Download Earth and Space Test

Earth and Space Test
Study Guide
How to study for this test1. Much of what is written in black is already in your notebook. What isn’t
in your notebook will not be tested. What is in the study guide is
comprehensive and gives extra information should you need
clarification.
2. What is written in red is there to remind you what activities we did in
class to learn the various objectives. Use these as you go through your
notebook to refresh your memory.
3. The questions in blue are samples of what could be on the test. Use
your notebook to find the answers. This will remind you where the
information is located in your notes.
Topic Gravity
1. Gravity Pulls You Toward Earth’s Center Gravity is a force that pulls
objects on or near Earth’s surface toward Earth’s center. Objects fall to the
ground because of gravity’s force. Gravity also keeps objects on Earth’s
surface from floating away into space. What many people think of as “down” is
actually the direction that gravity is pulling. In class, we studied this by
dropping various items and observing patterns. We wrote claims and then
gathered evidence to support those claims

Sample Question: How do people know which way is down?
2. Gravity Causes Meteors When a meteoroid in space comes close
enough, gravity pulls it towards Earth. As they fall through the atmosphere,
meteoroids heat up and give off light. The streaks of light are meteors. Those
that do not burn up sometimes land on Earth’s surface and are called
meteorites. In class, we discussed cause and effect using this topic. CauseGravity pulls meteors to Earth. Effect- Some meteors do not completely burn
up in the atmosphere and hit the ground creating creators on the Earth’s
surface.

Sample Question: What causes a meteorite to hit the earth’s surface?
4. All Objects Have Gravity All objects have gravity that pulls other objects
toward their center. For objects on Earth, only Earth’s gravity is strong enough
to have a noticeable effect. But the sun’s gravity is strong enough to make
Earth follow an orbit around the sun. The moon’s gravity is also noticeable on
objects that are close to it. In class, we pasted a flipbook full of gravity facts in
the green journal. We discussed that even the pencils on our tables had a
gravitational force. Remember! The mass of the object determines the
strength of the gravitational force.

Sample Question: What kinds of objects have gravity?
Topic 2: The Sun
Stars give off energy in the form of light. This light spreads out in all
directions. As the light moves away from a star, it spreads out over more and
more space. So, when a star is very far away, only a tiny amount of its light
reaches Earth. The sun looks bigger and brighter than other stars because it
is closer to Earth. In class, we used flashlights in various ways to observe
that distance causes light to dim. The photons spread out more and more the
further they travel.

Sample Question: Why is the sun the brightest star in our sky?
2. Measuring Distances in Space Distances between the sun and other
stars are measured in units called light-years. One light-year is the distance
light can travel in one year. The sun is much less than one light-year way from
Earth. It is about 8 light minutes away from Earth. This means it takes about 8
minutes for light from the sun to travel to Earth. Despite sounding like a
measurement of time, a light-year is a measurement of distance.

Sample Question: Why are light years needed to measure distance in
space?
3. Distance Affects a Star’s Apparent Brightness The apparent brightness
of a star is a measure of how bright it looks from Earth. One factor that affects
a star’s apparent brightness is its distance from Earth. The sun is close to
Earth, so it has a greater apparent brightness than other stars. Stars that are
farther have a lower apparent brightness and look dimmer. This is because
light spreads out more the farther it travels. In class, we created a model
using a globe and two flashlights. One light was held closer to the globe and
another further away.

What does apparent brightness mean?
4. Other Factors Affects a Star’s Apparent Brightness Two other factors
that affect a star’s apparent brightness are its size and its temperature. A
star’s size is described as its radius, or its distance from its center to its
outside. From Earth, larger stars appear brighter than smaller stars. Hotter
stars also appear brighter than cooler stars. Scientists use a star’s color to
measure its temperature. Blue stars are the hottest, and red stars are the
coolest. So, blue stars are hotter than red stars.

Siruis is the largest star in our sky. Why is it not the brightest?
Topic: Day and Night
1. Earth Spins on Its Axis The sun appears to move in the sky, but it is not
actually moving. Rather, it is Earth that is moving. Earth rotates around an
axis. Earth’s axis is an imaginary line running through its North and South
pole. Earth takes 24 hours to rotate around this axis. Each rotation is 24
hours, or one day on Earth. In class, we used a globe and a lamp to show
how the Earth turns on its axis.

Sample Question: Does the sun actually move across our sky?
2. Earth’s Rotation Causes Day and Night Day and night are caused by
Earth’s rotation. When it is day, the part of Earth you are on faces the sun,
and when it is night, the part of Earth you are on faces away from the sun.
Because Earth rotates around its axis every 24 hours, you see this pattern of
day and night every 24 hours. In class, you used a globe and a lamp to
discover which way the Earth rotates and how it affects sunrise and sunset.

Sample Question: Why do we always see the sun in the east in the
morning and the west in the evening?
3. It Is a Different Time of Day in Different Places People in a time zone
use the same standard time. There are 24 time zones in the world. The time
in each time zone is based on the pattern of the sun’s position in the sky. In
each time zone, the sun is at or near its highest point at 12:00 p.m. In class,
we studies a time zone map and pasted it in our notebook.

Sample Question If it is 12:00 in London, what time is it in New York,
USA?
4. The Amount of Daylight Changes During the Year The time that the sun
rises and sets changes in a pattern. If you observed the time that the sun
rises and sets, you would see this pattern. Spring and fall have about the
same number of daylight hours. It is daytime for the longest during the
summer, and it is daytime for the shortest during winter. In class, you chose a
city in the world and recorded a year’s worth of sunlight data. You turned this
data into a graph.

What causes the number daylight hours to change throughout the
year?
Topic: Shadows- In class, we used gummy bears and flashlights to create
shadows and we drew sketches in the green notebook.
1. Shadows Follow a Daily Pattern when the sun causes a shadow; it
follows a daily pattern of changes. The length and the direction of the
shadows change. These changes are caused by the apparent position of the
sun. An object’s shadow is shortest at noon, when the sun is directly above.
As the sun moves in the afternoon, the shadows get longer.
Sample question: Describe a daily pattern for shadows.
2. Shadows Follow a Yearly Pattern Shadows caused by the sun follow a
yearly pattern of changes. Throughout the year, their length and the direction
they point change. In summer, shadows are shorter than shadows in winter.
In the summer, shadows point to the east and west. In the winter, shadows
point more north than in other seasons.
3. Shadows Point in Different Directions in Different Places The direction
that your shadow points at noon depends on where you are. In the Northern
Hemisphere, your shadow would point more north. In the Southern
Hemisphere, your shadow would point more south. Near the equator, your
shadow would not point very north or south.
Sample question for 2 and 3: Describe what a shadow would look like using
the following clues- Morning, Winter, Northern Hemisphere.