Solar System Flashcards
(14 cards)
What is mass?
What is weight?
Mass is the amount of matter something contains.
Measured in kilograms (Kg).
Weight is the force of gravity pulling on a mass.
Measured in newtons (N).
What is gravity?
Gravity is the force of attraction between two masses.
Gravity is stronger if the two objects are large or close.
Explain gravity between earth and moon?
On earth gravity pulls 1kg of mass = 10N
The moon is smaller so gravity is less.
On the moon your weight is less but your mass will be the same
A rocket to the moon needs power to leave earths gravity and then is pulled towards the moon by the moon’s gravity.
How does the solar system stay together?
The suns gravity keeps all planets moving in orbit around it.
The earths gravity keeps the moon in orbit around it.
What are satellites?
Anything that orbits a planet.
The earths natural satellite is the moon.
Artificial satellites are put in orbit for communications or taking pictures. They are controlled by earth.
What did people use to think about the solar system?
People thought earth was the centre of the universe with the stars orbiting the earth.
Copernicus said the sun was the centre of the solar system with the planets moving in circular orbit.
Kepler said they moved in elliptical orbit.
Newtons theory of gravity supported this.
How does the earth relate to the sun?
Earth gets heat and light from the sun.
Earth spins every 24hrs =1 day
The side facing the sun gets daylight, the other gets night.
Earth takes 365.25 days to orbit sun = 1 year is 365 days
Leap year is 366 days (every 4 years) to make up the extra day.
How does the moon relate to earth?
The moon orbits earth every 28 days = lunar month.
Sun light reflects off moon so it looks bright at night.
When the moon gets between sun and earth, it leaves a shadow called solar eclipse.
When earth gets between sun and moon we get lunar eclipse.
The moon has phases of shadow each month making it look like it’s changing shape.
What does the earth going round mean?
The earth spins on its axis but at a slight angle.
When the northern hemisphere tilts towards the sun it is summer.
It means days are longer than night and sun is higher in sky so it’s rays are more concentrated and it is warmer.
What are the 9 planets in the solar system?
Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto
What makes up the solar system?
Planets
moons
Asteroids
What is the sun?
The sun is a star.
A ball of gas giving out heat and light.
It’s the closest star and lights all he planets in the solar system.
What are constellations?
Patterns of stars.
The sun is one of many stars in our galaxy.
Our galaxy is called the Milky Way.
There are millions of galaxies in the universe.
How do we measure distance in space?
Light years:this is the distance that it can travel in one year.
