Compare the Planets in Our Solar System

(Table 64 points)Use pages 798 and 915

1-2 a. Relate the composition of objects in the solar system to their distance from the Sun.

c. Compare the size and scale of objects within the solar system.

Name of each planet

Time to Orbit around the sun

(R _ )

Planet Year

Time to Rotate on the axis

(R )

Planet Day

Size of planet

Diameter km

Describe the surface

(2 points each box)

Composition of Atmosphere

(2 points each box)

M

V

E

M

J

S

U

N

40 points this side

Name__________________________ DatePeriod

Standard I-objective 2: Big Bang & the Solar System Objective 2: Analyze Earth as part of the solar system, which is part of the Milky Way galaxy. Page 2

Video How the Solar System Works

1. Our solar system has lots of different parts, all tied together by the sun's_________.

2. We sit near the edge of the _______________________galaxy.

3. ___________ is an unseen force that pulls one object to another.

4. What force keeps the planets from being pulled into the sun?

5. In the sun, ___________produces an amazing amount of energy, some of which we can see and feel 93 million miles away.

6. Name the four inner planets.

7. Name the four Gas Giants.

8. Kuiper Belt Objects and____________ are among the groups of small objects that orbit in the solar system with planets.

9..True or False: The Heliopause marks the end of the sun's gravitational grasp and the end of the solar system.

Directions: Answer the following questions.

1. Explain what a planetary nebula is.

2. What keeps the planets and sun in place? In other words, why are they not floating around and bumping into one another?

3. What about the Rocky Planet Earth is so preferable for humans?

4. Why do we know so much about Mars and so little about the Neptune, comparatively?

5. Explain the reason Pluto is considered neither a Gas Giant nor a Rocky Planet?

6. How do comets come towards the Earth?

7. What do you think lies beyond the Heliopause?

Cloze Activity

Directions: Choose the correct word from the word box to complete the paragraph below.

directionspheresbalance

gravitybiggerground

forceplanetsstraight

holdsinertia

(1.) ________ not only helped build the solar system by pulling gas, dust, and other space debris into (2.) ___________ , it also helps to keep it together. Without gravity, planets would fly away from the sun. One of the laws of gravity states that (3.)___________ objects have stronger gravity. The sun is 99.8% of the solar system's total mass. This makes the sun's gravity so powerful, it holds the (4.) ___________ . But if gravity were the only force at work on the planets, the planets would be pulled into the sun, like an apple falling to the (5.) ___________. The second force that keeps the planets away is called (6.) _________ . This force keeps things moving in certain ways. For example, objects such as spacecraft would move in a (7.) _______ line forever, unless another (8.) _________, such as gravity, slowed it down or changed its (9)___________. Inertia tries to carry planets on a straight line out into space, away from the sun, but gravity (10)_____ them in. Fortunately for each of the nine planets, gravity and inertia are in (11.) ___________ with each other, and the planets go around the sun.