Chulalongkorn University Demonstration Elementary School Activity Book scientific skills THE SOLAR SYSTEM Second Semester Primary4 Name......................................................P............No..... Edit by T.Rattanaporn And T.Eoin
Contents Page 1 The solar system 3 Mercury 5 Venus 7 Earth 9 Mars 11 Jupiter 13 Saturn 15 Uranus 21 Neptune 27 Characteristic of the planet 31 Activity 1 How important is the sun? Activity 2 What are the important characteristics of the planet 32 In our solar system? 42 Activity 3 Study the diameter of the planets in the Solar system 44 And carry out the following activities Exercise
-1- A solar system A solar system is a star and all of the objects that travel around it— planets, moons, asteroids, comets and meteoroids. Most stars host their own planets, so there are likely tens of billions of other solar systems in the Milky Way galaxy alone. Solar systems can also have more than one star. These are called binary star systems if there are two stars, or multi-star systems if there are three or more stars. The solar system we call home is located in an outer spiral arm of the vast Milky Way galaxy. It consists of the Sun (our star) and everything that orbits around it. This includes the eight planets and their natural satellites (such as our moon), dwarf planets and their satellites, as well as asteroids, comets and countless particles of smaller debris. Our solar system is home to eight amazing planets. Some are small and rocky; others are big and gassy. Some are so hot that metals would melt on the surface. Others are freezing cold.
-2- We're learning new things about our neighboring planets all the time. We send spacecraft to take pictures, gather information, and find out more about them. Do you want to know more about our solar system's eight planets?
-3- All about Mercury What does Mercury like? Mercury is the smallest planet in our solar system. It’s just a little bigger than Earth’s moon. It is the closest planet to the sun, but it’s actually not the hottest. Venus is hotter. Mercury is one of the rocky planets. It has a solid surface that is covered with craters. It has a thin atmosphere. It doesn’t have any moons. This small planet spins around slowly compared to Earth, so one day lasts a long time. Mercury takes 59 Earth days to make one full rotation. A year on Mercury goes by fast. Because it’s the closest planet to the sun, it doesn’t take very long to go all the way around. It completes one revolution around the sun in just 88 Earth days. If you lived on Mercury, you’d have a birthday every three months! A day on Mercury is not like a day here on Earth. For us, the sun rises and sets each and every day. Because Mercury has a slow spin and short year, it takes a long time for the sun to rise and set there. Mercury only has one sunrise every 180 Earth days.
-4- What does Mercury look like? Here you can see that Mercury is a light grey color. This is Mercury's northern horizon as seen by the MESSENGER spacecraft during its third flyby. The big, star-shaped crater towards the bottom of the globe is named Debussy. This picture of Mercury has colors added so you can better see the surface differences and craters.
-5- All about Venus What does Venus like? Even though Venus isn't the closest planet to the sun, it is still the hottest. It has a thick atmosphere full of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide and clouds made of sulfuric acid. The gas traps heat and keeps Venus toasty warm. In fact, it's so hot on Venus, metals like lead would be puddles of melted liquid. Venus looks like a very active planet. It has mountains and volcanoes. Venus is similar in size to Earth. Earth is just a little bit bigger. Venus is unusual because it spins the opposite direction of Earth and most other planets. Its rotation is very slow. It takes about 243 Earth days to spin around just once. Because it's so close to the sun, a year goes by fast. It takes 225 Earth days for Venus to go all the way around the sun. That means that a day on Venus is a little longer than a year on Venus. Since the day and year lengths are similar, one day on Venus is not like a day on Earth. Here, the sun rises and sets once each day. But on Venus, the sun rises every 117 Earth days. That means the sun rises two times during each year on Venus, even though it is still the same day on Venus! And because Venus rotates backwards, the sun rises in the west and sets in the east. Venus doesn’t have any moons.
-6- What does Venus look like? Here you can see the clouds covering Venus. This is a combination of images taken by the Magellan spacecraft. The colors have been altered so you can see all the differences in Venus's surface. Magellan used radar to get information about the surface of Venus, which we can't normally see because of the thick, cloudy atmosphere. A crater on the surface of Venus. It's 45 miles (72 km) wide.
-7- All about Earth What is Earth like? Our home planet Earth is a rocky, terrestrial planet. It has a solid and active surface with mountains, valleys, canyons, plains and so much more. Earth is special because it is an ocean planet. Water covers 70% of Earth's surface. Our atmosphere is made mostly of nitrogen and has plenty of oxygen for us to breathe. The atmosphere also protects us from incoming meteoroids, most of which break up in our atmosphere before they can strike the surface as meteorites. What does Earth look like? A NASA camera on the Deep Space Climate Observatory satellite took this picture of the entire sunlit side of Earth from one million miles away.
-8- This Apollo 11 picture taken by an astronaut in 1969 shows the Earth rising over the moon. This is a view of Earth looking just at the northern portion.
-9- All about Mars What is Mars like? Mars is a cold desert world. It is half the size of Earth. Mars is sometimes called the Red Planet. It's red because of rusty iron in the ground. Like Earth, Mars has seasons, polar ice caps, volcanoes, canyons, and weather. It has a very thin atmosphere made of carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and argon. There are signs of ancient floods on Mars, but now water mostly exists in icy dirt and thin clouds. On some Martian hillsides, there is evidence of liquid salty water in the ground. Scientists want to know if Mars may have had living things in the past. They also want to know if Mars could support life now or in the future. What does Mars look like? NASA's Hubble Space Telescope took this picture of Mars as it was making its closest approach to Earth in 60,000 years!
- 10 - In this picture of Mars, you can see water-ice clouds, polar ice, and some rocky features. NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity took this picture with its panoramic camera near \"Solander Point\" on Mars.
- 11 - All about Jupiter What is Jupiter like? Jupiter is the biggest planet in our solar system. It's similar to a star, but it never got big enough to start burning. It is covered in swirling cloud stripes. It has big storms like the Great Red Spot, which has been going for hundreds of years. Jupiter is a gas giant and doesn't have a solid surface, but it may have a solid inner core about the size of Earth. Jupiter also has rings, but they're too faint to see very well. This picture taken by Voyager 2 shows the Great Red Spot.
- 12 - What does Jupiter look like? Here you can see Jupiter and one of its many moons, Ganymede. This picture is actually four pictures taken by Cassini put together. The dark spot on the left is the shadow from Jupiter's moon Europa.
- 13 - All about Saturn What is Saturn like? Saturn isn’t the only planet to have rings, but it definitely has the most beautiful ones. The rings we see are made of groups of tiny ringlets that surround Saturn. They’re made of chunks of ice and rock. Like Jupiter, Saturn is mostly a ball of hydrogen and helium. When Galileo Galilei saw Saturn through a telescope in the 1600s, he wasn't sure what he was seeing. At first he thought he was looking at three planets, or a planet with handles. Now we know those \"handles\" turned out to be the rings of Saturn. What does Saturn look like? The Cassini spacecraft took this picture of Saturn's rings. You can see the grey and tan colors.
- 14 - This is a picture of Saturn and its moons Tethys and Dione. Voyager 1 took this picture as it passed by. NASA's Cassini spacecraft went behind Saturn and took this picture in 2013. You can see seven of its moons and its inner rings. In the background you can also see Earth. A portrait looking down on Saturn and its rings. This picture was made from images taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft in 2013. It was put together by amateur image processor and Cassini fan Gordan Ugarkovic.
- 15 - All about Uranus What is Uranus like? Uranus is made of water, methane, and ammonia fluids above a small rocky center. Its atmosphere is made of hydrogen and helium like Jupiter and Saturn, but it also has methane. The methane makes Uranus blue. Uranus also has faint rings. The inner rings are narrow and dark. The outer rings are brightly colored and easier to see. Like Venus. Uranus rotates in the opposite direction as most other planets. And unlike any other planet, Uranus rotates on its side. What does Uranus look like? This picture shows Uranus surrounded by its four major rings and by 10 of its moons. This image has colors added to show the different altitudes and thicknesses of clouds in the atmosphere. Green and blue areas show where the atmosphere is clear and sunlight can get through. The yellow and grey parts have thicker clouds. Orange and red colors mean very high clouds, similar to cirrus clouds on Earth.
- 16 - The Hubble Space Telescope took this picture of Uranus. You can see bands and a dark spot in Uranus' atmosphere.
- 17 - All about Neptune What is Neptune like? Neptune is dark, cold, and very windy. It's the last of the planets in our solar system. It's more than 30 times as far from the sun as Earth is. Neptune is very similar to Uranus. It's made of a thick soup of water, ammonia, and methane over an Earth-sized solid center. Its atmosphere is made of hydrogen, helium, and methane. The methane gives Neptune the same blue color as Uranus. Neptune has six rings, but they're very hard to see. What does Neptune look like? Voyager 2 took this picture of Neptune in 1989.
- 18 - Clouds streak across Neptune. Neptune is a very cold, windy world.
- 19 - Why Pluto is not a planet A while back, Pluto was the ninth planet from the sun. It was also the smallest planet. Astronomers have already named three other objects in the solar system that are about the same small size as Pluto. They are Ceres [SEAR-ees], Makemake (MAH-kee-MAH-kee], and Eris (AIR-iss]. These objects, along with Pluto, are much smaller than the \"other\" planets. Ceres orbits in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Makemake, like Pluto, is part of the Kuiper [KI-per] Belt, which is a region of trillions of icy objects orbiting beyond Neptune. Eris' orbit is even farther out. If they're not planets, then what are they? Astronomers have put these objects into a new family called dwarf planets.
- 20 - How Many Moons? Image credit: NASA A lot of moons or no moons at all? We on Earth have just one moon, but some planets have dozens of them. Others don’t have any. Which planets have moons, and which don’t?
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MERCURY - 25 - EARTH VENUS Temperature: 427 °C Temperature: 482 °C Temperature: 15 °C Distance from Sun: 56.9 Million Km Diameter: 4878Km Distance from Sun: 108.2 Million Km Distance from Sun: 149.6 Million Km Gravity Compared to Earth: 0.38 Year of Discovery: 1885 Diameter: 12104Km Diameter: 12756Km Rotation Time: 58.7 Earth Days Orbit Time: 88.0 Earth Days Gravity Compared to Earth: 0.90 Gravity Compared to Earth: 1.0 MARS Year of Discovery: 1990 Year of Discovery: n/a Rotation Time: 243 Earth Days Rotation Time: 1 Earth Day Orbit Time: 224.7 Earth Days Orbit Time: 365.25 Earth Days JUPITER SATURN Temperature: -23 °C Temperature: -150 °C Temperature: -180 °C Distance from Sun: 1427 Million Km Distance from Sun: 227.9 Million Km Distance from Sun: 778 Million Km Diameter: 120536Km Gravity Compared to Earth: 1.16 Diameter: 6794Km Diameter: 142,800Km Year of Discovery: 700BC Rotation Time: 10.2 Hours Gravity Compared to Earth: 0.38 Gravity Compared to Earth: 2.3 Orbit Time: 10760 Earth Days Year of Discovery: 1580 Year of Discovery: 1610 Rotation Time: 24.6 Hours Rotation Time: 9.84 Hours Orbit Time: 687.0 Earth Days Orbit Time: 4332 Earth Days
URANUS - 26 - PLUTO NEPTUNE Temperature: -214 °C Temperature: -220 °C Temperature: -230 °C Distance from Sun: 2870 Million Km Distance from Sun: 4497 Million Km Distance from Sun: 5900 Million Km Diameter: 51118Km Diameter: 50538Km Diameter: 2324KM Gravity Compared to Earth: 1.17 Gravity Compared to Earth: 1.77 Gravity Compared to Earth: 0.06 Year of Discovery: 1781 Year of Discovery: 1846 Year of Discovery: 1930 Rotation Time: 17.9 Hours Rotation Time: 19.1 Hours Rotation Time: 6.39 Earth Days Orbit Time: 30700 Earth Days Orbit Time: 60200 Earth Days Orbit Time: 90600 Earth Days
Character-i2s7ti-c of the Planet Characteristic Visible Dominant Features Atmosphere Discovered Orbit of the Planet to the Very thin atmosphere Satellite Naked It is closest to the Moons Very Mercury Eye Sun. It is a little elliptical larger than the Moon No with many craters on the surface Venus It is the brightest Dense atmosphere No Almost planet and closest to with temperatures of round Earth 500 degrees Celcius Earth Has life forms 1 moon Elliptical Mars Half the size of Earth Thin atmosphere, Phobos Very colder than Earth Deimos elliptical Jupiter The largest planet. Various thick colored ….. moons Elliptical It is 11 times larger clouds 18 rings, has continual cyclones, a (Ganymede is than Earth the largest) visible red spot Saturn Second largest after ….. moons Elliptical Jupiter. Less dense 8 thick black stripes (Titan is the than water largest) Uranus 4 times bigger than Thick layer of ice ….. moons Very Neptune Earth Thick layer of ice elliptical Looks green in color Rings are vertical ….. moons Almost 4 times larger than round (Triton is the Earth largest) Large dark spots are storms
- 28 - Comets The closer it is to the Comprised of dust, Sun, the longer the powder, ice and solid Meteors and tail becomes and Meteorites points in the opposite gases direction to the Sun It rubs against the atmosphere and burs as it shoots towards Earth
- 29 - Characteristic of the Planet Characteristic 1 rotation 1 orbit Rings Alias Explored by Planet 59 days 88 days Frozen stove (one (fastest) side is hot 4370C spaceship Mercury No One side is cold - 1730C) Mariner 10 Venus 243 days and Mariner 10 Pioneer, rotates in the Earth’s twin planet, Venus Magellan opposite Morning star, Evening direction to the 225 days No star other planets Earth 23 hours.56 365.25 No minutes days 24 hrs. 687 days Mariner, Mars 37 minutes (1.38 No Red Planet Viking, years) Pathfinder Jupiter 10 hours Dim and Giant Planet Pioneer, (fastest) 11.86 very thin; Voyager, years comprised Galileo of ice Saturn 10 hours 29.46 Bright and Strange Planet Pioneer, 34 minutes years clearly Voyager, visible Galileo Uranus 16 – 18 hours 84 years Very dark Voyager, rings Galileo
- 30 - Neptune 16 hours 164 Very thin Voyager, 7 minutes years rings Galileo Pluto No Different No Meteor and Meteorite (Halley 76 years) No Shooting star meteorite
- 31 - Activity 1 How important is the sun? What does it look like? Activity Research and study the sun from various sources and create a mindmap
- 32 - Activity 2 What are the important characteristics of the planets in our solar system? Activity 1. Study and research each planet in the solar system 2. Record the results in a table below.
1. Mercury - 33 - 1.Atmosphere 2.Characteristic 7. Spaceship 3.Orbit 4.Moon 5.Around them self Around the sun ................................................................................................
2. Venus - 34 - 1. Atmosphere 2. Characteristic 7. Spaceship 3. Orbit 4. Moon 5. Around them self ................................................................................................ Around the sun
3. Earth - 35 - 1. Atmosphere 2. Characteristic 7. Spaceship 3. Orbit 5. Around them self 4.Moon Around the sun .........................................................................
4. Mars - 36 - 1. Atmosphere 2. Characteristic 7. Spaceship 3. Orbit 4. Moon 5. Around them self ................................................................................................ Around the sun
5.Jupiter - 37 - 1. Atmosphere 2. Characteristic 7. Spaceship 3. Orbit 5. Around them self 4. Moon Around the sun ................................................................................................
6.Saturn - 38 - 1. Atmosphere 2. Characteristic 7. Spaceship 3. Orbit 4. Moon 5. Around them self Around the sun ................................................................................................
7.Uranus - 39 - 1. Atmosphere 2. Characteristic 7. Spaceship 3. Orbit 5. Around them self 4. Moon Around the sun ........................................................................... .....................
8. Neptune - 40 - 1. Atmosphere 2. Characteristic 7. Spaceship 3. Orbit 4. Moon 5. Around them self Around the sun ................................................................................................
- 41 - Meteorite Dwarf Planets
- 42 - Activity 3 Study the diameter of the planets in the Solar System and carry out the following activities. Equipment 1. Plasticine 2. Pencil 4. Scissors 3. Compass 5. Ruler Activity 1. Study the diameter of each planet and reduce the size using the ratio of 1:4,000 million 2. Use the plasticine or colored paper to make models of the planets using the reduced diameter size 3. Study the distance from the Sun of each planet and reduce the distance using the ratio of 150 million kilometers: 1 inch. 4. Put the model planets on the distances that you have calculated. NB. 1 kilometer = 1,000 meters, 1 meter = 1,000 millimeters
- 43 - Table showing the diameter and distance from the Sun of each planet Actual Size Model Size Diameter Distance Planet Diameter Distance (millimeters) (centimeters) Mercury (kilometers) (million kilometers) 1.2 14 Venus Earth 4,880 58 Mars Jupiter 12,100 108 3.0 27 Saturn Uranus 12,756 149.6 3.2 37.4 Neptune 6,787 228 1.7 57 142,800 778.3 35.7 194 120,600 1,427 68.5 356 51,300 2,870 12.8 718 49,100 4,490 12.6 1,125 The Planets on our Solar system in order of increasing size. ………………………………………………………………………………………. ………………………………………………………………………………………
- 44 - Part 1 Put an X on the most correct answer. 1. Which choice is not part of the Solar System? a. comets b. minor planets c. planets d. galaxy 2. Which planet is the fastest to orbit the Sun ? a. Mercury b. Venus c. Mars d. minor planets 3. Which planet rotates in a different direction than the other planets? (Sun rises in West vs East) a. Mercury b. Venus c. Mars d. Saturn 4. Which planet is closest in size to Earth? a. Mercury b. Mars c. Venus d. Neptune 5. The atmosphere of Venus is mostly what? a. Nitrogen b. Hydrogen c. Carbon dioxide d. Hydrocarbon 6. Which planet has the fastest speed of rotation? a. Mercury b. Mars c. Jupiter d. Saturn
- 45 - 7. Which planet has the slowest speed of rotation? a. Mercury b. Venus c. Neptune d. Mars 8. Which planet is brighter than the other planets when we look at it with our naked eye? a. Venus b. Mars c. Jupiter d. Saturn 9. Which name does not apply to Venus? a. Morning star b.Evening Star c. Earth ‘s twin d. North star 10. Which planets are closer to the Sun than Earth? a. Mars and Jupiter b. Mercury and Venus c. Saturn and Uranus d. Neptune and Uranus 11. People still have very little information on Venus. What is the reason? a. It is very close to Earth b. It rotates very quickly c. The atmosphere is too thick to see anything d. It is always shining 12. Which is the largest planet in the Solar System? a. Jupiter b. Saturn c. Uranus d. Neptune
- 46 - 13. When you look at Jupiter through a telescope, what are the prominent features? a. It is surrounded by rings b. It has colored stripes c. It shines with its own light d. It has smoke rising all the time 14. What is the main component of Jupiter? a. solid mass b. liquid c. gas d. all three 15. Which planet has the most moons? a. Neptune b. Uranus c. Saturn d. Jupiter 16. If you could travel to all the planets, on which planet would you weigh the most? a. Mercury b. Venus c. Jupiter d. Mars 17. Which planet has the length of a day similar to Earth? a. Neptune b. Uranus c. Jupiter d. Mars 18. Which planet is the least dense? a. Mercury b. Saturn c. Venus d. Jupiter
- 47 - 19. Which planet is called the “Giant Planet”? a. Mars b. Saturn c. Jupiter d. Uranus 20. Which is the most suitable nickname for Saturn? a. the red planet b. the frozen stove c. the ice planet d. strange planet 21. Why is Venus called the “Earth’s Twin”? a. the color is similar b. the atmosphere is similar c. the size is similar d. the shape is the same 22. What color is Mars if we look at it with the naked eye? a. white b. red orange c. dark blue d. yellow 23. Which planet do people believe aliens existed on? a. Mercury b. Venus c. Mars d. Jupiter 24. Which is the smallest planet in the Solar System? a. Mars b. Mercury c. Venus d. Neptune 25. Which planet doesn’t have any rings? a. Mars b. Jupiter c. Saturn d. Uranus
- 48 - 26. What is the difference between Uranus and Neptune? a. The spaceship that went to explore them b. the rotation, direction c. size d. the number of satellite moons 27. If we put Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune in the same group, which criteria is not suitable to use? a. they have rings b. they are large planets c. they have a large, dense mass d. they have many satellite moons 28. Which planet is situated furthest from the Sun? a. Mercury b. Jupiter c. Uranus d. Neptune 29. What characteristic of Pluto is similar to Earth? a. the orbit b. the number of satellite moons c. the atmosphere d. the temperature 30. Which natural phenomenon is not related to the Sun? a. a full solar eclipse b. meteor shower c. solar winds d. comets
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