SOLAR ECLIPSE DEMONSTRATION KIT

June 05, 2024

Nikunja Bihari Sahu

A Solar Eclipse is a rare celestial spectacle of nature when the Sun vanishes from our sky, completely or partially, for some time from our view. It occurs when the three celestial bodies, the Sun, the Moon and the Earth comes in a straight line. In that case, the Moon blocks the Sun from our view and the shadow of the Moon falls on the Earth. People living in this shadow region on the Earth are able to see the Solar eclipse. There are mainly three types of Solar Eclipses: Total, Partial and Annular. Although the actual size of the Sun is much larger compared to the size of the Moon, due to the former’s vast distance from the Earth, the apparent size of both the bodies as seen from the Earth looks the same. Hence, in a Total Solar eclipse, the Moon can completely bock the Sun from our view. While during a Total Solar Eclipse, the Sun completely vanishes from the sky causing a temporary nightfall, a Partial eclipse, on the other hand, is marked by an incomplete obstruction of the solar disc by the Moon resulting in an exposed crescent shape of the Sun. However, in an Annular solar eclipse, the apparent size of the Moon is smaller than the apparent size of the Sun due to the Moon’s greater distance from the Earth in its elliptical orbit around the Earth and, hence, it is capable of only obstructing the central part of the Sun leaving its fiery outer edge exposed that resembles a ring of fire hanging in the sky.

Our kit can show us all the three types of eclipses, i.e., Total, Partial and Annular.

Materials Required:

1. Foam Sheet Baseboard (5 mm thickness): Size: 12" x 6"

2. Foam Sheet Side piece (5 mm thickness): Size: 6" x 6"

3. Foam Sheet U shaped Slider piece ( 5 mm thickness):Size : 6" x 6"

4. Plastic Bead- 1no

5. GI Wire- 1 no

5. Night lamp (Yellow colour) – 1 no

6. Feviquik glue

7. Batten Lamp holder- 1 no

8. Twin twisted Plastic coated Copper flexible wire- 1 meter

9. Two Pin Plug top- 1 no

10. Nylon Shoe- 4 nos

11. Metal Screw- 2 nos

12. Screw Driver- 1 no

Construction:

Fix the Foam sheet Side piece at one end of the Foam sheet Baseboard in a vertical manner with the help of Feviquik glue. Make a small hole (nearly 1 cm in diameter) at the centre of this Side piece so as to serve as the viewing hole representing the Earth. On the other end of the Baseboard, fix the Night lamp with the help of a Batten Lamp Holder and screws. The Lamp Holder should be wired with flexible Copper wires which should lead to a two pin Plug top for supplying electricity to the Lamp. Now, install the Slider piece on the Baseboard with the help of a pair of side channels (to serve as the Guide for the Slider piece) so that it should be able to move back and forth freely on the side channels. A plastic Bead representing the Moon should be mounted on this Slider piece with the help of a horizontal GI wire so that the Bead would be able to move freely left and right on the wire. Fix the Nylon shoes at the bottom of the Baseboard with the help of Feviquik glue. Now, our kit is ready for demonstration.

Experiment

Light the Night lamp by connecting it to a Mains of 220V AC electricity power supply. This will represent the Sun. Look through the Eye-hole representing the Earth. Now, slide the movable Slider piece back and forth from you and also slide the plastic Bead representing the Moon on the GI wire across the Sun-Earth line till the Moon is able to completely block the Sun. This is Total Solar Eclipse. Now, slide the bead representing the Moon on the GI wire across the Sun-Earth line so that it obstructs the Sun only partially exposing a crescent Sun in our view. In this case, we can see the Partial Solar Eclipse. To see the Annular Solar Eclipse, push the Slider piece on the Baseboard little away from the Lamp (representing the Sun) so that the Bead representing the Moon would look comparative smaller than the Lamp representing the Sun. In this position, the Bead will not be able to completely block the Lamp from our view; rather it will obstruct only a central part of the lamp leaving its outer ring exposed. This is an analogy of the Annular Solar Eclipse.

Caution

While wiring the lamp, ensure that the wires are not short-circuited. As we are operating the circuit with 220V of electricity, a faulty short-circuited connection would lead to the passage of an excess amount of electricity resulting in heating, sparking and fire!

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