mondkrater experiment

Den angerührten Gips in den Schuhkartondeckel geben. Glattrütteln. Etwas zurückbehalten.

Mit dem kleinen Löffel Gips auf die Oberfläche schleudern.

So entstehen Krater.

Dieser Versuch war der spannendste, besonders als der Gips fest wurde.

Das könnt ihr bei uns finden

Interessante Berichte und Interviews für Kinder

Includes bibliographical references.

Wegener, Alfred, 1880-1930

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Making Craters: Space Science Experiment

For almost two years, my daughter has gone through periods of near-obsession about space . Each time she has renewed interest in the topic, there’s always a very specific focus. For this making craters space science experiment, we were very interested in learning all about the moon.

Making Craters Science Experiment

Miss G asked me how the moon’s craters were formed. To give her a hands-on understanding of how they were formed, we devised this simple kitchen science experiment.

Simply grab:

• small container or cake tray
• spice to add a bit of scent and color to the top of the flour
• marbles or small rocks

Pour the flour into the cake tray to make a layer about one to two inches thick. Shift the pan and bang it on the table to ensure the flour makes an even layer.

Sprinkle on your chosen spice on top of the flour very lightly. This spice will create a contrast between the soft “top layer” of the moon and its rocky core (the flour).

Making Craters Experiment

You can experiment with dropping the marbles at various distances from the moon’s surface. You can just drop them to start, and if your child has good aim feel free to throw the marbles into the flour. Then, compare the different craters formed by the marbles.

Discuss with your child how and why the craters are forming. If possible, it is nice to bring out a book that discusses and shows moon craters, or even pull some information about them up on an iPad or computer. (Example: When You Look Up at the Moon by Allan Fowler)

In addition to learning about the moon, children have the opportunity to work on fine motor control (an essential pre-writing skill) by holding the marbles in their fingers and controlling when the marbles are dropped.

This experiment can be re-done over and over again, and you can try different surfaces for the different planets. For example, try freezing a fine layer of ice to see how craters are formed on colder (ice covered) planets.

When you’re done with the flour, you can re-purpose it to make some paper mache planets or cinnamon play dough. You can even use the flour in the tray for some letter forming practice, tracing your child’s fingers through the flour to make different letters.

Is your child interested in space? What space-themed activities have you tried?

BIO: Jennifer Tammy writes at Sugar, Spice and Glitter where she shares hands-on learning activities, easy recipes, and parenting inspiration. She is a single mom of one, a trained psychologist, and Montessori-certified preschool owner. You can connect with her on Facebook , Pinterest , or Instagram .

More Space Theme Ideas— Space Theme Sensory Bin Dramatic Play Space Theme Printables Star Gazing Discovery Bottles

2 thoughts on “Making Craters: Space Science Experiment”

I love this! We’re doing “space week” this week for our home preschool, and I’m going to use this tomorrow. I love simple, hands-on activities. Pinning!

Pingback: Rocket ship rescue: a preschool alphabet game - The Many Little Joys

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• Reference work entry
• First Online: 24 December 2016
• pp 1824–1826
• Cite this reference work entry

• Marco Murara 9  

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Alternate Name

Lauchen, Georg Joachim von

Born Feldkirch, Vorarlberg, (Austria), 16 February 1514

Died Kassa (Košice, Slovakia), 4 December 1574

Georg Rheticus was among the first to adopt and spread the heliocentric theory of Nicolaus Copernicus .

Georg von Lauchen, later known as Rheticus, was born in an Austrian town near the Swiss border. His father, Georg Iserin, was the town doctor and a government official; he taught his son until 1528, when he was tried on a charge of sorcery, convicted, and beheaded. One of the consequences of this execution was that his name could no longer be used; therefore, Georg’s mother, an Italian noblewoman named Tommasina de Porris, reverted to her maiden name. Since “de Porris” means “of leeks” in Italian, Rheticus preferred to translate it into German “von Lauchen.” Later, he took the additional name of Rheticus, after the ancient Roman province of Rhaetia in which he had been born.

Rheticus studied first at the Latin school in Feldkirch, then at...

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Selected References

Burmeister, H. (1966–1968). Georg Joachim Rhetikus, 1514–1574: Eine Bio-Bibliographie . 3 Vols. Wiesbaden: Pressler-Verlag.

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Hooykaas, R. (1984). G. J. Rheticus’ Treatise on Holy Scripture and the Motion of the Earth: With Translation, Annotations, Commentary, and Additional Chapters on Ramus-Rheticus and the Development of the Problem before 1650 . Amsterdam: North-Holland.

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Rosen, Edward (ed.) (1971). Three Copernican Treatises: The Commentariolus of Copernicus, the Letter against Werner, the Narratio prima of Rheticus . 3rd rev. ed. New York: Octagon Books.

Westman, Robert S. (1975). “The Melanchthon Circle, Rheticus, and the Wittenberg Interpretation of the Copernican Theory.” Isis 66: 165–193.

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Egna, Italy

Marco Murara

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Correspondence to Marco Murara .

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Department of Earth Science, University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, IA, USA

Thomas Hockey

University of California, Irvine School of Physical Sciences, Irvine, CA, USA

Virginia Trimble

Rice University, Houston, TX, USA

Thomas R. Williams

Whitman College, Walla Walla, WA, USA

Katherine Bracher

York Univesity, Toronto, ON, Canada

Richard A. Jarrell

University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA

Jordan D. Marché II

University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, USA

JoAnn Palmeri

Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

Daniel W. E. Green

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Murara, M. (2014). Rheticus. In: Hockey, T., et al. Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9917-7_830

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How are craters made?

June 7, 2019 By Emma Vanstone 5 Comments

This is a great ( and very easy ) activity for discovering how craters are made. Did you know the moon’s surface has millions of craters, varying from just a few metres across to hundreds of kilometres?

What is a crater?

A crater is a bowl-shaped depression formed by the impact of a meteorite, volcanic activity, or an explosion.

How are craters made ?

You’ll need.

A shallow metal pan

Plain white flour

Cocoa powder

Marbles and different sized balls.

Making Craters with Marbles

Fill the tray about 2 cm deep with flour, and lightly sprinkle the cocoa powder over the top to cover the entire surface.

Drop the marbles into the tray. The marbles represent crashing asteroids and comets.

Create craters using different size balls and marbles.

Measure and record the size of the crater for each ball.

You should find that if you drop marbles of the same size from different heights, the one with the furthest to fall will make the largest crater as it is moving faster, so it has more energy when it hits the surface, creating a deeper depression.

Why do craters form?

The surface of the moon is marked by millions of craters, varying from just a few metres long to hundreds of kilometres long. Most formed a long time ago when comets, asteroids and meteorites crashed into the moon’s surface.

Craters on Earth

Barringer Crater ( also known as Meteor Crater ) in Arizona was created instantly when a 50-meter (164-foot), 150,000-ton meteorite slammed into the desert around 50,000 years ago.

The Chicxulub Crater , off the Gulf of Mexico, is thought to be the impact site of the meteor, which wiped out or contributed greatly to the extinction of the dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous period 65 million years ago.

Mount Erebus in Antarctica, has a lava lake in its summit crater.

Read more about the biggest craters on Earth on Live Science.

What is the oldest crater on Earth?

The oldest ( and largest ) impact crater on Earth is the Vredefort crater in South Africa. It is estimated to have originally been 185 miles (300 kilometres) across. A huge meteorite or asteroid created this giant crater 2.02 billion years ago!

Creating Craters Instructions

More Space Science Experiments for Kids

If you enjoyed this activity, you’ll love my other space science experiments , including rocket mice , space sensory trays , water bottle rockets and straw rockets ! Most of them only need items you probably already have in the house. What are you waiting for?

If your children love space, I’ve got lots of brilliant space themed experiments and activities in my book, This IS Rocket Science ! I’d love you to take a look.

Last Updated on January 17, 2024 by Emma Vanstone

Safety Notice

Science Sparks ( Wild Sparks Enterprises Ltd ) are not liable for the actions of activity of any person who uses the information in this resource or in any of the suggested further resources. Science Sparks assume no liability with regard to injuries or damage to property that may occur as a result of using the information and carrying out the practical activities contained in this resource or in any of the suggested further resources.

These activities are designed to be carried out by children working with a parent, guardian or other appropriate adult. The adult involved is fully responsible for ensuring that the activities are carried out safely.

Reader Interactions

October 05, 2012 at 7:12 pm

This looks fab x

October 06, 2012 at 9:33 pm

I love it – the way that the flour comes to the surface really explains how there is difference in the colours of the moon surface. Got to try this out

February 03, 2022 at 7:17 am

Wow! This is lovely I can’t wait to try it out with my pupils.

January 26, 2015 at 10:00 pm

Brilliant I am going to try it with my Hedgehogs

January 28, 2015 at 10:33 am

I am very much looking forward to trying this with them tomorrow 🙂 Thank you for your lovely comments. x

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The Impact Theory of Moon Craters

Die entstehung der mondkrater [the formation of lunar craters].

Publication: Braunschweig: Druck und Verlag von Friedr. Vieweg & Sohn, 1921. First Edition.

Notes: A notable paper on the impact origin of moon craters. Wegener considers the three leading explanations at the time—the bubble or explosion hypothesis, the tidal hypothesis, and the volcanic hypothesis—and finds them inadequate. He then elaborates his own theory of projectile hypothesis, which he simulated by impacting cement projectiles into cement dust and comparing the results to known data about moon crater shape and proportions (several plates are based on photographs of the results). Wegener is most well-known today for his pioneering work on continental drift but he made important contributions to a number of fields, including this work on astrophysics. A crater on the dark side of the moon is named for him. 48 pages, plus three black-and-white photographic plates. Published as no. 55 in the Sammlung Vieweg Tagesfragen aus Naturwissenschaften und Technik series. For more information, see Afred Wegener and the Origin of Lunar Craters (Earth Sciences History, vol. 17, no. 2, 1998) by Mott Greene.

Edition + Condition: First edition (first printing). A bit of chipping to the wrappers, but generally very good. With the ownership stamps (several) of the French anthropologist, Joseph Nippgen, who has neated added French translations above a few German words.

Item No: #361809

Price: $250

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