Gravity
Explain the occurrence of tides.
primarily caused by the moon's gravitational pull, which creates two bulges of water on the Earth—one on the side closest to the moon and one on the opposite side—resulting in high tides. As Earth rotates through these bulges, most coastal areas experience two high tides and two low tides approximately every 24 hours and 50 minutes.
Explain what an orbital radius is.
The length of a planet's year. How long it takes a planet to orbit.
Compare and contrast direct sunlight to indirect sunlight.
In summer, the hemisphere tilted toward the sun receives more direct sunlight, leading to higher temperatures, whereas in winter, that same hemisphere is tilted away, resulting in indirect, lower-energy sunlight and cooler temperatures
What do we call a space rock flying through the atmosphere?
a meteor!
What season is it in the Northern Hemisphere when it is tilted towards the Sun?
Summer
What is the difference in spring tides and neap tides?
The sun also contributes to tides, creating stronger "spring tides" during new and full moons when its gravitational pull aligns with the moon's, and weaker "neap tides" when the sun and moon are at right angles to each other during the quarter moons
What is the difference between a planet and a moon?
Planets orbit around a star. Moons orbit around a planet.
Explain the difference between waxing and waning.
Waxing means the visible sunlit part of the moon is getting larger, occurring between the new moon and the full moon, while waning means the illuminated portion is getting smaller, happening between the full moon and the new moon. The moon is essentially "waxing" or growing from one new moon to the next full moon, and then "waning" or shrinking as it returns to the new moon.
What separates the inner and outer planets.
The asteroid belt.
What season is it in the Northern Hemisphere when it is tilted away from the Sun?
Winter
What two factors does gravity depend on?
What are mass and distance?
Name two ice giants
Uranus and Neptune
when the Moon passes between the Sun and Earth, casting a shadow on Earth and blocking the Sun's light for observers in the shadow's path
Describe an asteroid.
rocky body that orbits the Sun, primarily composed of rock and metal, and is smaller than a planet but larger than a meteoroid
List the Seasons in order.
Summer, Fall (autumn), Winter, Spring
Describe 2 factors that increase gravity between two objects in space.
Increase mass and/or decrease distance.
Name two gas giants
Jupiter and Saturn
Compare and contrast inner and outer planets.
Inner planets are rocky and have few moons. Outer planets have much more mass and many more moons. Both orbit around the Sun.
debris left by colliding asteroids or dispersing comets.
Why does the summer have more daylight hours and winter has less daylight hours?
The Earth is tilted as it orbits the Sun and this changes the length of the Sun's path across the sky
Describe 2 factors that would decrease gravitational pull of two objects in space.
Decrease mass or increase distance between two objects.
Explain what causes the moon's phase to change each night.
as it orbits the Earth, the portion of the Sun-lit side we see from Earth gradually changes. The Moon doesn't emit its own light but reflects the Sun's, so the different phases we observe are a result of the changing relative positions of the Sun, Moon, and Earth, which determine how much of the Moon's lit surface is visible to us on any given night
Describe a lunar eclipse
the alignment of the Sun, Earth, and Moon, specifically when the Earth passes directly between the Sun and the Moon, casting its shadow onto the lunar surface
What is a comet made of?
What is ice, dust, and gas.
During fall and spring when the Earth's axis is tilted neither toward nor away from the sun, resulting in a "nearly" equal amount of daylight and darkness at all latitudes.
An Equinox