Download Name Test Date ______ Signature Science SOL 4.8 Earth Patterns

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Science SOL 4.8 Earth Patterns, Cycles, and Changes
Let us introduce ourselves:
Term
Description
Illustration
I am an averaged-sized yellow star.
Sun
I am made of hot gases. Mainly hydrogen and helium.
I am about 110 times the diameter of the Earth.
I am about 4.6 billion years old!
I am an active planet with a surface of land and water
that is constantly changing.
Earth
I have lots of water and an oxygen-rich atmosphere.
My atmosphere protects me from the sun’s damaging
rays.
I am a small dusty, rocky satellite.
I am about ¼ the diameter of the Earth and 1/8 its
Moon
mass.
I have no atmosphere, no water, and no life.
I have no light. The light you see is from the sun.
Vocabulary:
1. revolution – the motion of an object in space around another object.
2. rotate – an object in space spinning.
3. axis – imaginary line through the Earth extending from the North Pole through the South Pole
4. axial tilt – tilt of the earth’s axis of rotation….. looks like this
/
More about the Earth:
Earth is 1 of 8 planets revolving around the Sun
comprising the solar system. It is the 3rd planet
from the sun and 1 of 4 rocky inner planets.
Earth completes 1 revolution around the sun every
365 days.
The moon revolves around Earth about once every
month.
Due to the Earth’s axial tilt, the Earth experiences
seasons during its revolution around the sun.
When the Northern Hemisphere has summer
the Southern Hemisphere has winter. When
the North has fall the South has spring. They
have the opposing seasons.
Moon Phases:
The moon phases are caused by its position relative to the Earth and the sun. The phases of the
moon include the new, waxing crescent, first quarter, waxing gibbous, full, waning gibbous, last
quarter, and waning crescent.
Think Karate Kid – Wax On , Wane Off 
How do we know all this??
Well…. Our understanding of the solar system has changed from an Earth-centered model to the suncentered model.
The Earth-centered
model was believed
to be true by
astronomers
Aristotle and
Ptolemy.
The sun-centered model
was believed to be true by
astronomers Copernicus
and Galileo.
With further study and
research the sun-centered
model was proven correct.
Our understanding of the sun, moon, and the solar system continues to change with new scientific
discoveries. The NASA Apollo missions added a great deal to our understanding of the moon.