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PHYSICAL SCIENCE (CORE SUBJECT)

Quarter 2- Module 9
How we come to realize that the Earth
Is not the Center of the Universe
Lesson 1: The Universe: Through the Eyes of the Ancient Great
Thinkers

Polytechnic College of Botolan

BotolanZambales
Senior High School Department

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 Republic of the Philippines
POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE OF BOTOLAN
(Formerly Botolan Community College)
Botolan, Zambales
E-mail: polytechniccollegeofbotolan@gmail.com
Website: pcbzambales.com
Contact number: 0949-155-3113

GENERAL INSTRUCTION
1. Take time in reading the lessons.
2. Perform all activities and answer all worksheets. The Activities and
worksheets are designed to enhance your understanding of the
ideas and concepts being discussed.
3. Write your answer on the separate answer sheets.
4. Do not write anything on any part of this module.

I. LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Explain how the Greeks knew that the Earth is spherical.
2. Cite examples of astronomical phenomena known to astronomers
before the advent of Telescopes.
3. Discuss how Brahe’s innovations and extensive collection of data
in observational astronomy paved the way for Kepler’s discovery of
his laws of planetary motion.

II. PRE TEST

Multiple Choice. Select the letter of the best answer from among the
given choices.

1. According to the Greeks, the Earth’s shape is _______.

A. elliptical B. flat and square
C. spherical C. cylindrical

2. Which among the Greek philosophers computed the Earth’s

circumference?
A. Aristotle B. Pythagoras
C. Plato D. Eratosthenes

3. How did the Greeks especially Aristotle use the lunar eclipse
phenomenon to explain that the Earth is not flat?
a. He noticed that the shadow casts by Earth on the moon is
round.
b. He argued that since the shape of the moon appears to be
round then the Earth must also be round.
c. He argued that lunar eclipse only happens when a round
opaque object blocks the passage of sunlight.
d. He noticed that all things seems to be moving around the
Earth except for Earth itself.

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4. Which of the following is not true about the how ancient people were
able to make use of their knowledge about heavens?
a. They used their knowledge to invent the calendar
b. They used their knowledge to study more closely the origin of the
universe
c. They their knowledge in their architecture.
d. They used their knowledge to navigate the ocean.

5. Which time of the year did Eratosthenes observe the pillar in

Alexandria casted a shadow?
A. noon time during spring B. noon time during
summer solstice
C. noon time during solar eclipse D. noon time during
winter solstice

6. Which of the following astronomical phenomenon were already

observed by the ancient people even before the telescope was
invented?
A. sunspot B. solar eclipse
C. craters of the moon D. atmosphere of Mars

7. Which of the following objects would most likely casts a shadow on

the moon during lunar eclipse when it is observe here on Earth without
the aid of a telescope?
A. Sun B. Moon
C. North star D. Earth

8. Which phase of the moon is shown in the figure below?

A. full moon B. first quarter moon

C. new moon D. last quarter moon

9. Which phase of the moon is shown in the figure below?

A. full moon B. first quarter moon

C. last quarter moon D. new moon

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10. How did the ancient astronomers discover that Mercury and Venus
are planets
not stars?
a. They noticed that the stars are in a fixed position with respect to
each other.
But there are very bright stars that change positions periodically.
b. They noticed that Mercury and Venus are bigger compared to the
others stars.
c. They noticed that the constellations’ positions in the night sky vary
dependingon the time of the year
d. They noticed that the stars change positions periodically. But there
are very
bright stars in a fixed position with respect to each other.

11. What is the major contribution of Tycho Brahe to the field of

astronomy?
A. the Earth’s axis of rotation
B. measurement of Earth’ circumference
C. accurate measurement of stars’ and planets’ position
D. the invention of telescope

12. Below is Brahe’s model of the universe. Based on the figure, which
of the following statements bests describe Brahe’s model?

A. The planets except Earth revolve

around the Sun, while the moon and the
Sun revolve around the Earth.
B. The Sun and the Earth are both
at the center and the other planets revolve around it.
C. The planets except Earth revolve
around the Sun, while the moon revolves around the Earth
D. Neither the Sun nor the Earth is at the
center and the others planets do not revolve around it.

13. Based on Kepler’s First Law, which of the figures below describes
the path of a
planet as it moves around the Sun ?

A. B. C. D.

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14. Kepler discovered that planets do not go around the Sun at a uniform
speed but it depends on it position relative to the Sun. What is its
speed when it is closer to the Sun?

A. faster B. neither fast nor slow

C. slower D. similar to the speed when it
is far
from the sun

15. What relationship between the times of revolutions of the planets and
their distance
from the Sun did Kepler discover?

A. The square of the times of revolution of the planets are

proportional to the
cube of their average distance from the Sun.
B. The square of the times of revolution of the planets are not
proportional to the
cube of their average distance from the Sun.
C. The cube of the times of revolution of the planets are
proportional to the
square of their average distance from the Sun.
D. The cube of the times of revolution of the planets are not
proportional to the
square of their average distance from the Sun.

III. LESSON PROPER

You have probably gazed at the sky on a clear night and wonder
about whether there are aliens or parallel universes out there. With the
advent of space explorations, the notion of living in Mars has already
been entertained by some people just in case Earth ceased to be a
habitable planet in the future. Or maybe you imagined taking vacation on
board on a space ship and your destination is the outer space! Isn’t it
cool?

Man’s knowledge about the universe has a come a long way.

Gone are the days that people feared the occurrence of an eclipse for its
means something bad is going to happen. But it’s a different story if you
were born hundreds or thousands years ago.

Ancient people perhaps did not think about aliens or parallel

universe or thought of going to Mars, but they have definitely wondered
and gave a lot of thought about how object seem to move across the
sky. As they continued to observe the occurrences around them the
more they became fascinated and curios, thus, these lead them to their
quest for answers and explanations. And the knowledge they

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accumulated through the years about the skies has been applied to their
everyday lives. They rely on it to tell the time, in making calendars, in
navigation, in architecture, in agriculture especially on when to sow and
when to harvest and so on. And how about you can you tell the time or
direction by just observing the sky?
Apart from utilizing their knowledge about astronomy in their day to day
living, they also used this to shed light on some prevalent questions and
ideas of their time. Few of the ideas that ancient people tried to work on
were on giving us the picture of the shape of the Earth and of the
universe.

As for the Earth’s shape, how did the Greeks (though they were
not the only who studied it) come into a conclusion that it’s not flat?
What were the evidences that they used support the idea?

And before we expound the concept let’s put to test first your
power of observation and reasoning by doing the activity below. As you
know, observing is one of the skills that the great ancient thinkers
possessed and you too as senior high school learner is expected to
acquire.

Activity 1
You and your siblings are playing the game “Truth or Dare”. And it
so happen that the spinning bottle stopped and it is pointing at your
direction. Since you lose by the verdict of the spinning bottle, thus, you
choose to do the “Dare”. And the dare is for you to determine which of
the five (5) shadows cannot be formed by the object below if it is lighted
from different positions. You are given 30 seconds by your sibling to
figure it out. And your timer starts now!

A B C

D
The shadows that cannot be formed are: B (the first oneE is done for you),

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 The Mesopotamian as accounted in their mythology around 6th
century BC, described Earth as a flat disk floating in the ocean and
bounded by a spherical sky. And this idea has prevailed for hundreds of
years until a new view was presented (Punzalan and Monserrat, Science
in Todays’ World,126)

As the quest for knowledge continues and civilization prospers, several

models of the universe were presented. And it is categorized as
geocentric model or Earth-centred and heliocentric model or Sun-
centred. (Retrieved from https://www.merriam-
webster.com/dictionary/communication). In the geocentric model, the
Earth was at the center and rest of the planets and heavenly bodies
revolved around it. While in the heliocentric model, the Sun was at the
center and the rest of the heavenly bodies including the Earth moved
around it.

In all of the geocentric models of the universe, the Earth and other
heavenly bodies were assumed to be spheres. They were convinced
that the shape of the Earth was not flat instead it was spherical. This
idea was already entertained by Pythagoras and Plato however they do
not have concrete evidences to support their claim. Until Aristotle
(around 320 BC), a student of Plato presented his arguments that
established the claim during their time as referenced from the DepEd
CDO Learning Activity Sheet in Physical Science Shared Option LAS
Aristotle argued that:

 The sphere is a perfect solid and the heavens are a region of

perfection
 The Earth's component pieces, falling naturally towards the center,
would press into a round form.
 In an eclipse of the Moon, the Earth's shadow is always circular: a
flat disc would cast an oval shadoweven in short travels
northwards the Pole Star is higher in the sky.

Are there still other evidences that you know about that are not listed
here? Can you name them?

If it is not sphere then why measure its circumference

One of the astronomical events that fascinated the early civilization

was the eclipse. And the recorded information about eclipses was used
by Eratosthenes (about 235 BC) to approximate the circumference of the
Earth. This was another proof presented about the spherical shape of
the Earth. As you know an eclipse is actually a shadow formation. This
happens when the path of light rays is blocked
by an object.

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Can Earth cause an eclipse? How about you, can you cause an
eclipse too?

While working as a librarian in the University of Alexandria in

Egypt, he came across an information that during summer solstice
especially at noon time, sunlight shines directly down a deep well in
Syene (a city south of

Fig 1.2. When the rays shine directly

above at Syene, it is not directly
overhead at Alexandria which around
800 km north. The pillar in Alexandria
casted a shadow, while the water in the
deep well at Syene directly reflected
back the sunlight.

Alexandria ) and is reflected

back up again. He knew also that no shadow is cast by any object on a
noon time. But in Alexandria at the same date and time, a vertical pillar
and other structures cast a shadow.

And so, Eratosthenes measured the shadow cast by a vertical

pillar in Alexandria and he found out that it is 1/8 of the height of the
pillar. This is roughly equivalent to 7.20 angle between the sun‘s rays
and the vertical pillar while in Syene its 00. Based on his calculation,
7.20 is equivalent to 1/50 of a circle. He reasoned that the distance
between Alexandria and Syene must be 1/50 the circumference of the
Earth. Or the Earth’s circumference is 50 times the distance between the
two cities. Since these two cities are frequently travelled, the distance
was measure to be 5000 stadia (800 kilometers). So the Earth’s
circumference is 50 x 5000 stadia = 250 000 stadia.(Retrieved from
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Eratosthense)

Are you now convinced that indeed the Earth is spherical? Why
don’t you find it for yourself? Try doing the simple activity below.

Activity 2: And the Shape Is

Aim: To find out the shape of the shadow

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Materials:
- Actual Flashlight or use the flashlight app of the mobile phone
(if both materials are not readily available, you may use a lighted candle
Caution: Be sure to put off the candle immediately after use)
- Two spherical objects; 1-big, 1-small (alternative: make your own
balls using crumpled used papers; 1-big, 1-small)
- Ruler
Procedure:
Align the flashlight and the balls horizontally.
Point the flashlight to one of the balls.
Observe the shadow it casts on the ball behind it.
(Note: Perform the activity in a darkened room or during night time)

Question:
1. What is the shape of the shadow?
2. In what way that this simple activity supports Aristotle’s claim about
the shape of the Earth?
3. Supposed that the Earth is heart shape, what shadow would it formed
when sunlight is aligned with it? Why?

Activity 3: What’s Your Sense of Fashion

Below are list of clothes, accessories and gears that you may have at
home. Sort them by season. Write your answers on the table.

Wet / Rainy Season Dry/ Summer Season

umbrella rain coat sunglasses swim wear

thick jacket/coat t-shirt flip flops plastics boots

(botas)

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sun visor layered clothing light fabric clothing

Are there things that appeared on both categories? Why?

Pre- Telescope Observed Phenomena

Based from your answers on the activity, it shows that your sense
of fashion and the things that you used is most often also dictated by the
season. It is rather unusual that you would be wearing a raincoat when
in fact the Sun is brightly shining or you’re wearing thick socks, long
sleeves and several layers of shirts while swimming in the pool.
The change in the season on Earth were already known and
studied by the ancient people even before sophisticated instruments
were invented. They realized that the changing season has something to
do with the variation of Sun’s motion. And they also found out that this
variation was periodic. They noticed that the Sun rises from the east and
sets in the west. Below is the list of other pre-telescope astronomical
events studied by ancient people.

1. Phases of the Moon

Ancient people have observed that the moon changes its path and its
appearance within a period of 29.5 days. They observe that the moon
changes appearance from thin semi-circular disk to full circular disk. The
periodic change of moon’s phases was the basis of ancient calendar.

Fig. 1.Moon’s relative position with respect to the

Sun as it moves around the Earth attributes its
changing appearance as viewed from the Earth
.

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2. Lunar Eclipse

One of the things that caught the attention known as lunar eclipse. Lunar eclipse
of the ancient people was the time in a occurs when Earth is between the moon
month when the moon or part of it seemed and the Sun, Earth casts a shadow on the
to be covered by a shadow for a brief moon. Sometimes they would notice that
moment. A phenomenon such as this is moon’s color changes into blood red color.

Fig. 2 A lunar eclipse occurs Earth’s shadow

is cast on the moon.

3. Solar Eclipse

A solar eclipse occurs when the moon is in between the Sun and the Earth and the
moon partially or completely blocks out the Sun. This caused temporary darkness
on a day time, thus, ancient people feared the occurrence of a solar eclipse since
they associate it to the wrath of God to them.

Fig. 3 A solar eclipse occurs when a moon’s

shadow is cast on Earth

4.The Motion of the Stars

It was also observed that the stars appear to be attached to a celestial sphere
that rotates around an axis in one day. Also, the constellations’ positions in the night
sky vary depending on the time of the year.

5. Visibility of Planets

Astronomers have discovered that Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn
are planets because they have noticed that the stars are in a fixed position with
respect to each other. But there are very bright stars that change positions
periodically which are called “wanderers” or planetes in Greek terms.

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 Now that you have learned about the different astronomical events even
before an instrument like telescope was invented. From the information that they
gathered, it has resulted to innovation and invention. One of these is the calendar.

With the use of calendar at home, how about you try tracking the change of
phase of the moon without necessarily looking at the sky at night time. In most of the
modern calendars the moon’s movement is indicated.

Activity 4: The Phases of the Moon and Me

Aim: To keep track of the periodic change of phase of the moon for three months.

Materials: Calendar of the current year that indicates the movement of the moon

Procedure:
Choose three consecutive months of the current year (ex. January – March or
February to April).
For every month, check out the dates of the four major phases of the moon(1st
quarter, full moon, last quarter and new moon).
Using the table below, list down the dates.

Full Last New First

Month/ Phases
Moon Quarter Moon Quarter
A Ex. July 2020 5 13 21 28
B
C

4. Then count the number of days’ interval from one phase to another.
A. Ex. B. C.
Days interval/Month July
2020
Full moon – Last quarter 8
Last quarter – New moon 8
New moon- First Quarter 7
First Quarter of the current July-
month and the full moon of Aug
the next month 6
Total no. of days to complete 29
the cycle

Questions:
1. How many days would take the moon to compete the cycle for:
Month A_____________
Month B_____________
Month C_____________

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 2. What have you noticed with the time interval as the phase changes from one
phase toanother within three months? What is the average time to complete
the cycle?

Activity 5:
Answer the following questions based on your learning. Be brief and concise.
1. Can you tell the time or direction by just observing the sky? How?
2. Of all the arguments presented by the Greeks as proof that the Earth is
spherical, which among you find more convincing? Why?
3. Differentiate a solar eclipse from a lunar eclipse?

IV. SUMMARY

 Ancient peoples’ knowledge about astronomy has greatly influenced their way
of life.
 The Greeks believed that the Earth is spherical.
 Aristotle argued that the Earth is spherical based on the following:
 Every object on Earth is compressed and converged toward the center
forming a sphere.
 The North Star was believed to be at a fixed position in the sky.
However, when the Greeks travelled to places nearer the equator, they
noticed that the North Star is closer to the horizon.
 During lunar eclipse, the shape of Earth’s shadow reflected on the
Moon’s surface is circular.
 Eratosthenes estimated the Earth’ circumference by observing the
shadow casts by a pillar and correlating it the with information that while
an object in Alexandria during noontime cast a shadow, in Seyene the
light rays that hits the water well is reflected back thus, no shadow is
from. This is another proof presented to support the idea that the Earth
is indeed round.

V. GENERALIZATION

1. What is the evidence shows that the Earth is Spherical and not flat?
2. What are the examples of Astronomical Phenomena known to Astronomer
before the invention of Telescope?
3. Compare and contrast Brahe’s innovation and Kepler’s discovery.

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VI. EVALUATION
TV Live
You are a script writer and at the same time actor of a production outfit for an
educational television show. You will feature in your show’s next episode the
evidences presented by the Greeks’ about the spherical shape of the Earth. Choose
only 2 evidences and prepare a script for it. Make a video presentation based on
the script. You segment will run for two (2) minutes. To make your presentation
more convincing, it should include correct information and must interesting and
creative. The language format of your show is in Filipino/English. Send your
video presentation through MESSENGER.

Note: Videographer and Extra casts or actors maybe recruited for this activity.

Activity Rubric

Criteria
Accuracy Visual Appeal Creativity
The
The data
presentation The
included in the
shows visually presentation is
10 points presentation
appealing very creative
are well
images and and interesting
researched.
artistic.
The
presentation
The data
has a few The
included in the
images that presentation is
8- 6 points presentation
are not fairly creative
contain a few
visually and interesting
minor errors.
appealing and
fairly artistic.
The
The data The
presentation’s
included in the presentation
images are not
5-4 points presentation lacks creative
visually
contain a few and is not
appealing and
many errors. interesting
not artistic.
SCORE

Total Score

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VII. REFERENCE

Nucum, Z., (2016). The Physical Sciences. Books Atbp. Publishing Corp.

Esguera, JP. Bantang, J., Dapul, GK., Salazar, MK., (2016). Teaching Guide for
Senior
High School Physical Science. Commission on Higher Education

Doria, B., Sanchez, A., Sanchez, F., (2018) Physical Science for Senior High
School. Jimczyville Publication

Prepared by:
DARLENE KAY D. DEDICATORIA
Teacher

Reviewed by:
MYRNA S. PANGAN
SHS Program Coordinator

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