GRAND RAPIDS — A full moon is so cool to see in the sky! Do you know how we get a full moon? What is happening when we see all the different shapes of the moon? This experiment will explain it all and we will do it by using Oreos!
What you need:
-2 paper plates
-Oreos
-colored markers
Step 1: color your paper plates. One needs to be the sun. Another needs to have a small earth in the center with moon phase position on the outer rim.
Step 2: twist apart your Oreos and cut off the cream for each moon phase
1. New moon = no illumination
2. Waxing crescent = a quarter illumination
3. First quarter = half illumination
4. Waxing gibbous = a quarter illumination
5. Full moon = full illumination
6. Waning gibbous = a quarter illumination
7. Third quarter = half illumination
8. Waning crescent = a quarter illumination
The moon phase depends only on the position of the moon in reference to the earth and sun. The moon’s revolution around the earth makes it appear to change shape and look different to us. The sun lights up different sides of the moon depending on where the moon is in in rotation around the earth. We are seeing sunlight being reflected on the moon in those different shapes.
The moon doesn’t give off light it reflects the sun. One orbit around the earth takes about 27 days and a full lunar phase takes 29.5 days so almost a month. If you are having a hard time remembering the order of the moon phase just think of the saying “white on right….getting bright”