Space

Question 1

What is the Solar System?

Answer 1

Found in the Milky Way, the Solar System is a system of planets that orbits the Sun, a dwarf star.

Question 2

What is the Sun?

Answer 2

The Sun is a star found in the Milky Way. Its gravitational pull causes asteroids and planets to orbit it. Occasionally a comet might get caught in the Sun’s gravity field, orbitting it and then slingshotting back into space.

Question 3

What is the moon?

Answer 3

The Moon is a satellite which orbits the Earth. It is the only natural satellite that Earth has.

Question 4

What is a satellite?

Answer 4

An object, natural or man-made, that orbits a planet.

Question 5

What causes a day?

Answer 5

One full rotation of Earth.

Question 6

What causes a month?

Answer 6

One orbit of the moon around Earth.

Question 7

What causes a year?

Answer 7

One orbit of Earth around the Sun.

Question 8

Can the moon create its own light?

Answer 8

No. The reason why we can see the moon is because it reflects light off the Sun.

Question 9

What causes the seasons?

Answer 9

The tilt of Earth’s rotational axis.

Question 10

What are the phases of the moon?

Answer 10

As the moon orbits the Earth, the Sun will hit the moon in different places, causing different shapes. It takes around a month for all 8 phases of the moon to complete.

Question 11

The 8 phases of the moon are:

Answer 11

1. New Moon
2. Waxing Crescent
3. First Quarter
4. Waxing Gibbous
5. Full Moon
6. Waning Gibbous
7. Last Quarter
8. Waning Crescent
   9 or 1. New Moon

Question 12

What causes the Earth’s tides?

Answer 12

The Moon’s gravitational pull (and a little of the Sun’s too.).

Question 13

Why can’t we see both sides of the moon from Earth?

Answer 13

It takes so long for the Moon to make one full rotation, that the side of Earth that was once night would become day before the Moon ever got to finish its rotation. We like to call the side of the moon we can’t see, “the Dark Side of the Moon.”

Question 14

What is a solar eclipse?

Answer 14

Occasionally, the Moon will block the Sun from Earth’s view. This makes it dark on Earth for a few minutes.

Bonus!: The technical term for when the Earth, Moon and Sun align is “syzygy.”

Question 15

What is a lunar eclipse?

Answer 15

This time, the Earth will block the Sun’s light from the Moon. As a result, we cannot see the Moon, as it doesn’t create its own light.

Question 16

The formula for finding someone’s weight in Newtons is:

Answer 16

Gravity factor * Mass. You can use this to find the mass (Weight/GF) and the Gravity Factor (Weight/Mass).

Question 17

What is the difference between mass and weight?

Answer 17

Mass is the amount of matter, or “stuff” you have. This will always stay the same wherever you are. Weight is how much you are affected by the gravitational pull of an object. This will change depending on where you are in the Universe.

Question 18

Who discovered gravity?

Answer 18

Isaac Newton, who discovered it somewhere between 1685 and 1666.

Question 19

How did he discover gravity?

Answer 19

Legend says that Isaac Newton watched an apple fall from a tree. He noticed that there is nothing that is visible pulling the apple to the ground, so he guessed that there must be some sort of force coming from the Earth. He published a book about it, called “Principia Mathematica” in July of 1687.

Question 20

What is the electromagnetic spectrum?

Answer 20

It is waves of light. These waves range from being 1 kilometre long to a picometre long.

Question 21

The order of waves from longest to shortest is…

Answer 21

Radio Waves; Micro Waves; Infrared Red; Visible Light; Ultraviolet; X-Rays; Gamma Rays

Question 22

What is Emission Spectra?

Answer 22

“When substances become hot, they give off light of certain colours. When this light is analysed through a spectroscope, we see that it is made up of differently coloured lines. This pattern is called an emission spectrum and it is unique to each substance,”(p.168, Science Textbook).

Question 23

What is a spectroscope?

Answer 23

A spectroscope is an instrument used to analyse the different waves of light coming from the Universe.

Question 24

What is spectroscopy?

Answer 24

The process of using a spectroscope to analyse light.

Question 25

How many times bigger is the Sun compared to Earth?

Answer 25

The Sun is 110 times as wide as the Earth.

Question 26

How and why does the Earth orbit around the Sun?

Answer 26

The Sun’s gravity pulls in the planets like Earth. However, its gravitational pull isn’t strong enough to draw Earth into the Sun. So, the Earth, along with the other planets, “fly” around the Sun.

Question 27

How does the Sun create its energy?

Answer 27

Inside the Sun are many hydrogen atoms, along with other atoms. Because the Sun is so hot, the atoms whizz around in the Sun. Eventually, two atoms will join together and make another atom (called nuclear fusion), releasing massive amounts of energy.

Question 28

How long does it take for Earth to make one rotation on its axis?

Answer 28

Around 24 hours

Question 29

How long does it take Earth to make one revolution around the Sun?

Answer 29

Around 365.25 days.

Question 30

Who is Galileo?

Answer 30

He was a famous scientist who was charged for heresy by the Catholic Church for his scientific beliefs (which have been proven to be true!). He made the first scientific description of the moon based on his observation through a telescope (from Revision sheet)

Question 31

What is the Hubble Space Telescope?

Answer 31

It’s a telescope that was launched by NASA in 1990. It orbits Earth and takes images of space to send to astronomers to make notes.

Question 32

What is buoyancy?

Answer 32

Buoyancy is the upwards force that counteracts gravity. It’s what keeps things afloat. Both forces are acting. An object will float or sink depending on which force is stronger.