Solar System Worksheet KEY

Complete the following questions using your lecture and reading notes. You must complete the entire worksheet for full
credit, but your answers do not need to be correct. Once you have completed and submitted your worksheet, I will send
you the link to the worksheet answers so you can correct any mistakes. Please write or type your answers on a separate
sheet or document. Leave space for diagrams if the questions ask for them.

1. How many known planets are in our solar system?

8
2. What dwarf planet was downgraded from planetary status in 2006?
Pluto
3. How are the outer planets different from the inner planets aside from their location?
The outer planets are mostly liquid and much larger than the inner planets, which are mostly solid. The outer
planets have lower density, and the inner planets have higher density.
4. Why does a nebula spin faster as it contracts?
A nebula spins faster as it contracts so that angular momentum is conserved.
5. According to the nebular theory, did the planets start forming before or after the Sun ignited?
Although the sun and planets started forming at the same time, accretion of the planets began before solar
ignition.
6. According to the nebular theory, what happens to a nebula as it contracts under the force of gravity (aside from
spinning faster)?
Its gravitational potential energy is converted to thermal and radiant energy.
7. Which tends to be larger: a star or a nebula? Which tends to be denser?
A nebula is larger than a star. A star is denser than a nebula.
8. What happens to the amount of the Sun’s mass as it “burns”?
The Sun’s mass decreases as it is converted into energy in the core, eventually leaving as radiant energy.
9. Where does the Sun get its energy?
Solar energy comes from the conversion of mass via fusion of hydrogen nuclei into helium nuclei. Each second,
about 4 million tons is discharged as radiant energy into space. So, the Sun is becoming less massive. This 4 million
tons per second, however, is only a tiny fraction of the Sun’s total mass.
10. What are sunspots?
Relatively cool regions on the solar surface that move with the sun’s rotation and are created by strong magnetic
fields.
11. What is the solar wind?
A hurricane of high-speed protons and electrons ejected by the sun.
12. How does the rotation of the Sun differ from the rotation of a solid body?
Equatorial regions spin faster than regions at higher latitudes.
13. What is the age of the Sun?
Nearly 5 billion years old. (Our best estimate of the Sun’s age is 4.57 billion years.)
14. Why are the days on Mercury very hot and the nights very cold?
Closeness to the sun and very long days and nights due to slow rotation.
15. What two planets are evening or morning “stars”?
Mercury and Venus.
16. Why is Earth called “the blue planet”?
Blue oceans that dominate its surface.
17. The greenhouse effect is very pronounced on Venus but doesn’t exist on Mercury. Why?
Mercury is too small and too hot (during the daytime) to hold any appreciable atmosphere.
18. What gas makes up most of the Martian atmosphere?
Carbon dioxide
19. What evidence tells us that Mars was at one time wetter than it presently is?
Dry ocean beds, channels cut from water, and minerals that only form in water indicate a wetter past.
20. Which move faster: Saturn’s inner rings or the outer rings?
Inner rings (like the greater speed of inner planets or any close-orbiting satellites).
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21. How tilted is Uranus’ axis?
Uranus’ axis is titled by 98 degrees to the perpendicular of its orbital plane.
22. What is the major difference between the terrestrial planets and the Jovian planets?
The Jovian planets are large low-density worlds composed mostly of hydrogen, helium, and hydrogen compounds,
have many moons, have rings, and are far from the Sun. The terrestrial planets are small high-density objects
composed mostly of minerals (rocks) and metals, have very few moons, have no rings, and are close to the Sun.
23. Why doesn’t the Moon have an atmosphere?
Its gravitational pull is too weak to hold air molecules to the surface.
24. Relative to each other, where in the sky are the Sun and Moon located when you view a full Moon?
Opposite each other; If the full Moon is in front of you, then the Sun is behind you (and most likely below the
horizon).
25. Relative to each other, where in the sky are the Sun and the Moon located at the time of a new Moon?
The new Moon is close to the Sun (within about 5°) in the daytime sky, with no moon at night.
26. Why don’t eclipses occur monthly, or nearly monthly?
Because the Moon’s orbit is tilted compared to Earth’s orbit around the Sun. (Eclipses can occur only when the
Moon is near one of the two points, called ‘nodes’, where the plane of the moon’s orbit intersects the plane of the
Earth’s orbit about the Sun, and it must be a new moon or full moon at the same time in order to get an eclipse.)
27. In what alignment of Sun, Moon, and Earth does a solar eclipse occur?
When all three are aligned with the moon between the Sun and Earth. (Order: Sun, Moon, Earth)
28. In what alignment of Sun, Moon, and Earth does a lunar eclipse occur?
When all three are aligned with the Earth between the Sun and Moon. (Order: Sun, Earth, Moon)
29. How does the Moon’s rate of rotation about its own axis compare with its rate of revolution around Earth?
The rates are the same. This is called ‘synchronous rotation’.
30. Between the orbits of what two planets is the asteroid belt located?
The asteroid belt is located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
31. What is the difference between a meteor and a meteorite?
A meteorite is a meteor that has survived passage through the atmosphere and has collided with the planet’s
surface.
32. What is the Kuiper belt?
A disk-shaped region beyond Neptune that is populated by many icy bodies, and considered the source of short-
period comets.
33. What is the Oort cloud, and what is it noted for?
The Oort cloud is a spherically-shaped region beyond the Kuiper Belt that is a source of long-period comets.
34. What is a ‘falling star’ or ‘shooting star’?
A meteor visible in the sky as it burns in the atmosphere.
35. What causes comet tails to point away from the Sun?
They are swept away from the sun by its light and its solar wind.

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Concept sketch
1. Draw a diagram showing the eight phases of the moon. Include the Earth and the Sun in your drawing. Use the
appropriate names for the moon phases.

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Dr. Schroeder & Prof. Tobin