Download Unit 3 Bell Ringers 1. Early historical models of the solar system

Unit 3 Bell Ringers
1. Early historical models of the solar system were geocentric. Which of these phrases describes a geocentric solar
system?
A. the sun as a reference point
B. existing in a star system
C. Earth as a reference point
D. circular, orbital path of travel
2. What role did gravity play in the formation of the sun?
A. Gravity caused the protoplanetary disk to become a planetesimal, which became the sun.
B. Gravity caused the protoplanetary disk to rotate and form a solar nebula, which became the sun.
C. Gravity caused the solar nebula to collapse toward the center, causing the center to be dense and hot.
D. Gravity caused small particles to collide to form larger particles called planetesimals, which eventually
formed the sun.
3. Here is an image of the sun.
What is the name of the object that can be seen in the circled area of the sun?
A. sunspot
B. solar flare
C. gamma rays
D. prominence
4. What is the order of the distances of the terrestrial planets from the Sun, from farthest to closest?
A. Mars, Venus, Earth, Mercury
B. Mars, Earth, Venus, Mercury
C. Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars
D. Venus, Earth, Mars, Mercury
5. Which statement describes the temperature of Jupiter?
A. All of Jupiter is very cold.
B. The center of the planet is extremely hot.
C. Its temperature depends only on the energy it gets from the sun.
D. The upper layers of the atmosphere are the hottest part of the planet.
6. In which of the following locations are asteroids not likely to be located?
A. Kuiper belt
B. Oort cloud
C. in the orbits of Jupiter and Neptune
D. crossing Earth’s orbit
7. The sun produces large amounts of energy. By what process does the sun produce energy?
A. radiation
B. convection
C. nuclear fusion
D. electromagnetic radiation
8. Cara is explaining to her sister how the solar system formed. Which description would she use to explain the solar
nebula?
A. a rotating cloud of dust and gas
B. a disk of material surrounding a young star
C. a small body from which planets form
D. a rocky core surrounded by a deep atmosphere of gas and ice
9. People sometimes talk about seeing shooting stars. What do they actually see?
A. a meteoroid traveling through space
B. a meteor that burns up in the atmosphere close enough to see
C. a star that is moving through the galaxy
D. a comet that has come close enough to Earth’s atmosphere to be seen
10. This diagram shows part of the solar system. In addition to several planets, the diagram includes a belt of small
objects that orbit the sun.
Which objects are located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter?
A. asteroids
B. comets
C. Kuiper Belt objects
D. meteorites
11. Weight depends on the force of gravity. The greater the gravitational attraction of a planet, the more an object
weighs on that planet. On which planet would you weigh less than you would weigh on Earth?
A Jupiter, which has a surface gravity that is 253% of Earth’s
B. Neptune, which has a surface gravity that is 112% of Earth’s
C. Saturn, which has a surface gravity that is 106% of Earth’s
D. Uranus, which has a surface gravity that is 79% or Earth’s
12. Chase is making a model of the solar system. He is labeling the planets as terrestrial planets and gas giants.
Which planet should he label as a gas giant?
A. Earth
B. Mars
C. Uranus
D. Venus