Re: First Lesson on Elective Hall

Professor Dione

April 29, 2005 11:39 PM

The truth about terrestrial planets (pt 1) by Professor Dione

After posting the answers on the board by the questions, she turned back to face her class. The last thing she wanted was another bit of mischief, not because she was against any sort of amusement, but simply because she would have hated to set up two detentions in one day.

“As I looked around, I noticed that nearly everyone was able to get at least the first two correct. The third one happens to be elliptical, not round, though some planets’ orbits are so close to circular, it is a common mistake. The fourth answer is not Mercury, but Venus. Venus has a great amount of carbon dioxide in its atmosphere, trapping the heat. So even though Mercury is closer to the sun, Venus is hotter. The rest you either knew or not. Make corrections on those pretests as those questions might pop up again. Now to discuss those terrestrial planets…”

With a swish of her wand, the four glittering planets that orbited closest to the Sun floated down and started to orbit Dione herself, the glow of the crystalline planets illuminating the professor with the colored light. Slowly, the planets halted their orbit with a small gray planet looking similar to Earth’s moon.

“Starting with the one closest to the Sun, Mercury. The planet is .38 AU from the Sun, or 57,910,000 kilometers. The distance is really of no importance. The temperatures on Mercury, though not the hottest, are the most extreme in the solar system. They can range from 90 K to 700 K. In ways, it is very similar to our Moon; it is very cratered and very old. However, it is much denser, the second densest major body in the solar system. Mercury has a very thin atmosphere that consists of particles blown off by solar winds. Because it is so hot, the atoms quickly escape, so Mercury’s atmosphere is constantly being replenished.”

The planets rotate, and a new planet sits in front of Dione; this one is a tannish color covered by clouds.

“On to the hottest planet in our solar system and the second planet from the Sun, Venus. Other than the Sun and the Moon, it is the brightest object in the sky. From the perspective of Earth, Venus shows phases when viewed with a telescope; Galileo’s discovery of this proved Copernicus’ heliocentric theory-the model where Earth and the planets revolve around the Sun. Its rotation is both slow and retrograde; a Venus day is actually somewhat longer than a Venus year. Venus is considered to be Earth’s sister planet due to its similarities in size, lack of craters, density, and chemical composition. However, Venus has a thick cloudy atmosphere that consists of carbon dioxide and sulfuric acid. This greenhouse effect is what keeps Venus at a high and steady temperature.”

After briefly describing the first two planets, she paused in her lesson to allow the students time to take any needed notes as well as a brief break so the class would not be too strained by a constant flow of information.\n\n

0 Professor Dione The truth about terrestrial planets (pt 1) 0 Professor Dione 0 5

Anonymous

May 01, 2005 10:45 PM

Re: First Lesson by Anonymous

OOC: Sorry this is so late, my computer was gone and I've just now got it back. I didn't even know this class was up yet! Oh, and I didn't look at the answers or anything. You can be assured I'm not cheating, my character's a Girl Scout. *grins* BIC:

Fawn entered her classroom for Astronomy and took an empty seat just before the bell rang. That was a good thing, too, seeing as how the teacher didn't look like she'd tolerate tardiness. Actually, she didn't look like she'd tolerate anything at all. And when she made a bit of a speech to the class, which the Cherokee girl payed attention to for fear of being punished if she didn't hang on every word, she made it very clear what her expectations were.

She started off by saying they were to adress her only as Professor Dione. That wasn't so bad. But then she went on and spoke of how students were like the stars, some bright and some dim. Fawn thought that was rather rude, she seemed to think they were all trolls or something! And then she gave them the joyous news that they'd be having a pretest to see what they knew.

Now Fawn was a bit nervous, she couldn't remember everything that they'd studied about the planets and such in science class last year. But seeing as how it wasn't a real test, she wasn't too worried about doing horrible on it. As the lady flipped the blackboard over, revealing the questions, Fawn took out her favorite orange quill and began copying them down. Once that was done, she started on the answers, unconsciously talking quietly to herself while doing so.

1. Name the nine planets in order starting with the one closest to the sun.

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Marx, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto
"That's an easy one, our Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas." (Realizing that she had just written down 'Marx' as a planet, she quickly scribbled it out and replaced it with 'Mars' and told herself to stop watching so many old movies.)

2. Which is the smallest planet in our solar system? Which is the largest?

Smallest- Pluto Largest- Jupiter

3. What shape are the planets' orbits?

"Oh, what's that called? It's not round, but it's like an oval or something? Like an egg? I know it's got a technical name! Oh well."
Egg shaped

4. Which planet has the hottest temperatures and why?

Venus is the hottest because of its atmosphere, it's got clouds covering it.

5. Name the Galilean moons and name which planet they orbit.

They orbit Jupiter.
"Now they mean the scientist, right? Not the Queen song, Bohemian Rhapsody, where they all yell 'Galileooo?' a lot? Either way I don't know their names."

6. Which planet is known for the Great Red Spot?

Jupiter, the spot's really a hurricane that's larger than the Earth.

7. True or False: The Sun is larger than all of the planets put together.

True
"Of course! What does she think we are, five year olds or something?"

8. Most of Uranus' moons are named after characters of what famous Muggle playwright?

Shakespeare
"That's another easy one."

9. Name three differences between terrestrial planets and jovian planets.

Terrestrial planets are made of dirt or mineral substances (like Earth) and jovial planets are made of gasses.
Terrestrial planets can have extra-terrestrial beings (aliens) on them and jovial ones can not.
"Now I have no clue about the third difference. I hope this doesn't count for a grade!"

10. What does it mean when a planet has a retrograde rotation?

It rotates backwards.
"I think so, either that or it's couner-clockwise. But that'll do, right?"

Bonus: Who was the witch who studied the use of phases of the moon in potion making? Clue: She is on a Famous Wizard Card.

"Hmm, I think I remember reading this one time. It might've been on a chocolate frog card. I'll just guess!"
Josephine Ambesia

Checking her answers over once more, she decided that that was all she could figure out. Making sure she had gotten everything, Fawn flipped her paper over and proceeded to doodle on the back until Professor Dione collected them. She thought that if she just payed attention, she'd be able to pass this class without too much difficulty.

\n\n

0 Anonymous Re: First Lesson 0 Anonymous 0 5

Jose Hernandez

August 20, 2011 1:22 PM

OOC Reference by Jose Hernandez

OOC: Post here is where Jose implements his barley cake.

1 Jose Hernandez OOC Reference 149 Jose Hernandez 0 5

Jeremy Reddington

May 03, 2012 11:20 PM

Advanced Muggle Studies by Jeremy Reddington

Jeremy was quite anxious about teaching an advanced class of senior students.

"Treat them like little kids, and they will bite my head off," he said to himself.

He had to recall his youth, and shuddered. Visions of a curious and argumentative boy formed in his head, as he knew back then he would ask so many questions and it annoyed his parents to the extreme.

So he looked around the room, and decided to decorate it much like he did for the intermediate class, that he got up and running only days before, but rather than have it set up like a classroom, he did away with the desks and moved the seats into a u shape.

He did however write the topic on the board of media. He wanted to find out first whether a full class needed to be run or whether these adolescences were going to astonish him with overwhelming amounts of knowledge.

0 Jeremy Reddington Advanced Muggle Studies 0 Jeremy Reddington 0 5