Nebular Hypothesis
This large cloud of interstellar gas and dust is the birthplace of a solar system.
What is a nebula?
This innermost layer of the sun is the only place where nuclear fusion occurs.
What is the core?
Kepler's First Law states that planetary orbits take this specific oval shape rather than a perfect circle.
What is an ellipse?
This liquid metal, found in Earth's outer core, is primarily responsible for generating our magnetic field.
What is iron? (Accept: Nickel)
The prefix "geo-" comes from the Greek word meaning this.
What is Earth?
It is the primary inward force that caused the solar nebula to collapse.
What is gravity?
This is the visible "surface" layer of the sun that we see from Earth.
What is the photosphere?
According to Kepler's First Law, the sun sits at one of these two geometric points inside an orbit.
What are the foci (or a focus)?
This term describes the ocean of solar particles deflected by Earth's magnetic field, protecting our atmosphere.
What is the solar wind?
The prefix "hydro-" comes from the Greek word meaning this.
What is water?
As the collapsing nebula spun faster, it flattened out into this specific geometric shape.
What is a flat disk
In the core's nuclear fusion process, atoms of this element fuse together to create helium.
What is hydrogen?
A planet will reach its maximum orbital speed when it is ________ to the sun.
What is closest
This is the scientific name for the "Northern Lights," caused by solar particles colliding with gases in the upper atmosphere.
What is the aurora borealis? (Northern Lights)
this continuous process moves water through the lithosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere
What is the water cycle?
This is the process where kilometer-sized solid bodies form by colliding and sticking together.
What is accretion?
In this layer, energy moves outward through rising currents of hot gas and sinking currents of cooler gas
What is the convective zone?
Kepler's Third Law relates the time it takes a planet to orbit the sun to this specific orbital measurement.
What is distance from the sun (or semi-major axis)?
This invisible magnetic "bubble" surrounds Earth and shields us from dangerous space radiation.
What is the magnetosphere?
Members of the biosphere that can create their own food using sunlight are classified as this.
What are plants (or autotrophs/producers)?
This environmental factor explains why rocky planets formed close to the sun while gas giants formed further out.
What is temperature (intense heat near the sun vs. cold outer temperatures)?
Named after the Greek words for "color" and "crown," these are the two layers of the solar atmosphere.
What are the chromosphere and corona?
the center of mass where two or more celestial objects orbit each other
What is Barycenter?
Because opposites attract, the North Pole of a compass needle actually points toward the geographic North but is actually attracting to this specific physical magnetic polarity near the Arctic.
What is the Earth's magnetic south pole?
The Greek prefix "bio-" translates directly to this English word.
What is life?