This is the number of official planets in our solar system.
What is 8
100
This planet is closest to the sun.
What is "Mercury"
100
This gaseous planet is the LARGEST of the gas planets.
What is "Jupiter"
100
This is the definition of "gravity"
What is "an attraction between all objects with mass"
100
This planets magnetic field mysteriously disappeared.
What is "Mars"
200
This is what you call a collection of planets that orbit a star.
What is "a solar system"
200
This planet's slow rotational speed causes drastic temperature variation on the two different sides of the planet.
What is "Mercury"
200
This planet has the most extravagant ring system in the entire solar system. **DAILY DOUBLE**
What is "Saturn"
200
Everything has gravity. Explain why everyone/everything is not being pulled into a giant clump at this moment.
What is: The Earth's gravity is so immense due to its mass, it is pulling all the objects down towards its center of mass at at incredible strength.
200
This planet is unique in that it is almost completely tipped on its side. **DAILY DOUBLE**
What is "Uranus"
300
This terrestrial planet has the largest and most defined geological landforms in the entire solar system. **DAILY DOUBLE**
What is "Mars"
300
This well-understood scientific idea explains why Venus is so hot.
What is "the greenhouse effect." CO2 is trapped in the atmosphere causing any heat energy to be trapped in the atmosphere, warming the planet.
300
This distant planet has the most chaotic winds in the solar system.
What is "Neptune"
300
You would weigh more/less if you could stand on Mars. Explain.
What is you would weigh MORE because a person's weight depends on the gravity of the planet. Since Mars is smaller than Earth it has less gravity, therefore you'd weigh less.
300
This area in the solar system is thought to be the "leftovers" of the formation of the early solar system.
What is "the asteroid belt"
400
This term refers to a planet that does not share its orbit with any other material.
What is "clearing the orbit"
400
Earth's seasons are caused by this. Explain why.
What is Earth's 23.5 degree tilt. Direct sunlight hits different parts of the planet at different angles throughout the year, causing some parts of the planet to be warmer and some parts to be colder.
400
Jupiter and Saturn have 60+ moons for this reason.
What is the fact that their gravity is immense. Their immense mass gives them the gravity to keep many rocky bodies in their orbit.
400
These two important principles describe the strength of gravity.
What is a planet's mass and distance.
400
Describe how gravity keeps the moon in orbit around the Earth.
What is the Earth causes an indentation in space-time. The moon rolls around this indentation.
500
In order to be considered a "planet," what 4 criteria must a object in space meet?
What is:
1) Be round (due to gravity)
2) Not be a moon
3) Orbit a star
4) Clear its orbit
500
Name three things ALL inner planets have in common.
What is:
1) They are close together
2) They are small (compared to outer planets)
3) They are relatively warm
4) They are terrestrial (rocky)
500
These 3-4 facts describe the similarities in the outer planets.
What is:
1) They are the largest planets
2) They are made of gas
3) They all have rings
4) They are extremely far apart.
500
Jupiter is over 10x larger than Earth. Why is the gravity of Jupiter only 2.5x that of Earth's?
What is Jupiter is mostly gas. Since gas is spread out over a large distance, it is not a dense planet, but it takes up a lot of space.
500
This is the ultimate fate of the solar system.
What is the sun will increase in size and enter its "red giant" phase. As it does this, it burns through the remaining hydrogen fuel and eventually consumes the inner planets. Eventually the outer layers dissipate off and a white dwarf is left.