Download The Planets

Today’s Objectives
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1. Collect HW
2. Question of the Day
3. Inner Planets Activity
3. Discussion on Observing the Solar
System Part 2
• 4. The Universe: The Inner Planets
Question of the Day 4/28/10
• If the sun makes up 99.8% of the solar system and
the more massive an object is the more gravity it
has, why aren’t Mercury and Venus pulled into the
sun?
• The Law of Universal Gravitation states that all
objects in the universe have a gravitational attraction
towards each other. Therefore, the other planets’
gravity would be acting on Mercury and Venus in
the opposite direction to prevent them from being
pulled into the sun.
• Get HW out but do not turn it in. On your paper,
write down as many facts about the planets as you
can.
• Today’s Schedule
• 1. Go over HW
• 2. The Planets
• 3. Planet Packet Activity
What do you know about the planets?
Olympus Mons
• Olympus Mons is the largest Volcanic mountain in
the Solar System. It is 600 km across and 27 km
high! And you thought Mount Everest was tall!
Saturn
• That Saturn has such a low density that it would
float if put in water!
Space Volcanoes
• That some volcanoes
on Jupiter's moon Io
eject material at
speeds of up to
1km/second! This is
about 20 times faster
than the volcanoes
here on Earth!
The Great Red Spot
• The Great Red Spot.
This is a huge, high
storm that has been
swirling around
Jupiter for hundreds of
years. It’s easily
visible from telescopes
here on Earth, and
even in larger
backyard telescopes.
Poor Pluto
• Pluto which is a dwarf planet takes 248 years to
orbit the sun.
Planets Packet
• Objective: To discover new information about the
planets using books and the internet.
• Packet is due on Friday, Dec. 10.
• Solar System, Solar System Information, Facts,
News, Photos -- National Geographic
• The Solar System - Astronomy For Kids KidsAstronomy.com
The Inner Planets
• 4 Planets closest to the sun.
• Terrestrial planets- Small, dense, and have rocky
surfaces like Earth
The Inner
Planets
Mercury
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Planet closest to the sun.
About the size of our moon.
Heavily cratered surface.
Virtually no atmosphere
430 degrees C at day, -170 degrees C at night
The Inner
Planets
Venus
The inner planets, Mercury and Venus
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“Earth’s Twin” size and mass are similar
A day is longer than a year
Sun rises in the west & sets in the east.
Atmospheric pressure is 90 times greater than
Earth’s
• Hottest planet- 460 degrees C. Melt lead
The Inner
Planets
Earth
• Only planet to have liquid water at the surface.
• Only planet to have an atmosphere rich in oxygen.
• Only planet that life has been discovered on.
The Inner Planets
Mars
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Polar Ice Cap
“red planet” made up of iron rich rocks
Atmosphere = 95% carbon dioxide
-140 degrees C to 20 degrees C.
Scientists think liquid water once flowed over the
surface The universe: (S1): 2- Mars, the red planet
The Outer Planets
• The 4 planets farthest from the sun.
• Much larger more massive than the inner planets.
• They do not have solid surfaces “Gas Giants”
The Outer Planets
• All gas giants have moons.
• All gas giants have rings.
• If they are made of gas why doesn’t the gas drift into
space?
Jupiter
• The largest and most
massive planet.
• Great Red SpotStorm larger than the
entire Earth.
• Dozens of moons.
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The universe: (S1): 4- Jupiter, the giant planet
Saturn
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Second largest planet.
Gives off more energy than it receives from the sun.
Avg. density is less than water.
Ice and rock make up Saturn’s rings.
Uranus (Yoor uh nus)
• 1. Methane gas in the
atmosphere
• 2. 90 degree tilt caused
by massive collision.
• 3. At least 25 moons
Neptune
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Cold, blue planet
Slowly shrinking
Clouds and storms that come and go
outer planets - Google Video
The universe: (S1): 11- The outer planets
Pluto the Outcast
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Only outer “planet” to have a solid surface.
Smallest Planet (Smaller than our moon)
Pluto’s moon, Charon, is about half the size of Pluto.
Its lack of size have led many scientists to
question if it should really be considered a planet.
Planet Acronym
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Hulu - The Universe: Mercury and Venus - The Inner Planets - Watch the full
episode now.
The Inner Planets
• inner planets - Google Video
Today’s Objectives 4/30/10
• 1. Question of the Day
• 2. Solar System Activity
• 3. Continue Research on Projects
Question of the Day
• Observe the image below. What happened to Pluto
in 1989?
• Pluto and Neptune’s orbit crossed paths and Neptune
became the
furthest planet
from the
sun.
Solar System Activity
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Solar System Activity WS
1. Identify each planet.
Describe the planet’s size,
rotation, revolution,
number of moons, and
atmosphere.
2. Accurately color the
planets and the sun. Add
any characteristics to a
planet such as moons or
rings.
3. Answer the questions on
the back of the sheet and
fill in the charts.
• Solar System Activity PPT
• 1. Create a 9 slide PPT
presentation. Start with the
planet closest to the Sun. On
each slide you need a picture of
the planet. Describe the planet’s
size, rotation, revolution,
distance from the sun, number
of moons, and atmosphere.
• 2. Create an additional 4 slides
in which you answer the
questions on the back of the
WS.
Earth
• Earth is the 3rd planet from
the sun and the 5th largest
planet. A rotation takes 24
hours and a revolution is
365 days. Earth has 1 moon
and the atmosphere is 79%
Nitrogen and 20% Oxygen.
Its avg. distance from the
sun is 93 million miles
Outer Planets Activity
• 1. You will work in a group of 3 people.
• 2. Assignments: writer, internet researcher, book
researcher.
• 3. There are 6 stations. One for each outer planet
and one for the moons of the outer planet.
• 4. Your group will start at one station and will have
1-2 min. to list 3 facts about that planet.
• 5. After the time is up all groups will rotate to the
next station.
• 6. A point will be awarded for each correct fact that
your group writes.