Download 1 - TECC Science

Space 5 – 7 Revision Questions
1. The table below gives information about the planets of the Solar System.
They are listed in alphabetical order.
planet
average distance
from the Sun in diameter
million km
in km
time for
one orbit
round the
Sun
time for
temperature
one rotation on surface of
on its axis planet in °C
in hours
Earth
150
13 000
365 days
24
+22
Jupiter
780
140 000
12 years
9.8
–150
Mars
230
6800
687 days
25
–23
Mercury
58
4900
88 days
1400
+350
Neptune
4500
51 000
165 years
16
–220
Pluto
5900
2300
248 years
150
–220
Saturn
1400
120 000
29 years
10.2
–180
Uranus
2900
51 000
84 years
17
–210
Venus
110
12 000
225 days
5800
+480
(Data obtained from The Guinness Book of Astronomy, Patrick Moore; published by
Guinness 1992)
(a) Explain why Neptune and Pluto are the coldest planets.
.................................................................................................................................1 mark
(b) Explain why there could be no liquid water on the surface of:
(i) Mars .............................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................1 mark
(ii) Venus ..........................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................1 mark
(c) On which planet would the time between sunrise and sunset be shortest?
..................................................................……
(d)Which planet has the shortest year?’
1 mark
..................................................................……
1 mark
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(e) Give the name of the force which keeps the planets in their orbits.
..................................................................……
1 mark
2. Our solar system consists of planets orbiting the Sun. Some of these planets have
moons.
(a) Complete the four statements by drawing lines to join the boxes.
the average distance
from Mercury to
the Sun is
150 million km
the average distance
from Pluto to
the Sun is
0.38 million km
the average distance
from the Earth to
the Moon is
5900 million km
the average distance
from the Earth to
the Sun is
58 million km
4 marks
(b) Give the name of the star in our solar system.
.................................................................................................................................1 mark
3. Until 1781 scientists thought there were only six planets in the solar system. Then a
scientist called Herschel looked through a very large telescope that could turn to
follow objects in space. He watched a bright object in the night sky for a few months
and made drawings of what he saw. He concluded it was a planet.
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(a) What method did Herschel use to discover the new planet? Tick the correct box.
He carried out practical
tests in the laboratory.
He asked scientists’
opinions.
He observed the
environment.
He gathered data
from books.
1 mark
(b)Scientists today use satellites as well as telescopes to observe the universe.
Suggest one way that developments in equipment have changed the information
scientists collect about planets.
...........................................................................................................................................
.................................................................................................................................1 mark
(c) Before 1781, scientists believed there were 6 planets in our solar system. Now
scientists believe there are 10 planets.
What do these ideas suggest about our knowledge of our solar system?
...........................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................1 mark
(d) What causes scientists to reject an idea and replace it with a new one?
...........................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................1 mark
4. In 1610, the Italian scientist, Galileo, observed four bright moons near Jupiter.
Each night the moons moved.
(a) (i)
The Sun and stars are light sources, and the planets are seen by reflected
light. Explain how we can see the moons of Jupiter.
............................................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................2 marks
(ii) The four moons are approximately the same distance from the Earth.
However, they do not have the same brightness.
Suggest one reason for this.
............................................................................................................................................
.................................................................................................................................1 mark
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(b)The table shows the distances of the four moons from the centre of Jupiter, and the
times of their orbits. Europa’s distance has been left out.
distance from
Jupiter, in
millions of km
name of
moon
o
time for one
orbit, in
Earth days
0.42
1.8
Europa
3.6
Ganymede
1.07
7.2
Callisto
1.88
16.7
The graph was plotted using the information in the table.
Callisto
16
14
12
time for one 10
orbit of the
8
moon, in
Earth days
6
Ganymede
4
2
Io
0
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
1.2
1.4
1.6
1.8
2.0
2.2
distance from Jupiter, in millions of km
Use the graph to estimate Europa’s distance from Jupiter.
............................................................................................ millions of km
1 mark
(c)
Galileo realised that Jupiter and its moons formed a model of our Solar
System. In this model:
what did Jupiter represent? .........................................................................
what did the moons represent? ...................................................................1 mark
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