Caitlin Science Term 4

Question 1

What is the relationship between the Solar System and Milky Way?

Answer 1

The Milky Way is a galaxy. A galaxy consists of many Solar Systems.

Question 2

What makes up our Solar System?

Answer 2

Sun, planets, and moons.

Question 3

What is the order of our planets from the sun?

Answer 3

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune.

Question 4

What is a terrestial planet?

Answer 4

Planets that are mostly made of rocks.

Question 5

Which of our planets are terrestial?

Answer 5

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars.

Question 6

What is a gas planet?

Answer 6

A planet made up hydrogen and helium?

Question 7

Which of our planets are gas planets?

Answer 7

Jupiter and Saturn.

Question 8

Which of our planets are made up of ice?

Answer 8

Uranus and Neptune.

Question 9

What is an ice planet?

Answer 9

A planet made of frozen water.

Question 10

Which of our planets is a dwarf planet?

Answer 10

Pluto.

Question 11

What is the relationship between the Earth and the sun?

Answer 11

The Earth spins around the sun.

Question 12

What is the relationship between the Earth and the moon?

Answer 12

The moon spins around the Earth.

Question 13

What is a planet?

Answer 13

A planet is a body which orbits/spins around a star.

Question 14

What is a moon?

Answer 14

A moon is a body which orbits/spins around a planet.

Question 15

How many days does it take for the Earth to orbit the sun?

Answer 15

365 days.

Question 16

How many days does it take for the moon to orbit the Earth?

Answer 16

28 days.

Question 17

How much is the moon’s orbit titled?

Answer 17

5 degrees.

Question 18

What does a geocentric model of the Solar System mean?

Answer 18

It means the Earth is at the centre of the Solar System and everything spins around it (which is incorrect).

Question 19

What does a heliocentric model of the Solar System mean?

Answer 19

It means the sun is at the centre of the Solar System and the planets spins around it (which is correct).

Question 20

Why do scientific models change over time?

Answer 20

Because over time scientists do different experiments and learn new things.

Question 21

What is the smallest planet to largest?

Answer 21

Mercury, Mars, Venus, Earth, Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, Jupiter.

Question 22

What is a constellation?

Answer 22

Certain grouping of stars OR groups of stars that make shapes.

Question 23

Why are some constellations only visible at certain times of the year?

Answer 23

Seasonal (during summer the night sky faces one direction in space, in winter it’s the opposite), Earth’s tilt, and rotation of the Earth.

Question 24

How can constellations be used for navigation?

Answer 24

Some constellations are fixed and don’t move, which means we can use them to navigate North and South, e.g. the North Star and Southern Cross.

Question 25

How did indigenous people use constellations?

Answer 25

The Aboriginals believed that the stars are the homes of ancestors, animals, plants, and spirits.

Question 26

What is gravity?

Answer 26

An invisible force that pulls everything towards the centre of the Earth?

Question 27

How does gravity keep planets and moons in orbit?

Answer 27

Every object has gravity. Things with a bigger mass have more gravitational pull. That’s why the Sun’s gravity makes planets rotate around it and why the planets make moons rotate around them.

Question 28

Why do some planets have more moons than others?

Answer 28

Because some planets are bigger than others so they “pull” in more moons.

Question 29

How does gravity impact of weight of objects?

Answer 29

Less gravity means that things weigh less because they fall slower, e.g. when you jump on the moon, you fall slowly. The moon is smaller and so has less gravity than Earth.

Question 30

How is a day measured?

Answer 30

The amount of time it takes for the Earth to rotate on its axis, e.g. 24 hours.

Question 31

What is the Earth’s axis?

Answer 31

It’s an imaginary line that runs from North to South.

Question 32

What is the tilt of the Earth’s axis?

Answer 32

23.5 degrees.

Question 33

What caused day/night cycles on Earth?

Answer 33

The Earth spins on its axis. When a side of the Earth is facing the sun, it’s experiencing daytime, while the other side experiences night time.

Question 34

Which parts of Earth experience sunrise and sunset first?

Answer 34

East.

Question 35

Why do the East parts of Earth experience sunrise and sunset first?

Answer 35

Because the Earth spins from West to East.

Question 36

How is a year measured?

Answer 36

A year is the time it takes Earth to orbit all the way around the sun, e.g. 365 days.

Question 37

Do planets that are closer to the sun have a shorter or longer orbit?

Answer 37

Shorter because they travel less distance.

Question 38

Why do some planets have longer years than others?

Answer 38

Because they are further away from the sun and have a longer orbit.

Question 39

Why do the northern hemisphere and southern hemisphere of the earth experience seasons at different times?

Answer 39

Because of the Earth’s revolution and the tilt of its axis. When the southern hemisphere is facing the sun, it will experience summer and the northern hemisphere will experience winter.

Question 40

What is the order of seasons?

Answer 40

Summer, autumn, winter, spring.

Question 41

If a hemisphere on Earth is facing the sun directly, what season would it be in?

Answer 41

Summer.

Question 42

If a hemisphere on Earth is facing away from the sun, what season would it be in?

Answer 42

Winter.