Download Standard Form - Fastest Planet

STANDARD FORM – PLANETS
FASTEST PLANET
Click a planet to find out more about it. Click the title to start the activity.
The
Sun is a star.
It contains more than 99.8% of
the total mass in the Solar
System, with Jupiter having most
of the rest.
It is about 4,500 million years old
and will probably stay almost the
same for another 5,000 million
years before "dying".
All the energy from the Sun is
produced in the core by nuclear
fusion.
It takes about 50 million years for
this energy to make its way out to
the surface! And then about
another 8 minutes for the light to
reach the Earth.
Mercury is the closest
planet to the Sun.
It is quite similar to the Moon, with
lots of craters, but it has no moon
of its own.
Mercury was the Roman god of
travel, and the planet probably got
its name because it moves so fast
across the sky.
Only one spacecraft, Mariner 10,
has been to Mercury. It flew-by in
1973 and 1974, but only mapped
about half of the surface, shown
here.
Venus is the second planet
out from the Sun.
It is the brightest object in the
night sky other than the Moon.
The first spacecraft to visit Venus
was Mariner 2 in 1962, but more
than 20 have been in total so far.
The planet is covered in very thick
cloud. The surface can only be
seen using Radar.
The temperature at the surface is
very high (up to 460 °C). This is
because it has a very strong
Greenhouse Effect.
Earth is the third planet out
from the Sun.
It has one very large natural
satellite, the Moon.
About 70% of the surface is
covered in water.
It is the only planet known to have
life on it.
Mars is the fourth planet out
from the Sun, one further out than
Earth
Sometimes called "the Red Planet", it
gets its colour from its red rocks and
soil.
The surface changes from winter to
summer. This was thought to be
evidence for plants and other life, but
is now known to be enormous dust
storms that cover most of the planet.
Many spacecraft have been sent to
Mars and some, like the Mars Rover
missions in 2003, have even landed
on the surface, making it the most
well known planet in the Solar System
other than the Earth itself!
It has two small moons called Phobos
and Deimos.
Jupiter is the largest planet in
the Solar System: You could fit all the
other planets inside it at the same
time and still have room left!
It is a Gas Giant, this means that is
does not have a solid surface, but is a
huge ball of gas. What we see is the
top of the highest clouds.
The famous Red Spot (shown to the
right) is a single giant storm, first seen
over 300 years ago and still going
strong!
Jupiter was the Roman King of the
Gods.
As of May 2005, Jupiter is known to
have 63 moons.The largest four (Io,
Europa, Ganymede and Callisto)
were discovered in 1610 by Galileo.
Saturn is the second largest
planet in the Solar System after
Jupiter.
Like Jupiter, it is a Gas Giant and so
does not have a solid surface.
It is famous for its dramatic and
beautiful rings. The rings are not
solid, but are made up of many
millions of small lumps of ice and
rock, varying from a few centimetres
to several metres across. These are
all orbiting around Saturn together.
Although they look very impressive,
the rings are only about 1 km thick,
compared to 250,000 km in diameter!
As of July 2007, Saturn is known to
have at least 60 moons (more than
any other planet). The largest, Titan,
is larger than both Mercury and Pluto.
Uranus, like Jupiter and
Saturn, is a Gas Giant and does not
have a solid surface.
However, it is blue not yellow/orange
because it has different chemicals at
the top of the clouds because it is
colder.
Uranus has rings, like Saturn, but
they are much thinner and difficult to
see.
Uranus was the first planet to be
discovered in modern times (by
William Herschel in 1781).
Uranus has 27 known moons (as of
May 2005). 22 are very small and
most are close to Uranus. The other
five (Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania
and Oberon) are larger and further
out.
Neptune is a blue Gas
Giant like Uranus and is named after
the Roman God of the Sea.
The dark spot in the image here is a
storm like the Great Red Spot on
Jupiter. However, the blue storm here
has probably already disappeared.
Neptune’s winds are the fastest
known on any planet, getting as fast
as 2000 km per hour.
Neptune has twelve small moons and
one large one called Triton.
Until recently, Neptune was the most
distant planet from the Sun, and had
been since 1979, but Pluto's orbit
crossed Neptunes' on the 11th
February 1999 to return to being the
most distant planet.
Which is the fastest planet?
Planet
Orbit Radius (distance from Sun)
Length of Year
Mercury
5.791 × 107 km
88 Earth days
Venus
1.082 × 108 km
225 Earth days
Earth
1.496 × 108 km
365.25 Earth days
Mars
2.2794 × 108 km
687 Earth days
Jupiter
7.7833 × 108 km
11.9 Earth years
Saturn
1.4294 × 109 km
29.45 Earth years
Uranus
2.871 × 109 km
84.01 Earth years
Neptune
4.5043 × 109 km
164.79 Earth years
Calculate the speed of each planet in kilometres per second.
Assume the planets orbit the sun in a circular path.
Use 3 significant figures in your calculations
Hint