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The Earth and Beyond
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What shape is the Earth?
Is it:
A.
C.
B.
A square.
A circle.
A sphere.
A. Sorry, that’s not correct.
A long time ago people thought that the
Earth was flat and square, but now we
know that is not right. Try again.
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C. Correct!
The Earth is a sphere.
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B. Sorry, but that’s not right.
You’re thinking along the right lines,
but remember that the Earth is a 3D
shape. Why not have another go?
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Here is a picture of the Earth.
Click on the arrow which shows which way the Earths
gravity is pulling us?
B.
A.
C.
A. Well done! That is correct.
The Earths gravity is pulling all of us
towards the centre of the Earth.
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B. This is not the right answer, sorry!
This arrow is pointing down, but down
is not always the same for all of us.
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C. Incorrect.
Have another go.
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Here is a photograph of the sun.
Do you know whether the sun is;
A. A planet?
B. A star?
C. A comet?
A. Sorry, the sun is not a planet.
Stars and planets are very
different. An easy way to
remember the difference is that
planets do not shine with a light of
their own, but stars do!
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B. That’s right, the sun is a star.
The sun is a star like all of the other
stars that we see in the sky, it’s just
that the sun is much closer to us than
all of the others!
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C. The sun is not a comet.
Comets are big chunks of dust and
frozen gases that are left over from
when the sun and the planets were
formed.
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The Earth rotates around an imaginary line
called “The Earths axis”.
How long does it take for the Earth to rotate once?
A. One hour?
B. One Year?
C. One Day?
D. One Minute?
A. No, it’s not one hour!
Have another go!
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B. Sorry, it’s not one year.
Try again!
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C. Well done! That’s the right answer.
It takes one day, or twenty four
hours for the Earth to rotate
once around its axis.
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D. No, it takes more than one minute
for the Earth to rotate once.
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As well as rotating around its axis once every
twenty four hours, the Earth is also moving around
the sun in its orbit.
How long does it take for the Earth to move once
around the sun?
A. Twenty four hours?
B. One year?
C. One month?
A. That is not the correct answer.
It takes twenty four hours for the
Earth to rotate once around its axis.
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B. Congratulations, that’s the correct answer.
It takes one year, or three hundred and
sixty five and one quarter days, for the
Earth to go around the sun once in its’
orbit. But we don’t count the quarter days
every year, we save them up and every
four years we add them together. This
gives us one whole extra day and we put
this extra day into the calendar on
February 29th. This year with an extra
day in it is called a leap year.
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C. Incorrect. It takes more than one
month for the Earth to orbit the sun.
Go back to the question and try again.
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During the daytime the sun appears to move across the sky.
This is because the Earth is rotating. In the morning the
sun rises in the east, Where will we see the sun in the
evening?
South
East
West
That’s not the right answer!
The sun rises in the east, that’s the
direction we must look in to see the sun in
the morning. Have another go!
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Sorry, no. We see the sun in the south in the
middle of the day. Go back and try again.
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Well done! We have to look towards the west
if we want to see the sun in the evening. The
sun does seem to move across the sky during
the day, but remember, this is only because
the Earth is rotating.
At night time the stars also seem to move
across the sky, rising in the east and setting in
the west. They seem to move for the same
reason as the sun during the daytime, the
Earth is rotating.
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The Earth rotates around its’ axis, but the Earths’ axis does
not point straight up and down like in the picture below.
Click on the Earth to see how the axis is tilted.
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So the Earths’ axis is tilted. The Earths’ axis also always
points in the same direction, it always points to the same place
in the sky, no matter where it is in its’ orbit around the sun.
Click on the Earth to see this:
Notice how the Earths’ axis always points the same way!
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It is because the Earths’ axis is tilted, and because that axis
always points the same way, that we get the four seasons,
summer, winter, spring and autumn. In the picture below it is
winter in the north because the northern end of the Earths’
axis is tilted away from the sun.
Click on the Earth:
N
S
What season is it now in the south?
A. Winter?
B Summer?
A. Well done! The southern end of the Earths
axis, ( the south pole), is now tilted away from
the sun. This means it is now winter in the
south.
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B. Sorry, no! The end of the Earths axis which is
tilted towards the sun will be having summer.
Go back and look again.
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So, we get the four seasons because the Earths
axis is tilted. Click once on the picture of the Earth
below to see how we get all four seasons in the
north.
Autumn
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Winter
N
Spring
Summer
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As we saw earlier, the sun is a star just like all of
the other stars that we see in the sky.
What do you think the
sun is made of?
A. Lava
B. Gas
C. Rock
A. Sorry, no. The sun is not made of lava. Lava is
molten rock that comes out of a volcano.
Try again.
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B. Well done. The sun is a sphere of very, very hot gas
that is glowing very brightly.
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C. That’s not correct. The Earth is made up largely
of rock as are some of the other planets and the
moon, but the sun isn’t.
Have another go.
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The Earth is one of eight planets that move around the
sun in their orbits. The Earth is the third planet from
the sun.
The earth is a very special place as it is the only
planet where we can live, and we are able to live
here thanks to three very special things.
The first of these is that the Earth is just the
right distance from the sun.
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How far is it from the Earth to the sun?
A. 150 km
B. 150,000 km
C. 150,000,000 km
A. No. If the Earth was 150 km from the sun then
it would become so hot that the Earth would be
turned into gas!
Try again.
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B. That’s not the right distance. If the sun was only
150,000 km away from the Earth, then the Earth
would be vaporised, turned into gas.
Have another go.
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C. That’s correct. 150,000,000 km is a very long
way indeed, but if the Earth was much closer to
the sun than this, then it would be too hot for
anything to stay alive. And if the Earth was much
further from the sun then it would be so cold that
everything would freeze to death.
Also, at this distance, the Earth gets just the
right amount of sunlight, and this is very
important, especially for making the plants grow.
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So the Earth is just the right distance from the sun
for things to stay alive, but there are two other
things that we must have to live.
So far, we haven’t found these things anywhere else
in space. What do you think these things might be?
A. Gravity
and water.
B. Food
and water.
C. Air and
water
A. Both gravity and water are necessary for life,
but the force of gravity can be felt anywhere
in space, not just here on the Earth.
Try again.
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B. It is very important that we have food and
water to keep our bodies healthy, but if there
wasn’t any water then no plants or animals could
live, so there wouldn’t be any food.
Try again.
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C. Both air and water are necessary for life. So far ,
neither of these things have been found anywhere
else in space.
Sometimes we hear that water has been found on the
moon or mars, and this is true! But we have only found
frozen water, ice, in these places and for their to be
any life water must be a liquid.
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Here is a photograph of the moon. When we look at the
moon in the sky we sometimes see it shining very
brightly. Why is this?
A. Because when it gets
dark the moon begins to
shine.
B. Because the moon
reflects the light of the
sun.
C. Because the light
of the sun shines
through the moon.
A. No, that’s not it. The moon doesn’t have any
light of its’ own, so unless something is lighting
it up we wouldn’t see the moon at all.
Try again.
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B. That’s right. The light of the sun shines onto the moon
and lights up one side of the moon, just like it lights up
one side of the Earth. Some of this sunlight bounces off
the moon, it is reflected, by the moons surface, and it is
some of this reflected sunlight that comes to us here on
the Earth. So when we look at the moon in the sky, it
sometimes seems to shine very brightly!
Click on the moon to see this more clearly!
C. No, the suns light does not shine through the
moon. The moon is made of solid rock, so if the moon
moves in front of the sun, the moon blocks out the
sunlight.
This does sometimes happen, and when it does we
call it an “eclipse of the sun”.
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Light from the sun shines onto the
moon…
Click on the sun!
…and is reflected
onto the Earth!
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So we see the moon in the sky because the moon
reflects the light of the sun.
Sometimes when we look at the moon we also see it as
different shapes, but the moon never really does
change its’ shape of course.
What shape is the moon?
A. Sphere
B. Circle
C. Crescent
A. That’s correct. Just like the Earth, sun and
stars, the moon is a sphere.
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B. No, sorry. The moon is not a circle. A circle is a
2D shape and the moon is a 3D shape.
Try again.
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C. Incorrect. The moon does sometimes appear to
be a crescent shape, but this is not the shape that
the moon really is. You will see why in a minute!
Go back and have another go.
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When we look at the moon in the sky it does not
always appear to be the same shape. We might see a
crescent shape or half of the moon, we might see all
of the moon or perhaps none of it at all!
But the moon never really does change its’ shape, it
just looks like it changes. Why do you think this
might be?
A. Because we see different amounts of
the side of the moon that is being lit
up by the sun?
B. Because the clouds cover part of the
moon?
C. Because the Earth is rotating?
A. Well done, that was not an easy question.
The moon appears to change its’ shape because we
cannot always see all of the side of the moon that is
being lit up by the sun.
These changes are called “the moons’ phases”.
Click on the moon to see better how this works.
B. No, this is not right. Many people think that
this is the correct answer, but the shape that we
see the moon in the sky has nothing at all to do
with the clouds.
Try again!
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C. No. The fact that the Earth is rotating has
nothing at all to do with the shape that we see the
moon in the sky.
Go back to the question and try again.
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Click on the sun
Last quarter
moon
New moon
Light from the sun
Full moon
First quarter
moon
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Congratulations!
You have done very well to finish this quiz,
and now you know lots about the Earth, the sun and
the moon, but you can always have another go some
other time if there are things that you’re still not
sure about.
You’re a star!
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