Paper Plate Education
"Serving the Universe on a Paper Plate"

Activity: Core of the Matter

Build a 3-D model of the planets to depict the interiors of each. Punch a hole in a paper plate and spin it on a phonographic record player at 77 rpm. With different colored markers, draw the layers of the planet to correspond in scale to the planet’s interior. For example, for a simplified earth draw to scale a core, a mantle, and a crust. Repeat this on both sides of three plates. (On some turntables, an upside down plate will override the rotating section. To get a plate to spin upside down, first place a spare plate right-side-up on the player, then place the upside down plate on that.)

Cut and combine the plates so the three of them intersect perpendicular to each other on an X-, a Y-, and a Z-axis. To do this, cut a slit halfway across two plates and intertwine them. Cut a third plate in half. On each half cut a slit from the cut edge (what was formerly the center of the plate) halfway outward. Cut partial slits on the combined plates to accommodate the two halves. Hang and shabang.

Contributed by Wayne James and Chuck Bueter.

GLPA Proceedings, 1992, p. 83, and 1999, p. 36.

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