Here is a flag with a scale model of a planet

Here is a flag with a scale model of a planet, originally uploaded by powersdale.

While on the beach, we set up a scale model of the Solar System. This is the "standard model" that Bennett et.al. described in >Cosmic Perspective< . The scale was 1:10,000,000,000 which makes the sun the size of a large grapefruit. The planets are located at various spacing according to that scale: Mercury about 5 meters (5.5 yards) from the sun; the earth about 15 meters from the sun and only about 1.3 mm (0.05 inch) in diameter. Because of the limited length of the beach, we could only layout the planets as far as Uranus which was 287 meters from our sun model (about 310 yards). Students had to imagine the distance to Neptune and Pluto which should have been nearly twice a far. On the scale, the nearest star from the sun would have been a grapefruit located in California. . . . The point of this demonstration is to get an idea of the scale of the solar system and the surroundings, and how empty space is.