Download Earth/Space Science Final Assessment Study Guide

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Earth/Space Science Final Assessment Study Guide
Assessment_____________________
Key Vocabulary:
Sun- medium sized star that shines on the Earth
Axis- imaginary line that passes through the North and South Poles tilted at 23.5 degrees
Rotation- spinning on an axis
Counterclockwise- direction the Earth rotates and the moon and Earth revolve
Revolution- To move in a curved path around something. Earth revolves around the sun. This
contributes to why we have seasons.
Tilted Axis- An imaginary line around which an object rotates. Earth’s axis is always tilted
23.5 degrees. This contributes to why we have seasons.
Spherical Planet- The shape of planet Earth.
Orbit- A curved path of one object around another object in space. Earth’s orbit curves around
the sun.
Earth- The third planet from the sun.
Moon- Satellite that moves around the earth once each month and reflects light from the sun.
Atmosphere- The mixture of gases that surround the planet.
Troposphere- Layer of the atmosphere in which we live. The layer that supports most life,
contains the most usable air, and has the most weather.
Key Ideas:
A. What causes day and night?
* What causes day and night? (Earth rotating on its axis)
* When does day occur? (When the sun strikes that part of the Earth)
* When does night occur? (When the sun is on the opposite side of Earth)
* What direction does the Earth rotate? (Counterclockwise)
* How long does it take for the Earth to make a full rotation? (24 hours)
B. What causes seasons?
* What causes seasons? (The Earth revolving around the sun on a tilted axis)
• The Earth orbiting the sun on its tilted axis causes the sun’s rays to either hit directly in
the Northern hemisphere or the Southern hemisphere.
• The tilted axis results in direct sunlight in summer and less direct sunlight in winter.
• The Earth’s distance from the sun does not affect seasons.
C. How do the sun, Earth, and moon interact?
*Most objects in the solar system are in a regular and predictable motion.
• The Earth orbits the sun counterclockwise as the moon orbits the Earth
counterclockwise.
• The moon’s orbit around Earth takes about 28 days.
• Be able to put pictures of the moon phases in the appropriate order of the lunar cycle
• Lunar eclipse – when the moon passes in the shadow of the Earth (becomes a reddish
color)
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Solar eclipse – when the moon passes in between the sun and the Earth, casting a
shadow on part of Earth (it does not block out all of Earth!)
The sun is the central and largest body of the solar system.
The Earth is one of several planets that orbit the sun.
The planets within our solar system: Remember My Very Educated Mother Just Served
Us Nachos
o Inner planets (rocky and dense) - Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars,
o Outer planets (gaseous and large) – Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune
D. How does the Earth move within our solar system?
* The path that one object takes around another is called an orbit.
• The Earth has a slightly elliptical orbit.
• Rotating is a circular motion of an object on a fixed axis.
• Revolving is a complete orbit or lap of one body around another body.
• The Earth orbits, rotates, and revolves within our solar system.
E. What are the characteristics of Earth?
• Earth’s Water
o 75% (¾) of Earth’s surface is covered by water
o 97% Earth’s water is in oceans/seas = salty water
o 3% is freshwater = not salty water
→ Most of freshwater is stored as ice (polar ice caps, glaciers, snow)
→ most of the other is found as groundwater (water underground) while the
rest is in lakes, rivers, wetlands and the atmosphere
• Earth’s Land or Layers – (be able to label the layers of the Earth)
o crust – thinnest layer, the layer on which we live
o mantle – largest layer
o outer core – liquid layer
o inner core – “center” of Earth, solid made mostly of iron
• Earth’s Air or Atmosphere
o troposphere –
1. layer closest to Earth’s surface
2. shallowest, but contains most of the air in the atmosphere
3. most weather forms here
4. most life exists here
o two gases, nitrogen and oxygen, make up 99% of Earth’s atmosphere
1. oxygen supports life
F. How are stars like the sun?
*Stars are balls of gas that look like points of light in the night sky due to their distance
from the Earth.
*The sun is a medium sized star.
*Some stars are 1,000 times more massive than the sun.
*The great distance from the Earth makes both the sun and other stars appear to be much
smaller than they actually are.
*A star’s color is determined by its surface temperature (red=coolest, blue=hottest)
*The sun is the closest star to Earth