension activity that you can do on scientific
notation with your learners. Scientific notation is only covered in Gr 9
Mathematics, however. many of the numbers used in this chapter are very long,
and so can be written in scientific notation. Also, if you do some of the
subsequent activities doing calculations with a calculator, the answers will be
given in scientific notation. It is therefore useful for learners to know what this
is. You can use the following activity to explain scientific notation to learners
and write some of the examples given in the tables on the board as examples.
Activity: Scientific notation
In science one often needs to work with very large or very small numbers. For
example, we spoke about the distance from Earth to our next closest star after
the Sun as being 40 trillion km. How much is a trillion?
Look at the following table: .
In words In number format In scientific notation
one thousand 1 000 1,0 x 103
one million 1 000 000 1,0 x 106
one billion 1 000 000 000 1,0 x 109
one trillion 1 000 000 000 000 1,0 x 1012
Therefore, the distance from Earth to Proxima Centauri is 40 000 000 000 000
km. This is a very large number to work with.
Very large and very small numbers can be written more easily (and more
compactly) in scientific notation, in the general form: N x 10n
...

N is a decimal number between 0 and 10 that is rounded off to a few decimal
places. n is known as the exponent and is an integer.
If n is bigger than 0 it represents how many times the decimal place in N should
be moved to the right. If n is smaller than 0, then it represents how many times
the decimal place in N should be moved to the left.
For example, 3,24 x 103 represents 3240 (the decimal moved three places to the
right) and 3,24 x 10-3 represents 0,00324 (the decimal moved three places to
the left).
If we wanted to write the distance from the Earth to Proxima Centauri in

scientific notation, we need to count how many times the decimal comma must
move so that N is a number between 0 and 10. It must move 13 times. Therefore
40 000 000 000 000 km can be written as 4,0 x 1013 km.
.
Look at the following examples.
Standard number Scientific notation
200 2 x 102
1 500 1,5 x 103
67 890 6,789 x 104
48 000 210 4,8 x 107
0,02 2 x 10-2
.
2.3 Light years, light hours and light minutes
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
In this section, learners will be introduced to the concept of light years, light
hours and light minutes. These units of distance are used for interstellar
(between stars) and interplanetary (between planets) distances because the
distances involved are huge and familiar units like metres and kilometres are
just too small.
Because of the references to time in each of these distance units, learners can
often mistake these units as units of time rather than units of distance. It is
important to address this misconception. . For example, a light hour is the
distance that light travels in one hour of time. Although time is involved the final
measurement is actually a distance.
A useful activity to introduce the topic is to ask learners how far they estimate
they could walk, run and cycle in one hour. Although they have to use time in
their estimation they should understand that they are estimating a distance.
This example also includes the concept of speed. Learners should understand
that if they move faster they will travel further in a given hour. Starting off by
using activities that they are familiar with should prove useful when then going
on to deal with the rather abstract concept of the speed of light.
. .

This section is fairly mathematical and learners will need a calculator to
complete the activities. It is useful (although not essential) if learners
understand scientific notation. Learners need to understand what a million,
billion and trillion correspond to and so if in doubt it might prove useful to
.
remind learners of the powers of ten involved for millions, billions and trillions.
Formulae for calculations have been provided where necessary, and it is
expected that most learners will be familiar with the formula speed = distance /
time. If learners are unfamiliar with this concept it would be a useful exercise to
explain this before starting on the exercises in this section.
Our solar system is a pretty big place. Our nearest neighbour, the Moon, is on
average 384 400 kilometres away, and the closest to us that our nearest planet
Venus gets is about 42 million kilometres. The Sun is about 150 million
kilometres away and the closest that Pluto can ever get to us is 4.3 billion
kilometres. These large numbers are impractical to use and so we rather use
much larger distance units based on the speed of light. This makes the numbers
smaller and easier to deal with.
This is just like using metres instead of centimetres to make the numbers smaller
when you measure a distance. For example, if you are telling a friend how far it
is from your house to school, you would say it is 7.5 km, and not 7 500 000 cm.
Let's begin by comparing the speed of light with the speed of some other things
that move very fast.
ACTIVITY: Travelling fast

.
A cheetah, the fastest land mammal, can A Peregrine Falcon, the fastest animal, can
reach speeds of 120 km/h, as fast as cars on fly as fast as 389 km/h.
the highway.
Japan's high speed train the NASA's scramjet the X-43 The international space
JR-Maglev MLX01 has flies at 7000 km/h. station (ISS) orbits the Earth
reached 581 km/h. at a speed of 27 744 km/h.
...

VISIT
What about light? Light travels at about 1080 million km/h, or 299 792 458 m/s. .
How to break the speed of
INSTRUCTIONS: light. bit.ly/H7MoO0
1. Imagine you are going on a trip from Cape Town to Durban, which is a
distance of 1753 km.
2. Calculate how long it would take you to complete the trip travelling at the
speeds of the animals and modes of transport in the examples above.
3. Fill in your answers in the table below.
distance
Remember the formula: time =
speed
. .
TEACHER'S NOTE
Distance between Time taken for
Mode of
Speed (km/h) Cape Town and the journey
transport
Durban (km)
cheetah 120 1753 14.6 hours
peregrine falcon 389 .

1753 4.5 hours
high speed train 581 1753 3.0 hours
NASA's scramjet 7000 1753 15 minutes

International 3.8 minutes
27 744 1753
space station
light 1079 252 850 1753 0.006 seconds
.
.
Light is amazingly fast. Look at the examples below.
In one second light can travel… Light takes…

VISIT
between Cape Town and .
Johannesburg 214 times. 0.0000003 seconds to travel 100 m. How far is a second?
bit.ly/1h4IYcE
between Cape Town and London, 1.3 seconds to travel from the Earth to
England, 31 times. the Moon.
around the Earth 7.5 times. 8 minutes to travel from the Sun to
the Earth.
For distances within the solar system, astronomers use units called light hours
and light minutes.
A light hour is the distance that light travels in one hour. Despite its name, a
light hour is not a unit of time, it is a unit of distance.
. .

What do you think a light minute corresponds to?
.
TEACHER'S NOTE .
It is the distance that light travels in one minute.
VISIT
.
How far is a light year?
bit.ly/GZCzBy
Which do you think is a smaller distance, a light hour or a light minute, and why?
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
. has less time to travel in a minute
A light minute is smaller because the light
than an hour. So a light minute must be shorter because this represents the
distance that light travels in a minute.
Astronomers use units called light years to measure the distances between
stars and galaxies. One light year is almost 10 trillion kilometres. As you can see,
a light year is very, very far.
Light years, light hours and light minutes measure distances. They also tell us
something else very interesting. If you measure the distance to a light source in
light travel time, you can work out how long light emitted from the distant
source takes to reach you. Light that is emitted from an object one light year
away from you, takes one year to reach your eyes. Similarly, light that is emitted
from an object one light hour away, takes one hour to reach your eyes.
How long do you think light emitted from one light minute away takes to reach
your eyes?
.
VISIT
TEACHER'S NOTE .
Scale of the. Universe
interactive animation. One minute.
bit.ly/1bavNSv
VISIT This may sound very strange to you because when you switch on a lamp in your
. home you see the light straight away. You do not have to wait for the light from
How big is the Universe?
the lamp to reach you. You do not notice that it actually takes some time for the
bit.ly/1ddYnaj
light from the lamp to reach your eyes because light travels extremely fast.
Light travels so fast, that if you were standing a metre away from the lamp it
would only take only three billionths of a second for the light from the lamp to
reach your eyes. It is therefore no surprise that you don't notice the delay.
...

.
ACTIVITY: Scale of the solar system

.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE .
Question 7 in the activity is an advanced question for able learners.
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. The table below shows the distance that each planet lies from the Sun in
kilometres (km) and then in light hours or light minutes.
2. Study the table and answer the questions that follow.
Distances of each planet from the Sun.
Distance from the Sun

Distance from the Sun
Planet in light hours or
(million km)
minutes
Mercury 57.9 3.2 light minutes
Venus 108.2 6.0 light minutes
Earth 149.6 . 8.3 light minutes
Mars 227.9 12.7 light minutes
Jupiter 778.6 43.3 light minutes
Saturn 1433.5 1.3 light hours
Uranus 2872.5 2.7 light hours
Neptune 4495.1 4.2 light hours
QUESTIONS:
1. How far away from the Sun is Earth?

8.32 light minutes.
2. How long does light take to travel from the Sun to the Earth?
8.32 minutes.
3. What does the answer to (2) imply about our view of the Sun?
We see the Sun as it was 8.32 minutes ago.
4. How many times further away from the Sun than the Earth is Neptune?
30 times further. This is calculated by dividing the distance from the Sun to
Neptune by the distance from the Sun to Earth: 4495/150 = 30.
5. How far away from the Sun is Neptune in light hours?
4.17 light hours.
6. How long does light from the Sun take to reach Neptune? .
VISIT
4.17 hours.
The size of the Universe.
bit.ly/1h4JJlM
. .

7. Imagine you have a cousin living on Neptune. You and your cousin both
decide to look at the Sun, each of you using a telescope with a special
solar filter so as not to damage your eyes. As you are watching the Sun
you suddenly notice a big blob of gas thrown off in a massive solar flare.
.
You cousin says she cannot see it. Why is that?
If you see the flare happen from Earth, then the flare happened 8 minutes
ago. The light from the Sun showing the flare takes 4.2 hours to reach
Neptune (about 4 hours 24 minutes), so your cousin will only see the flare
in 4 hours 16 minutes time.
.
As you can see, the solar system is very large. The orbit of Neptune is over 4
light hours from the Sun and the Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud extend out even
further than this.
The distance to the next closest star, Proxima Centauri, is 40 trillion km. This
corresponds to 4.24 light years. This means that light from the star takes just
over four years to reach Earth. Let's investigate the distances to some of our
closest stars.
ACTIVITY: Our closest stars

.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
In this activity learners will get a feel for .how "close" the nearest stars are to the
Sun. The idea of this activity is to familarise learners with the idea that stellar
distances are generally measured in light years (rather than light minutes or
hours which apply to solar system objects).
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Look at the table showing our closest stars and the star map.
2. Answer the questions below.
.
Star Distance (light years)
Proxima Centauri 4.24
Alpha Centauri 4.37
Barnard's Star 5.96
WISE 1049-5319 6.52
Wolf 359 7.78
Lalande 21185 8.29
Sirius 8.58
...

The following map shows the Sun in the centre with the locations of our closest
stars. Each solid ring represents a distance of 2, 4, 6 and 8 light years from the
Sun respectively. The dotted circle represents the Oort Cloud.
TAKE NOTE
The star map is shown in two
. a flat plane.
dimensions, on
Remember that the stars are
located in 3 dimensions in
space.
.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
TAKE NOTE
QUESTIONS: . to check
Always remember
that learners write the units
1. Which star is our closest neighbour, excluding the Sun? after their answers.
Proxima Centauri.
2. How far is Sirius?
Sirius is 8.58 light years away.
3. How long does light from Barnard's Star take to reach us?
Light takes 5.96 years to reach us from Barnard's star.
4. Explain in your own words what the statement "Sirius is 8.58 light years
away from Earth" means.
It means that the star is at the distance that light can travel in 8.58 years. It
means that light takes 8.58 years to reach us on Earth from Sirius. .
.
Our closest stars are less than ten light years away, however most stars in our
galaxy are much farther away. The distances to stars are generally measured in
tens, hundreds or even thousands of light years and the distances between
galaxies are truly enormous as you will discover in the next section.
. .

.
2.4 What is beyond the Milky Way Galaxy?
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
In this section learners will find out what lies beyond our own galaxy. They will
learn that there are billions of other galaxies in our Universe of all shapes and
sizes. They will learn about the different types of galaxies, i.e. ellipticals, spirals,
barred spirals, lenticular and irregular types.
. Learners do not have to know the
actual names of the different shapes (this is included for interest), but they must
know the shape of the Milky Way Galaxy and understand that other galaxies
have different shapes. The will also look at how galaxies are arranged in the
Universe: into groups and clusters of galaxies, and finally they will look at the
Universe on its grandest scale finding out how matter is arranged into voids and
filaments.
Our galaxy, the Milky Way, is only one out of a total of about 100 to 200 billion
galaxies that astronomers estimate to be in the Universe. That's more than 10
TAKE NOTE times the total number of people on Earth.
The distances between
As well as stars, galaxies contain vast amounts of gas and dust. Galaxies come
. larger than
galaxies are even
in a variety of shapes and sizes. The Milky Way is an average-sized spiral galaxy:
the sizes of galaxies and are
it is 100 000 light years across and contains around 200 billion stars. Small
measured in millions or even
galaxies may contain only a few million stars, while large galaxies can have
billions of light years.
several trillion stars.
Our closest galaxy neighbour is called the Andromeda Galaxy. Andromeda is

2.5 million light years away from the Milky Way. If you wanted to travel to
Andromeda and could travel as fast as light, it would still take you 2.5 million
years to get there.
Our closest neighbouring galaxy, Andromeda. Light from the galaxy takes 2.5 million
years to reach Earth and so the light that hits your eyes now from that galaxy was
emitted before there were humans on Earth.
...

This illustration shows a stage in the predicted collision between our Milky Way Galaxy
and the neighboring Andromeda Galaxy, as it will unfold over the next several billion
years. This image shows how we think Earth's night sky will look like in 3.75 billion years
time.
There are five main types of galaxies. You do not need to know these names.
This is included for your interest.
• spiral
• barred spiral
• elliptical
• lenticular
• irregular
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
Extra information on the different shapes of galaxies:
• Spiral galaxies have a central bulge and a flat disk with spiral arms.
• Some spiral galaxies have arms that do not start at the centre of the galaxy
but start at the end of a bright straight bar that goes across the centre of
the galaxy. These are called barred spiral galaxies.
• Elliptical galaxies look smooth and are shaped like giant rugby balls with
no spiral arms. Some can be round .and some can be very elongated. They
contain old stars and have very little gas and dust.
• A lenticular galaxy is in between a spiral galaxy and an elliptical galaxy.
They are disk galaxies (like spiral galaxies) but do not have defined arms as
they have lost most of their dust and gas. As a result, there is little star
formation happening and they consist of mostly old stars (like elliptical
galaxies.)
• Irregular galaxies do not look like spirals or elliptical galaxies. Some (but VISIT
not all) irregular galaxies are actually two or more galaxies in the process . galaxy in
The largest known
of colliding. the Universe. bit.ly/1ddXJcR
. .

VISIT
What is the Universe?
.
bit.ly/1eFW3XI
How big is the Universe?
bit.ly/16sqdIB
Spiral galaxy named NGC 4414. Barred spiral galaxy named NGC 1300.
Elliptical galaxy NGC 1132. A lenticular galaxy, called NGC 5866.
Irregular galaxy named NGC 1427A.
Let's do an activity to explore the different types of galaxies we see.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
There is a really relevant link provided in the Visit box for the citizen science
project, Galaxy Zoo. This is a really great. way for you and learners to become
actively involved in some real science research related to what you are doing in
class. If you have internet access and a projector in your class, a suggestion is to
bring this site up and go through some of the galaxies with your learners and
classify them according to their shapes.
...

Find out more about incorporating real science into your classroom with
Zooniverse citizen science projects at the ZooTeach website: 2 bit.ly/H6krWT .
Citizen science offers you a free, easily accessible and inspiring opportunity to
bring real science into the classroom. . VISIT
Something fun - have a look
ZooTeach is a website where teachers and educators can share high quality at this picture.of a cheetah
lesson plans and resources that complement the Zooniverse citizen science created using thousands of
projects. images of galaxies from
Galaxy Zoo. bit.ly/177itzq
ACTIVITY: Comparing galaxies

.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
This is an optional, extension activity. In .this activity learners will describe and
compare the appearance of six different galaxies. They will also rank the
galaxies in terms of increasing distance from Earth.
MATERIALS:
• images of the galaxies to be compared
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Look at the images of the of six galaxies used in this activity.

2. Using the information in this chapter, write down in the table what type of
galaxy our Milky Way Galaxy is.
3. Write down in the table below what. type of galaxy (spiral, barred spiral,
elliptical or irregular) you think each galaxy is.
VISIT
. Galaxy Zoo - take part in
TEACHER'S NOTE some real astronomical
.
research by classifying the
shapes of different galaxies
Galaxy Name Galaxy type in this citizen science
project. bit.ly/1ddXQVQ
.
Barred spiral galaxy (because it has
spiral arms with a bright, central
bar)
Milky Way Galaxy.
. .

.
TEACHER'S NOTE
Galaxy Name Galaxy type
Elliptical galaxy (because it is round

and smooth with no spiral arms)
Galaxy M 89, 60 million light years

away.
Spiral galaxy (because it has spiral

arms)
Galaxy NGC 4622, 111 million light .

years away.
Irregular galaxy (it does not have

spiral arms and is not a smooth oval
shape like elliptical galaxies. It looks
like an irregular shape)
The Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy.

This satellite galaxy of our own
Milky Way is only 163 000 light
years away.
Lenticular galaxy (because disk

shaped, with a central bulge, but no
spiral arms)
The Spindle Galaxy, 44 million light

years away.
...

QUESTION:
List the galaxies in the table above in increasing order of distance from our
Milky Way Galaxy.
.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE .
The LMC, the Spindle Galaxy, M 89, NGC 4622.
.
.
VISIT
Have a look at the following diagram which shows the location of Earth in the .
What is dark matter?
Universe. You do not need to know this classification; this is included for your
bit.ly/1ab5oFO
interest.
• Most galaxies are found gathered together in gigantic galaxy

neighbourhoods, called galaxy groups. Our Milky Way is found in a group
of galaxies called The Local Group.
• Galaxy clusters are even larger, spanning tens of millions of light years,
and can contain hundreds or even thousands of galaxies. VISIT
• Many clusters of galaxies come together to form superclusters of galaxies. . how many
How do we know
Our own local group is part of the Virgo supercluster. galaxies there are in the
• Gravity holds the galaxies in groups, clusters and superclusters together. Universe? bit.ly/HfeA0O
. .

Galaxies in the Hubble Extreme Deep Field. Every smudge in the image is a distant galaxy.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
Extension content and activity
Galaxy clusters are beautiful yet peculiar objects. They seem to be full of a
mysterious unseen type of matter which. has not yet been identified. From its
gravitational effects on the gas and galaxies in the cluster, astronomers
estimate that this strange matter could be about five times more massive than
all the galaxies and hot gas in a cluster combined. Astronomers have no idea
what this mysterious matter is and call it dark matter, because they cannot see
it. It turns out that this strange matter is not only found in clusters of galaxies,
but is spread throughout space.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
The galaxy cluster called Abell 2218. Each point of light is a galaxy.
...

If you look closely at the image of galaxy cluster Abell 2218, in addition to the
galaxies that make up the cluster you can see thin arcs. These are images of
distant galaxies behind the cluster that are distorted by matter in the cluster.
The cluster of galaxies acts like a giant lens, bending and distorting the light
coming from the more distant galaxies. The distant galaxies are not actually this
funny shape, they are usually elliptical or spiral shaped. They just appear this
way because of the lensing. .
Matter bends light, just like a lens does, although the effect is much weaker,
otherwise our torches would have bent light beams. When matter acts to bend
light astronomers refer to the matter as a gravitational lens. Clusters of galaxies
make excellent gravitational lenses because they are so massive. Most of the
lensing however does not come from the galaxies or the hot gas in the cluster,
but from the unseen dark matter within the cluster.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
Activity: Wine glass gravitational lens
Note: This activity can be done as an extension if you decide to discuss the
above content on dark matter with learners. However, this is beyond the scope
of CAPS and has only been included as an optional extension. This activity can
be done individually, but if there are not enough wine glasses for the entire class
then learners can work in small groups and take it in turns within their group to
complete this activity. It can sometimes be a bit difficult to see the rings and
arcs clearly. To aid this, use a bright red pen rather than a black pen, and it may
help if learners close one eye and just use one eye to observe the arcs and rings
produced in this activity. .
In this activity you will investigate how a wine glass acts like a lens, bending
light. Dark matter in the Universe also acts like a lens, bending the light from
distant galaxies making their images distorted into rings or arcs. While the wine
glass bends the light due to refraction, dark matter bends the light because it
has mass, and is called a gravitational lens.
MATERIALS:
• wine glass
• paper (graph paper if possible)
• red pen/marker
• water
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Make a large dot on the graph paper using the red marker.
2. Place the wine glass on the graph paper
. and look directly down at the
paper through the wine glass. Observe how it distorts the grid of the graph
paper.
3. Centre the wine glass over the dot and look directly down at the paper
through the wine glass. Make a note of your observations below.
4. Move the wine glass from side to side and up and down along the paper
slightly and note what you observe.
. .

5. Repeat steps 3 to 4, but this time raise the glass above the paper by about
3 cm. Note what you observe.
6. Add some water to the wine glass and repeat step 5. Note what you
observe.
Note: If the dot is centred below the wine glass, learners should view a ring. If it
is not centred, they should see arcs.
Ask learners the following questions:
1. When the wine glass was centred above the dot what did you observe?
Red ring
2. When the wine glass was not centred . what did you observe?
Red arcs
3. If you moved the wine glass left and right, what happened?
The arcs move. If you move the glass to the left, the arc is on the right hand
side and if you move the glass to the right, the arc appears on the left hand
side.
4. Given your observations here, what can you say about the orientation of
the galaxy cluster Abell 2218, shown in the last image? Is it in line with the
distant galaxies or offset slightly? (Hint: do you see arcs or a ring?)
In the picture above you can see faint arcs in the image. This means that
the gravitational lens and the background galaxies cannot be lined up
perfectly, otherwise you would see a ring.
The Observable Universe
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
Learners do not need to know the structure of the Universe in terms of filaments
and voids. This is included as enrichment content. Learners do need to know
what we mean by the observable Universe though.
There is an error in the CAPS document which incorrectly states that the size of
the observable Universe is 28 billion light years. In fact the size of the
observable Universe is about 93 billion light
. years which corresponds to 28
billion parsecs - a parsec is a unit of distance used in astronomy and is equal to
about 3.1x1013 km or about 3.3 light years.
Note that the observable Universe, is the region that is visible from Earth it is
not the whole of the Universe. The size of the whole Universe is unknown and it
may be infinite in size. "Infinite in size" is a difficult concept for most learners to
grasp and so it has been deliberately omitted from this text. You should use
your own judgement as to whether it is suitable to consider elaborating upon
the size of the unobservable Universe within your class.
...

This computer generated graphic represents a slice of the sponge-like structure of the
Universe. All the galaxies lie along thin walls called filaments. The darker areas show the
voids where there are no galaxies.
Astronomers estimate that the age of the Universe is 13.7 billion years old. This
might make you imagine that you can see objects from as far as 13.7 billion light
years away in all directions. If you were to draw a sphere around the Earth, with
a radius of 13.7 billion light years, with the Earth placed at the centre, the surface
of the sphere would represent the limit of how far light could travel to Earth in VISIT
13.7 billion years. The surface would represent the edge of the observable .
Do we expand with the
Universe as seen from Earth. You might therefore assume that the diameter of
Universe? bit.ly/1ddYyTd
the observable Universe is 27.4 billion light years (2 times 13.7).
However, you would actually be wrong. Astronomers estimate the size of the
observable Universe to be 93 billion light years in diameter, which is much,
much larger. The reason that the size is much larger than expected is because
the Universe is expanding and galaxies are moving further and further away
from the Earth as the space between them expands. So we are able to see
galaxies that are now very far away because when they emitted their light they
were closer to Earth. The size of the whole Universe, which includes regions too
far from Earth for us to see at this time, is unknown.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
Following is a demonstration that you can
. perform to show learners what is
meant by the expanding Universe.
. .

Activity: The expanding Universe
Note: This is a demonstration to help learners visualise how the space between
galaxies is expanding. This is a simple 2D analogy of the true 3D situation. In this
demonstration the surface of the balloon is a two dimensional representation of
space and circles on the surface of the balloon represent galaxies in space. As
the balloon is blown up, representing the expanding Universe, the distances
between neighbouring galaxies increase which is exactly what is observed in the
expanding Universe.
MATERIALS:
• one balloon
• small circles of paper
• glue
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Cut out small circles of paper and stick

. them onto the balloon. Each circle
represents a galaxy in the Universe.
2. Blow up the balloon halfway. Note what happens to the distance between
the paper circles.
3. Blow up the balloon fully. Note what happens to the distance between the
paper circles dots.
Ask learners the following questions:
1. What happened to the distance between the paper circles as you inflated
the balloon?
As the balloon was inflated the distance between the dots increased.
2. What do you think would happen if you could inflate the balloon to an even
VISIT larger size? The distance between the dots would increase even further.
Read interesting articles on 3. What do the paper circles represent and what does the inflating balloon
the latest developments in represent?
.
astronomical research on
Space Scoop, an astronomy The dots represent galaxies and the inflating balloon represents the expansion of
news service. the space between them. The balloon represents the expansion of the Universe.
bit.ly/1fSxJ84
...

..
SUMMARY:
.
Key Concepts
• A galaxy is a collection of millions or billions of stars, together with gas
and dust, held together by gravity.
• Galaxies come in all shapes and sizes.
• Our home galaxy, the Milky Way Galaxy, is a spiral galaxy containing
around 200 billion stars. Our Sun is just one of those stars.
• After the Sun, our nearest star is Alpha Centauri, the brighter of the two
pointer stars in the Southern Cross Constellation
• Light minutes, light hours and light years are used to measure distances
in space because the distances are so immense.
– A light minute is the distance that light can travel in one minute.
– A light hour is the distance that light can travel in one hour.
– A light year is the distance that light can travel in one year.
• Beyond the Milky Way Galaxy, are many more galaxies.
• Astronomers estimate the size of the observable Universe to be 93
billion light years in diameter.
. Map
Concept
Remember that you can also add your own notes to the concept maps to
expand and personalise them.
. .

.
.
.
REVISION:
.
1. What is the name of our second closest star? How far away is it? [2 marks]
Proxima Centauri. 4.24 light years away.
2. What is the name of our second closest easily visible star? Is it really a
single star? [2 marks]
Alpha Centauri. Alpha Centauri is actually a multiple star system containing
the stars Alpha Centauri A and B closely orbiting each other. To the naked
eye these two stars look like a single star. Proxima Centauri is also thought
to be a member of this star system but it is farther away from the other two
stars.
3. What is the definition of a light year? [2 marks]
A light year is the distance that light travels in one year.
4. What is a galaxy? [3 marks]
A galaxy is a massive collection of stars, dust and gas held together by
gravity. A typical galaxy contains hundreds of billions of stars.
5. Where is the Sun located within the Milky Way? [2 marks]
It is located in the Orion spiral arm halfway out from the centre of the
galaxy.
6. How many stars are in our Milky Way Galaxy? [1 mark]
200 billion.
7. Name the 4 main types of galaxies. [4 marks]
Elliptical galaxies, spiral galaxies, barred spiral galaxies and irregular
galaxies. .
8. What kind of galaxy is the Milky Way? [2 marks]
The Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy.
9. Draw an image of the Milky Way Galaxy as viewed from the top and as
viewed from the side. Note the position of the Sun in both images. Include
the labels: spiral arm, bulge, disk. [8 marks]
Learners must draw the spiral shape of the galaxy from above. The exact
positioning of the arms is not important, but learners must show the
position of the Sun towards the edge of one of the arms, Orion. From the
edge on, learners must show a flat disk with a bulge in the middle, and they
must locate the position of the Sun towards the one side of the disk.
10. Why does it look as though the Milky Way is a splash of milk or a starry
road across the sky? [2 marks]
The Milky Way Galaxy is a flat disk and when you look at the band of the
Milky Way across the sky at night you are actually looking along the plane
of the disk of the Galaxy in towards the centre where there is a high density
of stars.
11. What is a group of galaxies? [2 marks]
A collection of galaxies, held together by gravity.
12. What is the name of the group of galaxies that the Milky Way is a member
of? [1 mark]
The Local Group.
13. What are clusters of galaxies and superclusters of galaxies? [2 marks]
A cluster of galaxies is a collection of 50 or more galaxies held together by
gravity. Clusters of galaxies often group together to form larger structures
called superclusters of galaxies.
...

14. What is the size of the observable Universe? [1 mark]
The size of the observable Universe is 93 billion light years in diameter.
15. Bonus question: On the largest scales what does the Universe look like?
Name the two types of structure which make up the Universe on the
largest scales? [2 marks]
The Universe is made of thin walls called filaments which contain the
.
galaxies and gas and dust. In between the filaments lie empty bubbles
called voids.
Total [34 marks]
Total with extension [36 marks]
.
.
. .

3 Looking into space
.
.TEACHER'S
. ... NOTE
Chapter overview
(2 weeks)
In Grades 6 and 7 learners covered material regarding the viewing of space and
telescopes.
In Grade 6 they were introduced to telescopes including SALT and the SKA. In
Grade 7, they focused on the historical development of modern astronomy
including ancient observations and indigenous starlore all the way up to modern
scientific developments.
In this chapter the focus is on how we observe objects in space using

telescopes. Some history showing how early astronomers viewed and
interpreted the stars and planets in the sky is also included. Learners will have
the opportunity to conduct their own observations of the Southern Cross as
well as learn about the latest telescopes being developed in South Africa.
The main aims of this chapter are to ensure that learners understand the
following:
• Early cultures studied the stars and. planets using the naked eye. They
often grouped stars together in patterns called constellations.
• Astronomers now use telescopes to study galaxies, stars and planets.
• Telescopes help astronomers see fainter objects, because they act as light
collecting buckets.
• South Africa is host to the largest optical telescope in the southern
hemisphere and will be hosting the majority of the largest radio telescope
ever, the Square Kilometre Array (SKA).
Section 3.1 covers the early observations of space and section 3.2 covers
modern day telescopes.
3.1 Early viewing of space (2 hours)

Activity: Using star
maps to observe the observing, comparing CAPS suggested
night sky
observing, comparing CAPS suggested
Southern Cross (Crux)
Activity: Constellation researching, oral
Suggested
starlore communication
252
3.2 Telescopes (4 hours)

Activity: Telescopes as observing, analysing,
Suggested
light buckets comparing
Activity: Comparing comparing, observing,
Optional
your eye with SALT calculating, estimating
Activity: Draw a drawing, labelling,
. CAPS suggested
telescope describing
Activity: Telescope listing, researching,
CAPS suggested
information poster describing, writing
Activity: Careers in
discussing, analysing CAPS suggested
astronomy
Note: There is an advanced, extension activity in this section:
• Activity: Measuring the angular resolution of your eye.
..
KEY QUESTIONS:
• How did early cultures observe and interpret the night sky?
• How does a telescope help us to see more objects in the sky and in
greater detail?
• What kind of telescopes are there?
• Why is South Africa a good place for locating telescopes?
.
3.1 Early viewing of space
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
In Gr. 7 learners were introduced to indigenous knowledge about the stars and
planets under the historical development of astronomy. This section focused
primarily on the practical uses of star observations, such as timekeeping and
navigation, along with an introduction to starlore associated with the Moon,
Milky Way and other celestial bodies. In .this section the focus will lie in the
observations of constellations (and the planets) and starlore associated with
one example constellation.
A good way to introduce the topic of the early viewing of space, is to ask
learners if they know of any stories about famous constellations or the planets.
This facilitates discussions about constellations visible in the sky and how the
stars are actually related in space.
In dark conditions away from city lights, thousands of stars are visible in the
night sky. Early cultures around the world gazed at the stars in wonder. They
noted the movement of the stars and planets across the sky and used this to
mark the passage of time. People often grouped the stars they saw into
. .
Chapter 3. Looking into space 253

patterns called constellations. Early cultures tended to associate the stars and
planets they saw in the night sky with animals or gods and told stories, which
were passed on from generation to generation, about the patterns in the sky
which were passed down from generation to generation.
The stars that are visible depend upon your location on Earth and also the time
of year. The southern sky, which we see from South Africa, is full of beautiful
stars and several prominent constellations are visible in the sky including the
Southern Cross or Crux, Orion and Pavo the Peacock.
In the following activities you will have the opportunity to observe the night sky
and familiarise yourself with some of the most famous southern constellations.
ACTIVITY: Using star maps to observe the night

sky
.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
In this activity learners will use the star map provided to identify three
constellations in the night sky visible during September/October/November. If
you want to generate a star map specific to your location and date you can
freely download a sky map from 1 bit.ly/17e1jm3 . All you need to do is select
the area from which you want to view, by clicking on 'select from map' or 'from
database' and selecting your location. Your location will then be saved. You can
then click on the 'Sky chart' link further down to view a map of the night's sky
from your location at the current time. You can save and print this for learners.
For example, here are the links to the sky maps for several places in South
Africa.
A suggestion is to also organise this activity as a field trip at night. Go beyond

.
the city lights to an area where you are able to view the stars more clearly
without light interference. Also take note
. of when the full Moon occurs, as
reflected light from the Moon can also interfere with star gazing.
Location Link
Bloemfontein bit.ly/17GyAAH
Cape Town bit.ly/1bSSCeq
Durban bit.ly/17dZZ2m
Johannesburg bit.ly/1bb9mN0
MATERIALS:
• star map
• clear skies
• pencil
• paper or this workbook
• torch - optional
...

Below is an example star map of the Southern Hemisphere. Ignore the positions
of the Moon and the planets. You can generate your own, customised star map
for your exact location using the link in the Visit margin box.
VISIT
.
Create your own star map for
your area. bit.ly/1a4N1nU
TAKE NOTE
INSTRUCTIONS:
Today professional
1. Go outside at night with your star map. . formally
astronomers
2. Wait a few minutes to let your eyes adjust to the dark. recognise 88 constellations,
23 of which are in the
3. Try to identify the following constellations in the sky: Pavo, Phoenix and southern hemisphere.
Crux (indicated with green arrows on the star map).
4. Draw a picture of each of the constellations as you see them.
5. See if you can spot any of the planets, these will not twinkle like the stars
do.
VISIT
DRAWINGS:
. the night
Learn how to view
Draw your pictures in the space below. If you have used separate paper you can sky with Google Earth.
stick your pictures in here. bit.ly/16pYL3u
.
.
. .

.
ACTIVITY: Observing the Southern Cross (Crux)

.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
.
In this activity learners will observe the Southern Cross constellation at least
three times during the months of September and October. Learners should
make sure that they try to observe the constellation at the same time each night.
MATERIALS:
• picture of the Southern Cross constellation and star map

• clear skies
• pencil
• paper or this workbook
The Southern Cross or Crux (top right) and the Pointers (bottom left).
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Go outside around 8 pm with your star map (if in the Western half of the
country, closer to Cape Town), or if you live in the Eastern half of the
country, (closer to Johannesburg or Durban) go out an hour earlier around
7pm.
2. Wait a few minutes to let your eyes adjust to the dark.
3. Try to identify the Southern Cross constellation using the star map.
4. Draw a picture of the Southern Cross and the Pointers as you see them.
Make a note of the date and time of your picture and in roughly which
direction you are facing (north, south, east or west).
5. Draw or paste your image (if you have used separate paper) into the space
below.
6. Repeat the observations at least twice so that you have a minimum of three
observations on different nights, over the course of a few weeks, and try as
best as possible to make your observations at the same time each night.
DRAWINGS:
...

QUESTION:
What did you notice about the orientation of the Southern Cross as you made
your observations?
.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
The constellation should appear to rotate . in a clockwise direction over time. In
early September its long axis is fairly horizontal in the sky but the constellation
gradually rotates so that by early November its long axis is almost pointing
downwards.
.
. VISIT
Stellarium - a free, open
source programme for your
Although the stars appear to lie in patterns when viewed from the surface of the .
computer to to generate a
Earth, in reality the stars within a constellation are unrelated, and they can lie at
realistic, real-time 3D
vastly different distances from Earth. When we look at the stars at night, we
simulation of the night sky.
only see a two dimensional projection on the sky of three dimensional space, as
bit.ly/1aE2lmj
you can see in this photograph showing the constellation, Orion.
The Orion Constellation, seen here as the three bright stars in the middle
making up Orion's belt and the 4 stars in each corner.
You might imagine that all the stars lie at the same distance from Earth. This
isn't true, the stars lie at different distances. The closest star in Orion is called
Bellatrix and is around 250 light years away. The furthest star Meissa is around
1100 light years away, roughly the same distance as the Orion nebula (1300 light
years). But, when viewed from Earth, we see them making up a pattern in
relation to each other. VISIT
Now that you are familiar with some of the constellations in the Southern sky, . traditional
Read more about
African starlore.
including the Southern Cross you can learn what some of the early cultures in
bit.ly/H022dZ
Southern Africa thought about them.
As you can imagine there are many stories associated with the constellations in
the sky. In the following activity you will carry out research to find an example
story to tell to your class.
. .

.
ACTIVITY: Constellation starlore

.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
This is a research activity for learners to complete. They will study ancient
stories about a constellation of their choice. You can either provide them with
books or printed resources or if they have . access to the internet you could ask
them to conduct an online search. You may ask learners to pick South African
stories, or if you want, you could extend their research to other countries for
comparisons with South African starlore. You can ask learners to present their
story to the class either as an oral presentation or a poster, or if you wish you
can turn this into a writing task.
The /Xam Bushman imaged that the two pointer stars of the Southern Cross
were two male lions who had once been men before they were thrown up into
the sky to be stars by a magical girl. The three brightest stars in the Southern
Cross were seen as female lions, perhaps women also changed into stars by the
magical girl.
.
The Khoikhoi thought that the Pointers were the eyes of some great beast and
they were called Mura which means the eyes.
In Sotho, Tswana and Venda cultures, these stars are called Dithutlwa which
means the Giraffes. The bright stars of the Southern Cross are male giraffes, and
the two Pointer stars are female giraffes. The Venda named the fainter stars of
the Southern Cross Thudana, which means the Little Giraffe. The Sotho used
these stars to indicate the beginning of the cultivating season which began
when the giraffe stars were seen close to the south-western horizon just after
sunset.
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Search for a story about a constellation found in the South African sky.
2. Use a South African starmap as a guide to the constellations found in
South Africa.
3. Research information on the origin of the story and any beliefs associated
with it.
4. Tell your classmates about the constellation and story you have found out
about.
5. Your teacher will decide on the format of this presentation which might be
a poster or oral presentation.
VISIT
Read more about some .
.
South African starlore:
bit.ly/1cbF7uu and
bit.ly/1abUL5z In their quest to find out more about planets, stars and galaxies, people
invented instruments to observe them in more detail. In the next section we will
learn about the telescope: an invention used to study the stars.
...

.
3.2 Telescopes
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
In Gr. 6 learners were introduced to telescopes including the Southern African
Large Telescope (SALT) and the Square Kilometre Array (SKA). In this section
learners explore how telescopes work in. more detail. There is a particular focus
on comparing the telescope with our eye. Simple ray diagrams are shown which
link to material covered in Gr 8 Energy and Change, Chapter 4 on Visible Light.
Two case studies are explored in more detail: SALT and the SKA, and learners VISIT
will find out why South Africa is an ideal location for professional telescopes. .
History of the telescope.
bit.ly/1ibkZ9o
Unfortunately, we cannot visit distant stars or galaxies to study them directly as

they are so far away. Instead astronomers study stars and galaxies by analysing
the visible light, radio waves and electromagnetic radiation that they receive
from them.
Human eyes can see

very far. Andromeda
Galaxy which is 2.5
million light-years
away is visible to the
naked eye. However,
we cannot make out
any detail as it
appears as only a tiny
smudge on the sky to
our eyes even though
in reality it is 220 000
light years across.
The Andromeda galaxy, viewed with the Hubble Space

Telescope. Humans can only see it as a tiny faint smudge in
the sky with the naked eye.
Light is emitted from stars and galaxies and travels in a straight line in all
directions. When you look at a star, you only see the light rays that hit your eye.
In Energy and Change, we learnt about visible light. How is the energy of light
transferred through space?
.
TEACHER'S NOTE .
By radiation, as electromagnetic waves travel in straight lines.
The further away a star is, the more the starlight is spread out and so less of the
total light from the star reaches your eye. This makes distant objects faint and
difficult to see clearly. If we had huge eyes we would be able to see distant
objects more clearly because our eyes would gather more of their light.
. .

Do you remember making a pinhole camera in Energy and Change? Have a look
at the following diagram which illustrates this again.
TAKE NOTE
Luminous objects, such as
Which way is the image projected onto the screen?
the Sun and other stars, emit
. is NOT a
light. The tree .
luminous object as it does TEACHER'S NOTE .
not emit its own light light.
It reflects the light from the
The image is inverted, it is upside down.
Sun.
This is the same way in which images are formed on your retina when you view
an object, as shown in the following image.
Images formed on the light-detecting retina at the back of your eye are upside down.
VISIT
.
The beauty of the night sky.
An object that is far away projects a small image of the object onto the retina at
bit.ly/1h5dy5M
the back of your eye making it difficult to see fine details in the image.
More distant objects appear smaller on our retina.
...

Telescopes help us see faint, distant objects more clearly because they collect
more light from the objects than our eyes do. They also magnify the image.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
.
In the image above the tree is upside down in the top eye because images on
the retina are upside down. In the bottom eye the tree is the right way up
because the telescope inverts the image of the tree.
As revision of what we learnt in Energy and Change last term, answer the
following questions.
What type of lens is shown in the above image?
.
TEACHER'S NOTE .
A biconvex lens.
What happens to the light when it passes through the lens?
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
.
The light is refracted and the light rays converge as the light passes from one
medium to another.
. .

Let's take a closer look at how a telescope works.
ACTIVITY: Telescopes as light buckets

.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
In this activity learners will discover how a telescope collects more light than
our eyes can and as a consequence can help us to see fainter and more distant
objects. As well as demonstrating how telescopes collect light, this activity also
shows learners how telescopes focus light . from distant objects to a point. This
activity introduces the concept of photons, or packets of light. This is not a
formal part of the curriculum in Gr 8, and is not explained in detail. The idea that
a finite amount of light hits a telescope mirror or eye per second is crucial to
this activity and the understanding of why telescopes are useful. If you feel that
you would rather omit the concept of photons, you could instead talk about the
rice grains representing rays of light.
There is only so much light emitted from an object each second. Little packets
of light are called photons. Our eye needs at least 500 photons, or packets of
light, coming into it every second for our brains to sense that something is
there. In this activity you are going to represent photons from a distant galaxy
using pepper grains or hundreds and thousands.
MATERIALS:
• paper plate .
• piece of paper 3cm by 3cm
• pencil or pen
• torch
• pepper grains or hundreds and thousands
• wooden skewers
• foam (bath sponge will do, ideally as wide as the paper plate in one
direction)
• tape - optional
• scissors
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
.
The wooden skewers used for making kebabs or sosaties are ideal for this
activity.
VISIT INSTRUCTIONS:
.
How telescopes work. 1. On the piece of paper draw an image of your eye including the pupil and
bit.ly/1abV9B9 iris.
2. Tape or place the image of your eye onto the middle of a paper plate. The
paper plate represents a telescope mirror or lens.
3. Take the foam and cut it into a thin strip about 3 cm wide and as long as
the paper plate across.
...

4. Stick six skewers into the foam equally spaced along the strip. Trim the
pointed edges off that are sticking out for safety. You will use this foam
strip later in this activity.
5. Shine a torch light just above the picture of the
eye on the plate.
When an object is closer,

more light reaches your
eye.
6. Slowly move the torch further away from the

plate and watch how the light spreads out and
dims.
7. Note how much of the torch light the eye's pupil

receives compared to the paper plate.
8. Now remove the torch and get ready to use the

pepper grains or hundreds and thousands.
These will represent photons or packets of light.
The further away an object,

. the less light that reaches
your eye.
9. Sprinkle these photons for one second over the

plate.
10. Note roughly how many photons get into the

eye compared with how many hit the paper
plate representing the telescope mirror or lens.
Sprinkle the pepper grains

or hundreds of thousands.
11. Now place the foam across the centre of the

paper plate. The skewers should be pointing
straight up. This represents a strip of the
telescope mirror with the skewers representing
light rays from distant objects.
12. The telescope mirror is actually curved. Bend

the foam upwards at either end so that the
skewers begin to come together in the middle.
..
. .
The skewers represent the
Chapter light
3. Looking
rays hitting into space
the mirror 263
of the telescope.
VISIT 13. Turn the foam over and direct the skewers into
.
How to make a small, easy the picture of the eye. The light rays from a
telescope. bit.ly/19YIAVH large strip of the mirror are now entering the
small pupil of the eye.
Now you can see how a

telescope's mirror can
collect lots of light and
direct it into a small
detector, like your eye.
QUESTIONS: .
1. Which collects more of the torch light as the torch moves further away:
the eye's pupil or the paper plate?
The paper plate.
2. Did the eye collect enough photons in one second to detect the light?
No.
3. Did the telescope mirror (paper plate) collect enough photons for the eye
to detect the light?
Yes.
4. How do you think all the light that hits the telescope mirror is concentrated
so that it can enter our eyes or a small telescope detector?
The telescope mirror has a curved surface and reflects the light hitting it,
therefore causing the light to focus at a point.
Telescopes have big lenses or mirrors to collect as much light as possible. This
is how they are able to see faint objects. Telescopes also concentrate or focus
the light and redirect it into our small eye so that we can see the dim object.
Alternatively, telescopes can redirect the light into special detectors that record
images, similar to a cell phone camera.
ACTIVITY: Compare your eye with SALT

.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
This is an optional activity. In this activity learners work in pairs. Learners
should estimate that their reaction time is . of the order of 1/10th of a second. But
as long as they estimate 1s or less this is. perfectly fine. They will use this value
as their eye's exposure time. In fact roughly every 1/15th of a second, the eye
sends the brain another image. So the eye has about one-fifteenth of a second
to collect light when making an image.
The Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) takes pictures of some of the
most distant and faintest objects in the Universe. SALT's camera takes images
with exposure times typically of twenty minutes, after which the camera shutter
closes and the resulting image is displayed on a computer. The longer the
...

exposure, the more light that the telescope can gather to make the image. The
human eye does not have a shutter. We seem to see continuously, rather than
as a succession of still images. However, the eye does have a kind of exposure
time. In this activity you will estimate the exposure time of your eye by
estimating your reaction time and then compare it with SALT's typical exposure
time.
MATERIALS:
• ruler
• calculator
• pencil or pen
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Work in pairs for this activity.

2. Look at your partner's eyes. Estimate the diameter of their pupils using a
ruler held close to their eye. Be careful not to actually touch your partner's
eyes.
3. Write down the diameter of pupil in the table below.
4. Compare the diameter of the pupil with that of the Southern African Large
Telescope (SALT) which is roughly 10 m in diameter.
5. Calculate how many times larger than an eye SALT is. (Remember to
compare the areas rather than the diameters).
6. One of the pair: hold a pen or pencil directly in front of you, while the other
person stands opposite you and prepares to catch it.
7. Drop the pen or pencil and see if you partner can catch it.
8. Estimate the reaction time of your partner. Is it a second? Is it a tenth of a
second? Is it a thousandth of a second?
9. Repeat steps 6 - 8 swapping places. .
10. Fill in your reaction times in the table below, these represent the exposure
time of your eye.
11. Complete the questions.
Table to record your results:
Eye SALT SALT / Eye
Diameter of
collecting lens / cm cm
mirror
Area of
collecting lens / cm2 cm2
mirror
Exposure time seconds seconds
Hint: Convert the diameter of SALT to cm. Convert the exposure time of SALT
to seconds. To simplify the calculation of the area of the SALT mirror assume it
is a circle with a radius of 5 m. The area of a circle is given by the formula A = πr2
QUESTIONS:
1. Why should you compare the area of the telescope and eye's pupil rather
than their diameters?
Light is collected over the area of your pupil and over the whole area of the
telescope. ..
. .

2. How many times more light does the SALT telescope collect compared
with your eye?
Learner-dependent answer. Assuming a pupil diameter of 0.5 cm and a
SALT mirror diameter of 10 m the answer is 4 000 000 ((1000 cm x 1000
cm) / (0.5 cm x 0.5 cm))
3. What would happen to your reaction time if your eye had to accumulate
.
light over a longer interval before sending an image to the brain?
It would increase. Note that this experiment shows us that we do not see or
react instantaneously. It takes time for the image of the moving pencil to
be recorded and for us to react, so we do have a kind of exposure time.
4. How many times longer can SALT expose for than your eye?
Learner-dependent answer. Assuming a reaction time of 1/10th second and
a SALT exposure time of 20 minutes the answer is 12,000 (20 x 60s / 0.1s).
.
Telescopes can collect more light from faint and distant objects because they
have larger collecting areas and because they can accumulate light over longer
periods of time to make an image. This means that you can see fainter objects
with telescopes that you would be able to see using just your eye.
Telescopes also magnify (enlarge) the image that you see, so it takes up more
room on your retina allowing you to see the object more clearly.
A convex (converging) lens used as a magnifying glass. The resulting image is larger than
the object. Telescopes magnify images from distant stars and galaxies.
VISIT Magnification comes at a price however. A fixed amount of light is received

. from any object, so if you make the image larger, its gets fainter as the light is
The atmosphere and optical
spread out within the image. This is why it is so important to collect as much
telescopes. bit.ly/1bSTS1d
light as possible.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
Extension content on another advantage of telescopes, namely angular
resolution
Telescopes also have another advantage. over the eye. Telescopes can better
distinguish between objects that are close together on the sky. The ability to
see things that are close together as separate objects rather than seeing one
smeared or fuzzy object results in a sharper image. In astronomy, "close
together" means "separated by a small angle on the sky," so astronomers refer
to the angular resolution of a telescope. The higher the angular resolution of a
...

telescope, the better it is at seeing narrowly separated objects as individual
objects and the sharper the images look.
The images below show what photographs of the same galaxy look like with
different angular resolutions.
.
The same galaxy viewed with increasing angular resolution from (A) to (D). The image
gets sharper with increasing angular resolution. In (A) the telescope is able to distinguish
between objects separated by an angle of only 1/6 of a degree or more. In (D) the
telescope can see objects separated by an angle of only 1/3600 of a degree or more.
In the following activity learners will measure the angular resolution of your eye
and then compare it with that of the SALT telescope.
Activity: Measuring the angular resolution of your eye
Note: This is an advanced, extension activity. The practical side of this activity
is fairly simple and involves measuring distances using a ruler and a measuring
tape. This activity also involves a calculation of an angle using a trigonometric
identity which is more advanced, and learners only cover this in Mathematics in
the higher grades. If you would like to perform this activity with learners, you
can get them to take the measurements, and you calculate the angles.
MATERIALS:
• torch
• square of aluminium foil large enough to cover head of the torch - one per
group
• pin
• measuring tape
• chalk
• ruler
• tape
• calculator
. .

INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Prick two fairly large pinholes through a square of aluminium foil, about a
third of a cm apart, using a pin.
2. Place the foil over the end of the torch, tape it on around the edges if
needed.
3. Measure the exact distance between the pinholes using a ruler.
4. Turn on the torch, you should be able to clearly see light coming through
both pinholes.
5. While one of your group holds the torch up, the other members of the
group should stand as far as possible from the torch, for example, at the
other end of a corridor.
6. Each of the group members not holding the torch: slowly move towards
the torch until you can just make out that there are two points of light side
by side, rather than one point of light. This is the distance at which you can
just resolve the two objects. Each of the group members not holding the
torch: mark on the ground your distance from torch using chalk.
7. Each of the group members not holding the torch: measure the distance
from the torch to the chalk mark using measuring tape.
8. One group member swap with the person holding the torch so that they
have a chance to measure their distance from the torch.
QUESTIONS:
Fill in the table below.
The angle subtended between the two pinholes is equal to 2a. The angle a is
given by a = tan-1 (0.5 x the distance between pinholes / the maximum distance
to see the pinholes).
.
Distance between the pinholes (cm)
Maximum distance where you could

see two pinholes (cm)
Angle subtended by the pinholes at

the distance above
An example calculation:
Distance between the pinholes (cm) 0.3 cm

Maximum distance where you could
10.5 m = 1050 cm
see two pinholes (cm)
Angle subtended by the pinholes at a = tan-1 (0.5 x 0.3 / 1050) = 0.009
the distance above 2a = 0.018 degrees 1/60th degree.
...

Given that the smallest angle that the SALT telescope can resolve is around
0.00016 degrees, do you think that SALT or your eye would produce sharper
images of a distant object?
.
Answer: SALT has a higher angular resolution, it can resolve (distinguish)
objects that are separated by smaller angles than the eye, and so SALT would
produce sharper images of a distant object.
The larger a telescope's mirror or lens, the better it is at seeing narrowly

separated objects as individual objects and the sharper the images look.
The most important feature of a telescope is how much light it can collect,
which depends upon the area of the lens or mirror. The larger the light
collecting area, the more light a telescope gathers and the higher resolution
(ability to see fine detail) it has. So the size of a telescope is far more important
than its magnification.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
Misconception about magnification:
Many students want to know how much a telescope "magnifies" an image as

they think this is the most important characteristic of a telescope. Telescopes
do magnify images but this is not the main. reason why they are so useful. After
all, a magnified dim image would still be dim and difficult to make out and a
magnified blurry image would still be blurry and wouldn't help you see anything.
Astronomers care more about how much light the telescope can collect and
also its angular resolution: how bright, sharp and clear its images are. These
properties both depend upon the size of the collecting mirror or lens rather than
the magnification. With telescopes, bigger really is better.
Now that we have briefly looked at how telescopes work, we are going to look
at the different types of telescopes, namely:
• optical telescopes
• radio telescopes
• space telescopes
Optical telescopes
Optical telescopes collect visible light from celestial objects. There are two
types of optical telescopes.
1. Refracting telescopes use lenses to collect and focus the light from distant
objects.
2. Reflecting telescopes use mirrors to collect and focus the light from
distant objects.
. .

1. Refracting telescopes
Refracting telescopes use a converging (convex) lens to collect and bend the
light rays inwards to the focal point (also called the focus) of the telescope. The
light collecting lens is called the objective lens.
TAKE NOTE
As astronomical objects are
.
so far away, their light rays
are considered to be parallel
to each other.
Once light is brought to a focus, it is then magnified by another lens called the
eyepiece lens. Look at the optical ray diagram below showing a simple
refracting telescope.
The telescope objective lens collects and focuses the light from a distant tree
forming a real inverted image of the tree. The eyepiece lens, like a magnifying
glass, then enlarges the image collected by the objective lens, producing a
TAKE NOTE
larger, virtual image. This images is what we see when we look through the
A real image is called real telescope.
because light rays actually
pass through the point What kind of lenses are the objective lens and the eyepiece lens?
where the image is formed.
.
A virtual image is called a .
virtual image because the
TEACHER'S NOTE
light rays do not actually .
come from the image, they Both of the lenses are convex lenses which means that they cause light rays to
just appear to have come converge or come together.
from the image.
Look at the following picture which shows how white light is refracted (bent) as
it travels through a prism. As we learnt in Energy and Change, when light travels
through glass it slows down and so it bends or refracts.
...

Do all the colours undergo the same amount of refraction? Which colour is bent
the most?
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
.
No, Violet is bent the most. Bluer colours are slowed more than redder colours
and so they are bent or refracted more.
White light is a mixture of all the colours of the rainbow. Different colours are
refracted by different amounts as they travel through the prism so the white
light is split into its different colours. How do you think this affects the images
produced by refracting telescopes?
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
.
Learner-dependent answer. Answers could include that the images could look
colour-separated and blurry.
Lenses are shaped to bend light by a certain desired amount. However, the
different colours that make up white light bend by slightly different amounts.
This means that different colours come to a focus at slightly different distances
from the objective lens. Each colour will produce its own image and they will be
slightly misaligned with each other resulting in a slightly blurry image. This
effect is called chromatic aberration and all lenses suffer from this effect.
Blue light is bent more than red light and so different colours are focused at different
distances from the lens. The different coloured images are overlaid upon each other and,
because they are misaligned, the resulting image is blurry.
. .

The main disadvantages of refracting telescopes are:
1. Light travels through the lenses in the telescope and so the lenses have to
be perfect. There must be no bubbles of air in the glass which would distort
the image. It is difficult to and expensive to make large perfect lenses.
2. The light travels through the lenses and so they can only be supported
around their edges, where they are thinnest and weakest. This limits the
size of refracting telescopes because if a lens is too large it will sag under
its own weight and distort the image.
3. Lenses suffer from chromatic aberration which blurs the image.
TAKE NOTE
Remember that for each ray,
the angle of.incidence is
2. Reflecting telescopes
equal to the angle of
In the 1680s, Isaac Newton invented the reflecting telescope. Reflecting
reflection, as you learned in
telescopes use a curved primary mirror to collect light from distant objects and
Energy and Change.
reflect it to a focus.
There are many different types of reflecting telescopes. A prime focus reflector
is the simplest type of reflector telescope. In this design, a recording structure is
placed at the focal point to obtain the focused image. In the old days, in very
large telescopes, a person would actually sit in an "observing cage" to view the
image directly or operate a camera. However, now a detector is used and is
operated from outside of the telescope. The position of the detector is shown in
the following diagram with a red cross.
A prime focus reflector with a detector at the focal point, marked with an X.
...

More complex designs of reflecting telescopes use a secondary small mirror to
reflect the light towards the eyepiece lens.
• A Newtonian reflector reflects the light to an eyepiece on the side of the

telescope tube. This design is often used for amateur telescopes because
having the eyepiece on the side of the tube makes the telescope easy to
use.
• A Cassegrain reflector reflects light through a small hole in the primary
mirror. This kind of telescope is often used for large professional
telescopes as it allows heavy detectors to be placed at the bottom of the
telescope. This makes them easy to reach for repairs and also means that
the weight of the detectors does not affect the telescope tube.
A group of Newtonian telescopes.
The following ray diagrams show the difference between a Newtonian and
Cassegrain reflector.
Ray diagrams for some example reflecting telescopes. The Newtonian reflector is often
used in amateur telescopes. The Cassegrain telescope is often used at large
observatories.
. .

The SAAO 1.9 m
reflecting telescope.
Detectors are bolted
onto the Cassegrain
focus at the bottom of
the telescope (metal
boxes under the
orange tubing).
(Credit: SAAO).
The secondary mirror in a reflecting telescope must be very small. Why do you
think this is so?
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
.
So that it does not block much light from the distant object as it travels to the
primary mirror.
VISIT Do you think that reflecting telescopes suffer from chromatic aberration? Why?
Curious about the Universe,
but don't know where to .
start? Have a. look at this TEACHER'S NOTE
step-by-step guide to .
becoming an awesome No, they do not, because they do not use a lens to collect and focus the light,
amateur astronomer. but rather use mirrors which reflect light.
bit.ly/1gBwrQ8
The advantages of a reflecting telescope include:
1. The glass of the mirror does not have to be perfect throughout, only the
surface has to be perfect.
2. The mirror can be supported across the whole of its back so it won't sag.
3. Making large mirrors is easier and cheaper than making big lenses.
4. They do not suffer from chromatic aberration.
Optical telescopes on the ground do however have some disadvantages:
1. They can only be used at night.

2. They cannot be used in bad weather (rain, cloud, snow etc).
...

Optical telescopes are best placed on the tops of remote mountains. Discuss
within your class why you think this is. Take some notes in the space below.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
This is a good opportunity to get learners to think about the conditions needed
to make good observations of very faint objects. You may need to lead the
discussion. They should understand that ideally they should collect as much
light from the object with minimal stray light from other sources. You can lead
the discussion by first asking them what the air is like on the top of mountains
and also what the weather is like and asking
. them about how bright they think
the sky is up a mountain compared to in a city. Possible answers include:
1. They are far away from the light pollution from large cities and towns
2. They are above dust and other types of atmospheric pollution.
3. They are above low cloud.
4. The air is thinner and so there is less absorption of the starlight by the
Earth's atmosphere.
5. There is less air turbulence resulting in sharper images.
The largest telescopes in the world today are reflecting telescopes. In the next
section you will learn about one of the largest reflecting telescopes in the world
which is located right here in South Africa.
SALT
The Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) is the

largest optical telescope in the southern hemisphere
and among the largest in the world. SALT was
completed in 2005 and is located in the Karoo in the
Northern Cape, near the town, Sutherland. VISIT
Astronomers use telescopes like SALT to study .
The SALT website.
planets, stars and galaxies. SALT can detect the light
bit.ly/1fSW6CH
from faint or distant objects in the Universe a billion
times too faint to be seen with the naked eye.
The SALT telescope has a large mirror which collects

light. SALT's primary mirror is a hexagonal shape
measuring 11.1 m by 9.8 m across and is made up of 91
individual 1.2 m hexagonal mirrors. SALT is a prime The SALT telescope just
focus reflector. What does this mean? outside Sutherland.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
.
It does not have a secondary mirror to reflect the light to an eyepiece, but
rather a detector located at the focal point.
. .

SALT does not
have a
telescope tube.
Instead there is
a network of
metal struts
which support
the tracker and
payload at the
VISIT
top of the
The Southern .African Large telescope.
Telescope (video). The whole
bit.ly/17e0xFy telescope
structure
weighs 85 tons.
The payload
contains
detectors
which take
pictures of the
night sky.
SALT's giant mirror, made up of 91 individual mirrors.
Stars move during the night just as the Sun

moves across the sky in the day. The telescope
must follow the stars as they move. The
tracker at the top of SALT is used to follow the
drifting stars carrying the detectors along with
it as it tracks the stars.
VISIT SALT is currently being used to study stars, in

.
What is a radio telescope? particular binary star systems where two stars
bit.ly/1a4LbTW orbit around each other. Astronomers also use
the telescope to study galaxies and some of
the most violent explosions in the Universe
called supernovae and Gamma Ray Bursts
which occur when massive stars explode at the
end of their lives. SALT is also looking at the
Universe on the largest of scales, in order to
answer the questions how did the Universe
begin, and what will happen to it in the future?
The SALT telescope structure.
(Credit: SALT)
The Karoo is an ideal place to host SALT because it is far away from towns and
cities so there is very little light pollution. The area is also at a high elevation,
dry and there are no extreme weather conditions, such as flooding or storms.
Despite it being so remote at the observatory site there is good infrastructure,
including roads and electricity, in the surrounding area of Sutherland.
...

Radio telescopes TAKE NOTE
Do you remember learning
Radio waves are a type of electromagnetic radiation (or light) that humans
about wavelength in Energy
cannot see with their eyes. They have very long wavelengths compared to .
and Change? A wavelength
optical light. Purple light, for example, has a wavelength of 400 nm whereas red
is the distance between two
light has a wavelength of 700 nm. Radio wavelengths are much longer; radio
corresponding points on two
waves have wavelengths from approximately one millimeter to hundreds of
consecutive waves.
metres.
Radio telescopes detect radio

waves coming from distant
objects. Radio telescopes have
several advantages over optical
telescopes. They can be used in
bad weather, as radio waves
are not blocked by clouds.
They can also be used during
the day and at night.
Many objects in space emit

radio waves, for example some
galaxies, stars and nebulae
which are giant clouds of dust
and gas where stars are born.
Some objects emit radio waves VISIT
Atacama Large
but do not emit optical light, Millimeter/sub-millimeter
therefore looking at the sky at Array (ALMA) is a new radio
telescope in Chile's Atacama
radio wavelengths reveals a desert. It will open an
An optical (white) and radio (orange) image of the
completely different picture of galaxy NGC 1316. The radio emission spans over
entirely new 'window' into
. allowing
the Universe,
our Universe. one million light years and engulfs the optical light scientists to search for our
at the centre. cosmic origins.
Watch a video on some of
the latest research and
If your eyes could see radio waves at night, rather than white light, instead of
images released from ALMA.
seeing pointlike stars, you would see distant star-forming regions, bright
bit.ly/17GzMnB
galaxies and beautiful giant clouds around old exploded stars.
Radio telescopes typically look like large dishes. The dish or antenna, acts like
the primary mirror in a reflecting telescope, collecting the radio waves and
reflecting them up to a smaller mirror which then reflects the radio waves to a
radio wave detector. Radio wave detectors are called receivers. An amplifier
amplifies the signal and sends it to a computer which processes the information
from the receiver to create colour images which we can see.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
Background information
This is because the angular resolution depends not only on the diameter of the
.
collecting mirror but also upon the wavelength of the light. The minimum angle
at which two objects can be distinguished on the sky is proportional to the
wavelength of light used and inversely proportional to the diameter of the
collecting mirror. As radio waves are much longer than visible light, the
diameter of the collecting mirror must increase to compensate if you require the
same angular resolution.
. .

Radio telescopes need to be placed far away from cities and towns as
man-made radio interference can interfere with the telescope's observations.
Part of the KAT-7 radio telescope array in the Northern Cape.
...

MeerKAT and the SKA
The MeerKAT radio

telescope array is currently
under construction in the
Northern Cape. MeerKAT is
scheduled to be complete in VISIT
2016 and when it is finished A video on the SKA.
it will have 64 radio dishes .
bit.ly/1aE3b2A
Read more about the SKA
each 13.5 m in diameter. The
online. bit.ly/H02OHY
MeerKAT array will be the
largest and most sensitive
radio telescope in the
southern hemisphere until
the Square Kilometre Array
(SKA) is completed around
2024.
The KAT-7 test array in the Northern Cape is a test
array for the larger MeerKAT array.
The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) will be the most powerful telescope ever. It
will have a total collecting area of one square kilometer. It will have 3000 radio
dishes each about 15 m wide which will act together as one large telescope. As
well as the 3000 radio dishes there will be two other types of radio wave
detectors.
The location of SKA in South Africa, and other African countries.
. .

Many different countries are working together to build, and pay for, the SKA. At
least 13 countries and close to 100 organisations are already involved, and more
are joining the project. Most of the SKA will be located in South Africa. There
will also be locations in Australia and some stations in eight African partner
countries namely, Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius,
Mozambique, Namibia, and Zambia.
TAKE NOTE
Jobs are not just limited to
astronomers: engineers,
.
computer scientists and
administrative staff are
needed to run the One of the SKA dishes.
telescopes.
MeerKAT and the SKA will be used to investigate how galaxies change over
time, our understanding of gravity, the origin of cosmic magnetism, how the
very first stars formed, other planets around other stars, and whether we are
alone in the Universe.
ACTIVITY: Careers in Astronomy

.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
In this activity learners will discuss the sorts of jobs that are available in
astronomy. As well as astronomers, facilities. like SALT and the SKA need
engineers, technicians, computer scientists, project managers, HR professionals,
accountants and administrative staff. This . is a creative and challenging activity
for learners to imagine what contribution they could make to astronomy in
South Africa.
INSTRUCTIONS:
Discuss in class with your teacher and classmates what sorts of careers you
think are now available in astronomy in South Africa because of the
construction of SALT and MeerKAT / SKA. Think about and discuss the skills
needed in each of the roles you discuss.
...

.
ACTIVITY: Draw a telescope

.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
In this activity learners choose a telescope
. they want to focus on and a draw a
picture of the telescope labelling the parts and describing what each part does.
They can use the examples in this chapter or they can search online for
examples of optical and radio telescopes. .
MATERIALS:
• paper
• pencils or crayons
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Pick either an optical telescope or radio telescope and draw a picture of

the telescope.
2. Label the different parts of the telescope and describe what they do.
VISIT
TAKE NOTE
The Hubble Space Telescope
. The sensitivity of a radio
(videos) .
bit.ly/1873WQd
telescope depends uponand
and bit.ly/1abWIiG the
area of the collecting dish
some of the best images
andHubble
the sensitivity of the
Space telescopes from bit.ly/1deIJLS
radio receiver.. In order to
Radio waves and visible light form part of what is called the electromagnetic produce sharp radio images
spectrum of light. There are other types of light at different wavelengths that comparable to images from
we cannot see with our eyes including X-rays, ultraviolet and infrared light. optical telescopes a radio
telescope must be much
The Earth's atmosphere blocks X-rays, ultraviolet and infrared light and stops larger than an optical
them from reaching the ground. So if we want to observe this kind of light from telescope.
stars and galaxies, we need to put telescopes in space. This is why X-ray
telescopes and infrared telescopes are placed in space.
A picture of an X-ray telescope called XMM-Newton.
. .

The advantages of space telescopes are that they can observe the whole sky
and operate during both night and day. Images taken with space telescopes are
far sharper than images taken with telescopes on the ground, because images
VISIT are not smeared or blurred by turbulence in the Earth's atmosphere, as with
images take from ground telescopes. This is why the Hubble Space Telescope
. are in
How many people
images are so detailed even though it is a relatively small reflective telescope.
space right now? Find out
The major disadvantages of space telescopes are their costs and the fact that if
here. bit.ly/18Gzr83
something goes wrong they are extremely difficult to fix.
The Hubble Space Telescope has a 2.4m diameter collecting mirror.
ACTIVITY: Telescope information poster

.
.
TEACHER'S NOTE
In this activity learners will make a poster about a specific telescope they have
conducted research on. They can choose . any type of telescope including
ground-based and space telescopes. They should describe how the telescope
works and provide some examples of the sorts of astronomy that the telescope
is used for.
.
MATERIALS:
• paper
• pencils or crayons
• pictures downloaded from the internet or copied from books - optional
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Pick a telescope that you want to make a poster about. It can be a

ground-based or space-based telescope.
2. Describe the telescope and explain how it works. Include a diagram or
picture of the telescope and label its main parts in your poster.
...

3. List some of the science that the telescope is used for in your poster.
4. List some of the advantages and disadvantages
. of the type of telescope
VISIT
you have chosen in your poster.
. the James
Learn more about .
. Webb Space Telescope
(video). bit.ly/1h5hUd9
Did you know that these workbooks were created at Siyavula with the
input from many contributors and volunteers? Just turn to the front of
your workbook to see the long list! Read more about Siyavula at our
website: http://www.siyavula.com and like our Facebook page.
Siyavula has also created a range of textbooks for other grades and
subjects, and we are going to be producing more. These textbooks and
workbooks are openly-licensed and freely available for you to use and
download. VISIT
. curiosity,
Science is about
discovery and innovation!
bit.ly/18GzSyZ
..
SUMMARY:
.
Key Concepts
• Early cultures observed the stars and grouped them together in patterns
or constellations.
• Telescopes allow astronomers to see distant, faint objects in more detail.
• The performance of a telescope is measured by how much light it can
collect. Larger telescopes can collect more light and see finer details
than smaller telescopes.
• Optical telescopes detect optical light from distant objects.
• Most modern day optical telescopes use mirrors to collect and focus the
light from distant objects.
• Radio telescopes collect and focus radio waves, emitted from distant
objects in space.
• South Africa is host to one of the the most advanced optical telescopes
in the world, the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT).
• South Africa will also host a large part of the soon to be constructed SKA
radio telescope which will be the largest radio telescope in the world VISIT
once complete.
The concept maps in your
workbooks were created at
. Map
Concept Siyavula using an open
. You can
source programme.
The concept maps in this workbook we made using an open source, free download it from this link if
programme. If you would like to make your own concept maps for your other you want to use it to create
subjects, you can download the programme from the link in the visit box. your own concept maps for
your other subjects.
bit.ly/1fSWS2s
. .

.
.
.
REVISION:
.
1. What do astronomers call patterns of stars in the sky? [1 mark]

Constellations.
2. Name three famous southern constellations. [3 marks]
Learner-dependent answer. Answers could include, Orion, the Southern
Cross, Pavo the Peacock, the Phoenix.
3. What do optical refracting telescopes use to collect and focus light from
distant objects? [1 mark]
Refracting telescopes use lenses to collect and focus light.
4. What do optical reflecting telescopes use to collect and focus light from
distant objects? [1 mark]
Reflecting telescopes use mirrors to collect and focus light.
5. List two advantages that reflecting telescopes have over refracting
telescopes. [2 marks]
Examples include: the glass of the mirror does not have to be perfect
throughout, only the surface has to be perfect. The mirror can be
supported across the whole of its back so it won't sag. Making large mirrors
is easier and cheaper than making big lenses. They do not suffer from
chromatic aberration.
6. What sort of light do radio telescopes detect? [1 mark]
They collect radio waves.
7. List two advantages that radio telescopes
. have over optical telescopes. [2
marks]
Radio telescopes can be used when it is cloudy and they can be used both
during the day and during the night whereas optical telescopes need clear
skies and can only be used at night.
8. Why are X-ray telescopes located in space? [1 mark]
X-rays are absorbed by the Earth's atmosphere and so do not make it to
the ground. So telescopes to detect X-rays must be placed above the
Earth's atmosphere in space.
9. Why does the Hubble Space Telescope produce such sharp images even
though it is much smaller than most professional ground based
telescopes? [1 mark]
Because the images are not smeared out by the turbulence in the Earth's
atmosphere.
10. Why should astronomers look at objects at different wavelengths? [1 mark]
To get a complete picture of the object they want to study.
11. What is the name of the largest optical telescope located in the Northern
Cape? [1 mark]
The Southern African Large Telescope, SALT.
12. List three reasons why the SALT telescope is located near Sutherland in
the Northern Cape. [3 marks]
It is far from any cities and their associated light pollution, it is dry there, it
is at high altitude.
13. How many dishes will the MeerKAT array have? [1 mark]
64 dishes.
...

14. How many dishes will the SKA array have? [1 mark]
3000 dishes.
15. List two areas of astronomy that will be studied using the SKA telescope.
[2 marks] .
Answers could include: exoplanets, magnetism in space, pulsars and
gravity, galaxy evolution and star formation.
Total [22 marks]

.
.
What can you transform our Earth into? Be curious!
. .

.
.
GLOSSARY
Alpha Centauri: our second closest easily visible star after the Sun;
it is actually two stars orbiting very close together
amplifier: a device which amplifies (to make something
bigger) the radio wave signals
antenna: the dish or other device used to collect radio waves
in a radio telescope
asteroid belt: the area where most asteroids are found in our
solar system, lying between the orbits of Mars and
Jupiter
asteroid: a small rocky object orbiting the Sun
astronomical unit the average distance between the Earth and the
(AU): Sun, equal to around 150 million kilometres
celestial: positioned in or relating to the sky, or outer space
as observed in astronomy
chromatic aberration: an optical effect where different colours are
refracted by different amounts in a lens leading to
a distorted image
comet: a small object made of ice and dust which
sometimes enters the inner solar system; when a
comet enters the inner solar system, part of it
evaporates to form a long tail of ice and dust
pointing away. from the Sun
constellation: a group of stars that form a pattern in the sky when
viewed from Earth
convection: one of the three ways to transport heat energy (the
other two are conduction and radiation); as a liquid
or gas is heated, it becomes less dense and rises;
while denser colder material sinks, creating a flow
of moving liquid or gas which transports heat
energy along with it
dwarf planet: a large, roughly spherical object orbiting a star
which cannot be classed as a planet because it is
not large enough to sweep out other objects from
its orbit
filament: a threadlike structure in space containing galaxies
and galaxy groups and clusters
galaxy bulge: a spheroidal (rugby ball shaped) distribution of old
stars at the centre of a galaxy
galaxy cluster: a collection of over 50 or more galaxies, held
together by gravity
galaxy disk: the flat distribution of stars, gas and dust in a
galaxy
galaxy group: a collection of about 50 or less galaxies, held
together by gravity
galaxy: a collection of millions or billions of stars, gas and
dust all held together by gravity
...

gas giant: a large planet made mostly of gas with no solid
surface; the four outermost planets in the solar
system are gas giants
habitable zone: the region surrounding a star in which water can
remain in its liquid state
Kuiper Belt: region of space filled with trillions of small objects
that lie in the outer reaches of the solar system,
past the orbit of Neptune
Kuiper Belt object: a small icy object orbiting the Sun out beyond the
orbit of Neptune
light hour: the distance that light travels in one hour
light minute: the distance that light travels in one minute
light year: the distance that light travels in one year
nuclear fusion: the process by which stars produce their energy;
light atomic nuclei come together and merge to
form heavier atomic nuclei, releasing energy as
they do so; in the Sun, hydrogen nuclei fuse with
other hydrogen nuclei to form heavier helium nuclei
Oort Cloud: a hypothetical huge cloud of icy objects (comets)
surrounding the Sun at the very edge of our solar
system at a distance between 5,000 and 100,000
times the Earth's distance from the Sun
photosynthesis: the process by which green plants and some other
organisms use sunlight to synthesise foods from
carbon dioxide and water producing oxygen as a
byproduct
.
primary mirror: the light-collecting mirror in an optical telescope
Proxima Centauri: our second closest star after the Sun
receiver: a device that detects radio wave signals
SALT: the Southern African Large Telescope, the largest
optical telescope in the southern hemisphere
SKA: the Square Kilometre Array, the largest planned
radio telescope array in the world
solar system: the Sun, and the collection of planets and smaller
objects that orbit around the Sun
solar wind: the continuous flow of charged particles from the
Sun that extends out to the far reaches of the solar
system
spiral arm: a region of stars, gas and dust forming a curved
shape spiralling out from the centre of a spiral
galaxy
star: a huge ball of burning gas which emits energy in
the form of light and heat
starlore: mythical stories about the stars, planets and
constellations
sunspot: a dark region or spot which appears on the surface
of the Sun from time to time; sunspots are cooler
than the rest of the Sun's surface
telescope: an instrument used to look at distant objects, which
makes distant objects appear brighter, larger and
clearer; optical telescopes collect visible light and
radio telescopes collect radio waves
. .

terrestrial planet: a planet with a rocky surface like the Earth's
surface; the four innermost planets in the solar
system are terrestrial planets
Universe: all of existence, including all planets, stars, galaxies,
.
the space between objects, and all matter and
energy
void: a vast empty bubble in space found between
filaments
...

A Assessment rubrics
The assessment guidelines for Gr 7-9 Natural Sciences are outlined in CAPS on
page 85. Provided here are various rubrics as a guideline for assessment for the
. . ...
different tasks which you would like to assess, either informally (to assess
learners' progress) or formally (to record marks to contribute to the final year
mark). These rubrics can be photocopied and used for each learner.
The various rubrics provided are:
• Assessment Rubric 1: Practical activity

• To be used for any practical task where learners are required to follow
instructions to complete the task.
• Assessment Rubric 2: Investigation
• To be used for an investigation, especially where learners have to write
their own experimental report or design the investigation themselves.
• Assessment Rubric 3: Graph
• To be used for any graph or translation task you would like to assess,
either on its own or within another activity.
• Assessment Rubric 4: Table
• To be used when learners have to draw their own table and you would like
to assess it.
• Assessment Rubric 5: Scientific drawing
• To be used when learners have to do a drawing, particularly in Life and
Living.
• Assessment Rubric 6: Research assignment or project
• To be used when learners have to do a research assignment or project,
either outside of class or in class time, and either individually or in groups.
• Assessment Rubric 7: Model
• To be used when learners have to design and build their own scientific
models.
• Assessment Rubric 8: Poster
• To be used when learners have to make a poster, either individually or in a
group.
• Assessment Rubric 9: Oral presentation
• To be used when learners have to give an oral presentation to the class on
a selected topic.
• Assessment Rubric 10: Group work
• To be used to assess any work where learners are required to complete the
task as a group. This rubric is designed to assess the group as a whole.
292
. 1: Practical activity
A.1 Assessment Rubric
Name:
Date:
Task:
Assessment 0 1 2 Comments
criteria
Following Unable to Instructions Able to work
instructions follow followed with independently
instructions guidance
Observing Unable to Sometimes Able to follow
safety observe safety does not safety
precautions precautions follow safety precautions
precautions completely
Ability to Cannot work Can work
work tidily tidily tidily
Cleans up Does so once Does so
afterwards reminded without
reminding
Organisation Disorganised Fairly Organised and
organised efficient
Use of Always used Sometimes Apparatus
apparatus, incorrectly used correctly and materials
equipment and materials and aware of used correctly
and materials wasted material usage and efficiently
Results or No result or Partially Results or
final product final product correct results product
or product correct
Answers to No answers Can answer Can answer
questions provided or questions and application
based on most are at least 60% and questions
activity incorrect are correct correctly
Total /15
. .
Appendix A. Assessment rubrics 293

.
A.2 Assessment Rubric 2: Investigation
Name:
Date:
Task:
Assessment 0 1 2 3 Comments
criteria
Aim Not stated Not clearly Clearly
or incorrect stated stated
Hypothesis Not able to Able to Clearly
or hypothesise hypothesise, hypothesises
prediction but not
clearly
Materials Not listed Partially Correct
and or incorrect correct
apparatus
Method None Confused, Partially Clearly and
not in order correct correctly
or incorrect stated
Results and No results Partially accurately Correctly
observations recorded or correctly recorded and
(recorded incorrectly recorded but not in accurately
either as a recorded the most recorded in
graph, table appropriate the most
or or specified appropriate
observations) way or specified
way
Analysis or No Some Understands Insightful
discussion understand- understand- the understand-
ing of the ing of the investigation ing of the
investigation investigation investigation
Evaluation No attempt Partially Correct, but Critical
correct superficial evaluation
with
suggestions
Neatness of Untidy Tidy
report
Logical Not logical Some of Report is
presentation report is logically
of report logically presented
presented
Total /25
...

A.3 Assessment . Rubric 3: Graph
Name:
Date:
Task:
criteria
Correct type of Not correct Correct
graph
Appropriate Not present Present, but Complete
heading, incomplete
describing both
variables
Independent Not present Present
variable on or incorrect
x-axis
Dependent Not present Present
variable on or incorrect
y-axis
Appropriate Incorrect Correct
scale on x-axis
Appropriate Incorrect Correct
scale on y-axis
Appropriate Not present Correct
heading for or incorrect
x-axis
Appropriate Not present Correct
heading for or incorrect
y-axis
Units for Not present Correct
independent or incorrect
variable on
x-axis
Units for Not present Correct
dependent or incorrect
variable on
y-axis
Plotting points All incorrect Mostly or All correct
partially
correct
Neatness Untidy Tidy
Graph size Too small Large
Total /15
. .

A.4 Assessment. Rubric 4: Table
Name:
Date:
Task:
criteria
Appropriate Not present Present, but Complete
heading, incomplete
describing both
variables
Appropriate Not present Mostly Correct
column headings or incorrect correct and
descriptive
Appropriate row Not present At least half All correct
headings or incorrect correct
Units in headings None present Present but Present
and not in body in the body and in the
of table headings
Layout of table No horizontal Some lines All vertical
or vertical drawn and
lines horizontal
lines drawn
Data entered in Not correct Partially All correct
table correct
Total /12
...

. 5: Scientific drawing
Name:
Date:
Task:
criteria
Appropriate, Not present Present, but Complete
descriptive incomplete
heading
Appropriate size Incorrect (too Correct
of drawing small)
(sufficiently large
on page)
Accuracy of Incorrect Somewhat Correct
drawing (correct correct
shape and
proportion of
parts)
Structures or Mostly Mostly All correct
parts placed incorrect correct, but
correctly in some
relation to each misplaced
other
Diagram lines are Not clear or Clear and
neat, straight and neat or blunt neat
done with a sharp pencil
pencil
Label lines do not Incorrect Correct All correct
cross over each
other
Parts are labelled Mostly Mostly All correct
incorrect correct with and
some labelled
missing or
incorrectly
labelled
Total /12
. .

A.6 Assessment Rubric 6: Research
.
assignment or
Project
Name:
Date:
Task:
criteria
Group work (if Conflict Some Worked
applicable) between conflict and efficiently
members or some as a group
some did not members
participate did not
always
participate
Project layout No clear or Some parts Clear and
logical are clear logical
organisation and logical, layout and
while others organisation
are not
Accuracy Many errors A few errors Content is
in content in content accurate
Resources used No resources Some or A range of
(material or used limited resources
media) resources used
used
Standard Poor standard Satisfactory Of a high
standard
Use of time Did not work Worked Worked
efficiently and fairly efficiently
ran out of efficiently and
time finished in
time
Total /12
...

A.7 Assessment . Rubric 7: Model
Name:
Date:
Task:
criteria
Scientifically Model Mostly Accurate,
accurate inaccurate or accurate, complete
incomplete but with and
some parts correct.
missing or
incorrect
Size and scale Too big or Correct size, Correct
too small, but some size and
parts not in parts too proportional
proportion to big or too scale
each other small
Use of colour or Dull, with Somewhat Creative
contrast little use of colourful and good
contrast use of
colour and
contrast
Use of materials Inappropriate Satisfactory Excellent
use or only use of use of
expensive appropriate materials
materials materials and
used and recyclables
recyclables where
where appropriate
possible
Use of a key or Not present Present but Clear and
explanation incomplete accurate
or vague
Total /10
. .

A.8 Assessment .Rubric 8: Poster
Name:
Date:
Task:
criteria
Title Absent Present, but Complete
not title
sufficiently
descriptive
Main points Not relevant Some points All points
relevant relevant
Accuracy of facts Many Mostly All correct
incorrect correct, but
some errors
Language and Many errors Some errors No errors
spelling
Organisation and Disorganised Organisation Excellent,
layout and no logic partially logical
clear and layout
logical
Use of colour No colour or Some use of Effective
only one colour colour
colour
Size of text Text very Some text Text
small too small appropriate
size
Use of diagrams Absent or Present but Present,
and pictures irrelevant sometimes relevant
irrelevant and
appealing
Accuracy of Inaccurate Mostly Completely
diagrams or accurate accurate
pictures
Impact of poster Does not Makes Eye
make an somewhat catching
impact of an impact and makes
a lasting
impact
Creativeness Nothing new Some signs Original
or original of creativity and very
and creative
independent
thought
Total /22
...

. 9: Oral presentation
Name:
Date:
Task:
criteria
Introducing Did not do Present, but Present, and Interesting
the topic with no links to and
clear links to content catching
content being introduction
covered
Speed of Too fast or Started off Good speed
presentation too slow too fast or throughout
too slow but
reaches
optimal
pace
Pitch and Too soft or Started off Speaks
clearness of unclear unclear or clearly and
voice too soft, but optimal pitch
improved throughout
Capturing Did not Interesting Sustained Sustained
audience's make an at times interest and interest and
attention and impact or no stimulating stimulating
originality attempt to throughout
capture with
interest originality
Organisation Illogical or Clear and Clear and
of content unclear mostly logical
during logical throughout
presentation
Factual Many errors Some errors All correct
content in content in content
Concluding No Made a Insightful/
remarks conclusion satisfactory thought-
or not conclusion provoking
appropriate conclusion
Answers to Was not Was able to Was able to
educator and able to answer answer recall
class's answer recall and
questions questions or questions application
gave only questions
incorrect
answers
Total /18
. .

.
A.10 Assessment Rubric 10: Group work
Name:
Date:
Task:
criteria
Member Very few Only some In the Full
participation members members beginning participation
participated participated only some throughout
or one or two members
members did participated
most of work but then full
participation
Discipline Lack of Some Most All members
within the discipline members members disciplined
group disciplined disciplined
Group Unmotivated Some Most All members
motivation or lack focus members members motivated
motivated, motivated and focused
but others and
lack focus focused
Respect for Show Some All
each other disrespect to members members
each other showed are
disrespect respectful
Conflict Considerable Some No conflict
within the conflict and conflict or any
group disagreements which was issues were
which were either resolved
unresolved resolved or maturely
unresolved
Time Disorganised Mostly able Effective
management and unable to work use of time
to stick to within the to
time frames given time complete
the task
Total /15
...

. .

Image Attribution
1 http://www.flickr.com/photos/chefranden/3507963245/ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
2 www.siyavula.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
3 www.thunderboltkids.co.za . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
4 www.everythingscience.co.za . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
5 www.everythingmaths.co.za . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
6 http://bit.ly/17GyAAH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
7 http://bit.ly/1bSSCeq . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
8 http://bit.ly/17dZZ2m . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
9 http://bit.ly/1bb9mN0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
10 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Prime_focus_telescope.svg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272

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1 18

Fr Ra Ac-Lr Rf Db Sg Bh Hs Mt Ds Rg Cn Uut Uuq Uup Uuh Uus Uuo

Developed and funded as an ongoing project by the Sasol Inzalo

Distributed by the Department of Basic Education

For more information about the Creative Commons

Siyavula Coordinator and Editor

Teacher's Guide Overview 12

Teacher's Guide Overview 12

Energy and Change 2

2 Energy transfer in electrical systems 24

3 Series and parallel circuits 60

Planet Earth and Beyond 162

1 The solar system 164

2 Beyond the solar system 218

3 Looking into space 252

A Assessment rubrics 292

Image Attribution 304

"Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the

"The glory of science is to imagine more than we can prove."

Learners must be encouraged to 'doodle' themselves, take notes during your

We have aimed to present the content in an investigative, questioning way. At

Albert Einstein certainly did this when he observed:

"The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious - the

Natural Sciences Knowledge Strands www.thunderboltkids.co.za

Life and Living

Chapter . Teacher's Guide Overview 13

• 10 weeks per term with 3 hours per week

Life and Living

Chapter Time allocation

Matter and Materials

Chapter Time allocation

Energy and Change

Chapter Time allocation

14 Teacher's Guide Overview

Chapter Time allocation

Speciﬁc Aim 1: 'Doing Science'

Learners should be able to complete investigations, analyse problems and use

Speciﬁc Aim 2: 'Knowing the subject content and making connections'

Learners should have a grasp of scientiﬁc, technological and environmental

Chapter . Teacher's Guide Overview 15

Learners should understand the uses of Natural Sciences and indigenous

There is a strong emphasis in these workbooks to show that science is relevant

16 Teacher's Guide Overview

With OERs, you are free to:

• Reuse - the right to reuse the content in its unaltered form

Structure of the book

The A book covers term 1 and 2:

• Life and Living

The B book covers terms 3 and 4:

• Energy and Change

These books are an amalgamation between workbooks and textbooks. They

The content and various ACTIVITIES and INVESTIGATIONS follow:

Chapter . Teacher's Guide Overview 17

Going through the content

An example of a teacher's note:

At the beginning of each chapter, there is a CHAPTER OVERVIEW. This is

18 Teacher's Guide Overview

• CAPS suggested (a task suggested in CAPS)

An example of one of these tables is given below:

1.1 Cell structure (2.5 hours)