A question of scale
A Question of Scale (large) printable sheet
A Question of Scale (small) printable sheet
These activities will test your knowledge of powers of 10 in scientific contexts.
Will you be able to judge the length of the physical objects, with sizes ranging from 1 Angstrom to 1 million km?
'Order of magnitude' in science is a very useful concept: we are often not necessarily interested in the exact measurement of a quantity but rather whether it is 'about a metre' or 'about a kilometre' or 'about a nanometre' etc.
Are there any objects whose size you are confident you know? Are the other objects larger or smaller than these?
Why do this problem?
This activity gives practice in working with powers of 10 and tests awareness of relative sizes of physical objects encountered in scientific contexts.
Possible approach
The activity could work well as a starter activity with students working individually on computers or working collaboratively to try to place the objects on the scale with as few wrong answers as possible. Alternatively, it could be played competitively with pairs of students taking it in turns to place the objects and checking to see if they are right. There is the opportunity for lots of discussion to justify where students wish to place things on the scale, referring to sizes they know and deciding whether the named objects are smaller or larger.
There are various levels at which the activity could be used. First students could look at the list of scientific quantities and disentangle which of them they first of all recognise and, secondly, which of them they could place on the scale. Once the easier ones are placed students could take it in turns to take sensible guesses with the harder ones, adjusting the answers in turn until the cards are correctly placed.
Key questions
Are there any objects in the list whose size I am fairly sure about?
Is this object bigger or smaller than that one? How many times bigger or smaller?
Possible support
Start by arranging the objects whose size is well known, and use the checking facility to see which ones are correct. Then gradually add in the others.