St.

Therese Montessori School of San Pablo

Brgy. San Nicolas, San Pablo City 4000

Earth and Life Science

First Semester, SY 2020-2021

UNIT 2: ORIGIN AND STRUCTURE OF THE EARTH

LESSON 2: SOLAR SYSTEM

I. Objectives:
1. Describe the historical development of Theories that explain the origin of the Universe.

2. Compare the different hypotheses explaining the origin of the solar system.

3. Describe the characteristics of earth that are necessary to support life

II. Motivation (5 mins.): NASA: Outer Space Expedition. The teacher will ask the students how the solar
system was formed.

III. Lesson Proper: The Solar system

 A Solar System is made up of a star and the planets with other space objects that revolve
around it
 A planet is a large, round body that revolves around a star
 In our solar system, the planets and other objects revolve around a star we call the sun.
 We have 8 planets in our solar system and all of them rotate, or spin about an axis.
 An axis is an imaginary line that goes through the center of the planet.
Mercury
 The smallest planet in our solar system (less than half the size of earth)

 Its surface is filled with craters much like the moon

 Closest planet to the sun.
 On Mercury, the sun would look 3 times larger than what it looks like on earth.
 Mercury does not have any moons or rings.
 After the Earth, Mercury is the second densest planet.

Venus
 It is so hot that iron would melt at its surface!
 It has the longest rotation period of any planet in the Solar System and rotates in the
opposite direction to most other planets.
 Venus is the second planet from the Sun and is the second brightest object in the night
sky after the Moon.
 sometimes referred to as the Earth's sister planet due the their similar size and mass

Earth: Our home

 Earth is the third planet from the Sun and largest of the terrestrial planets
 Earth was formed somewhere around 4.54 billion years ago and is currently the only
known planet to support life - and lots of it.
 Earth is the densest planet in the solar system.
 The Earth has an Ozone Layer which protects it from harmful solar radiation.
 Earth's gravity interacts with other objects in space, especially the Sun and the Moon.
Mars
 Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and last of the terrestrial planets.

 Mars is sometimes called the Red Planet because of the brownish-red color of its
surface
 Mars is the second smallest planet in the solar system
 Pieces of Mars have been found on Earth.
 The tallest mountain known in the solar system is on Mars.

Jupiter
 Jupiter is easily the largest and most massive planet in the Solar System.
 Jupiter has 67 confirmed moons orbiting the planet
 Jupiter has a faint ring system around it. Its ring is mostly comprised of dust particles
from some of Jupiter’s moons.
 Jupiter is the fourth brightest object in our solar system
 Jupiter does not experience seasons like other planets such as Earth and Mars.

SATURN
 Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun, and last of the planets known to ancient
civilizations.
 Saturn is one of five planets able to be seen with the naked eye.
 Saturn has the fastest winds of any other planet in our solar system
 It is also the fifth brightest object in the solar system.
 Saturn has 150 moons and smaller moonlets.
Uranus
 Uranus rotates on its axis once every 17 hours and 14 minutes.
 The minimum surface temperature on Uranus is -224°C and that makes it the coldest of
the eight planets.
 Uranus is often referred to as the “ice giant”
 Uranus is the second least dense planet in the solar system, after Saturn.

Neptune
 Neptune has the second largest gravity of any planet in the solar system
 Neptune has a storm similar the Great Red Spot on Jupiter. It is commonly known as the
Great Dark Spot and is roughly the size of Earth.
 Neptune spins very quickly on its axis.
 Like the other outer planets, Neptune possesses a ring system, though its rings are very
faint.
 Neptune also has a second storm called the Small Dark Spot. This storm is around the
same size as Earth’s moon.

The Flying Objects- Besides the planets, there are many other bodies that orbit the sun. Let’s Find out
more about some of them!
1. Dwarf Planet- ust Like Pluto, A dwarf planet is a nearly round body whose orbit crosses the
orbits of other bodies. They are mostly found in Kuiper belt, an area in out solar system!

 Pluto
 Ceres
 Eris
 Haumea
 Makemake

2. Asteroids- Asteroids are rock and iron objects that orbit the sun. Millions of them are found in
the wide region between Mars and Jupiter known as the Asteroid Belt.

3. Meteors- Each day, tons of meteoroids hit earth’s atmosphere. Meteoroids are pieces of rock
that break off asteroids. Most meteoroids burn the atmosphere causing a meteor! On earth,
they are meteorites!

4. Moons- There are many moons! Each moon is very different from the other: some have
active volcanoes, others have oceans under their layers of ice!
 5. Comets- A comet is a chunk of frozen gases, rock, ice and dust! As comets pass close to the
sun, part of their frozen surface begins to break away and turn into gases and dust.

IV. Evaluation:
A. Test yourself:
Read each question and answer choice carefully and choose the ONE best
answer. Try to answer all questions. Write your answers on the space
provided.
____1. The correct name for a 'shooting star' is a:
a) star
b) moon
c) meteor
____2. The asteroid belt in our solar system is between the planets of:
a) Mars and Jupiter
b) Mars and Earth
c) Earth and Mercury
____3. Which planet is not a gas giant?
a) Neptune
b) Saturn
c) Mars
d) Jupiter
____4. Which moon is a moon of Mars?
a) Phobos
b) Io
c) Ganymede
d) Charon
____5. Which planet has approximately the same landmass as Earth?
a) mercury
b) mars
c) venus
____6. When was Sun born?
a) roughly 4.6 billion years ago.
b) roughly 13.7 billion years ago.
c) roughly 100 billion years ago.
____7. Which Star is called Earth’s satellite?
a) Moon.
b) core
c) atmosphere
 d) sun
____8. Which planet has the most volcanoes?
a) jupiter
b) saturn
c) Venus
d) Mercury
____9.Venus have more atmospheric pressure than Earth.
a) True
b) false
____10. Neptune is larger than Saturn.
c) True
d) false

B. Performance Task:
Concept Mapping. Each students will make a graphic organizer regarding the topic. See
the sample below.

C. 1 Question A Day
Answer the 1QAD (1 Question a Day) given by the teacher.
1. What will happen to the terrestrial planets if the asteroid belt collapsed?

Cheating is a choice. Cheating is a crime. Therefore, when you choose to cheat, you choose to commit a crime.
Teacher Marj and Teacher Marvz (2019)