Download Unit 2 Study Guide - Grant County Schools

Unit 2 Study Guide
Earth’s Place in the Universe
LT2.1: I can describe parts of the solar system
Because the Solar System is so big, it is hard to create something on Earth that represents them. We
make scale models of the size and distances in space. Students should be able to look at pictures of scale
models and explain how the sizes and distances in a scale model compare to each other.
The Planets
The planets in relation from the sun are: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and
Neptune. A way we can remember this is using the pneumonic device: My Very Excellent Mother Just
Served Us Nachos. The beginning of each word in the sentence begins with the same letter of the planet
in order from the sun.
Inner vs Outer Planets
Earth is similar to other planets in many ways. All planets are spheres, rotate on their axis, have gravity,
revolve around the sun, have density, and temperature. Earth, however, is different than other planets
because it is the only known body in our solar system that has life. This is due to the fact we have liquid
water. Earth is at a safe distance from the sun so that it is not too hot to boil water away or too cold to
freeze water.
To contrast the inner and outer planets we must look at how the planets are different. We can use a
chart to show the differences.
Inner Planets
Outer Planets
Small
Big
Made of Rock
Made of Gas
Rotate Slowly
Rotate Quickly
Revolve Quickly
Revolve Slowly
Few Moons (less gravity)
More moons (more gravity)
No Rings
Have Rings
Warmer
Colder
More Dense
Less Dense
Solid surface with hills, mountains, volcanoes
No solid surface
Comets, meteors and asteroids.
Asteroids are small irregular shaped objects in space. They range in size going from as small as 3 km to
900 km. They are made of rock, metals, and some organic matter (carbon). Most are found in the
asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Comets are sometimes called dirty snowballs. They are made
of rock, ice, and dust. The can be as small as .5 km – 100 km. As their orbit gets closer to the sun, part
of the comet melts and creates a tail into space. Comets are found in the Kuiper Belt after Neptune and
in the Oort cloud at the edge of the solar system. Meteoroids are the smallest things in space. They are
smaller than 1 km. They are made of stone, iron, and metals.
ALL components of the solar system.
Our solar system is composed of a Sun, planets, dwarf planets, moons, asteroids, meteoroids, and
comets. Each item has characteristics that make them special. See the chart below.
Sun
Planets
Dwarf
Moons
Asteroids
Meteoroi Comets
planets
ds
The
The largest of the Dwarf
Are
Orbit the sun
The
Orbit the
largest
sun’s satellites.
Planets are satellites of but are
smallest
sun in the
things in
Planets are the
not the
things in the irregularly
things to
outer part
the solar
only things in
only thing solar system shaped. They
orbit the
of the solar
system. It their orbit that
in their
that are not are larger than
sun. Can
system.
is a yellow goes around the
orbit that
the sun.
both comets and be
They are
medium
sun. Can be made goes
Planets and meteoroids.
anywhere made of ice,
sized star. of rock like the
around the asteroids
Asteroids are
in the
dust, and
Its gravity inner/terrestrial
sun. They are known
the only other
solar
rock.
holds the planets or gas like are often
to have
things besides
system.
Comets are
solar
the outer/gas
found in
moons
planets with
the only
system
giants.
belts.
orbiting
organic material
things that
together. Round
Round
them.
found on them.
have tails in
space.
LT-2.2: I can explain patterns in the solar system.
Planets are in constant motion. The two motions that all planets do is rotate and revolve. A rotation is
one spin of a planet on its axis. As the planet spins half of the planet is facing the sun and the other half
is facing away. The lit side is day and the dark side is night. The spinning of the planet is the reason we
have day/night. A second motion is revolution. This is the motion of a planet around the sun. One
complete trip around the sun gives us a year. The path a planet takes around the sun is an orbit.
Revolution and orbit are used interchangeable and both make a year. The reason anything in space
orbits is because of gravity from the sun and the inertia of the object following Newton’s 1st law as the
object is in a forward motion and will tend to stand in that motion.
I can diagram and explain the effects of gravity:
Gravity depends of two things: mass and distance. Gravity holds the solar system in place. Holds the
planets and stars together, and even makes the orbits of objects in the universe.
6th grade
Learning Target 1
Unit 2 study guide
Name ________________________
1. List the parts of the solar system
2. What is a planet? Dwarf planet?
3. Compare the inner and outer planets.
4. Compare asteroids, comets, and meteroids.
5. What does it mean when we talk about scale in the solar system? What things can we
infer based on the scale of objects in the solar system?
Learning target 2:
1. What causes the planets to orbit?
2. Do we see the same stars year round? Why or why not? Does everyone in the United
States see the same stars at night?
3. Can you predict when you will see different stars in our night sky? Why or why not?
4. What are the differences between revolution and rotation? Illustrate and example of
both.
5. What does a prograde rotation mean? What direction do things in the sky move due
to this?
6. What happens if a planet spins retrograde? What direction do things in the sky of a
retrograde planet move?
7. What pattern does the revolution give us?
8. What pattern does the rotation give us?
9. Why do some planets seem to rotate so quickly?
10. Why do some planets seem to revolve quickly?
Learning target 3:
11. Describe gravity
12. Describe gravitational pull
13. What 2 things do gravitational pull depend on?
14. Give 3 ways that gravity impacts you