Space Flashcards
What is the function of the atmosphere?
- Protects earth from the Sun’s harmful rays
- Allows us to breath
- Keeps the earth warm (right temperature for living things to survive)
What is our nearest star?
The Sun
What is the difference between an ocean and a sea?
Ocean is much larger.
What is the atmosphere?
The letter of air (gases) that surround the earth
What is earth’s atmosphere made up of?
Many gases such as:
* Oxygen
* Nitrogen
* Carbon dioxide
Is earth a terrestrial or gaseous planet?
Terrestrial
How much of the earth’s surface is covered with water?
71%
What shape is the earth?
Sphere
What are the features of earth?
Is the 3rd planet from the sun.
It is a spherical shape, made up of rock which is solid except for the inner core (which is hot molten).
Covered with water (71%)
Covered with a layer of gases (oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide) called the atmosphere.
What is the difference between sand and soil?
Soil is sand with dead and rotten material (plants and animals) in it.
Sand is just eroded rock
What color does earth appear from space? Why?
Blue
Because it is morally covered in water
List the continents
Europe
North America
South America
Africa
Australia
Antarctica
Asia
How far above the earth’s surface does the atmosphere extend?
600km
What is a habitat? Give some examples
The place where something lives.
Eg.
* a lake (for fish etc)
* a Savannah (for lions etc)
* a desert (for camel)
What is the nearest object to Earth in space?
Moon
What is a planet ?
A large object that orbits a star.
What kind of energy does the sun emit?
Light and heat
How many times bigger is the Sun’s diameter than earth’s?
110 times bigger
How far away from the sun is earth?
About 150 million kilometers
What is an orbit?
The pathway that a planet goes around a star or a satellite goes around a planet.
What is the solar system?
The sun and all the objects that orbit it
What is the pathway that earth moves around the sun called?
An orbit
What direction does the earth travel around the sun?
Anticlockwise
What is at the center of the solar system?
The sun
What is the word for sun in Latin?
Sol
How many stars in the solar system?
One (the sun)
How does the sun support life on earth?
By providing light and heat energy
What starts all energy chains on earth?
The sun’s light
What do seeds need warmth for?
To grow
What do animals need rest for?
To maintain their life processes
What are the seven life processes?
Respiration
Consuming
Growth
Movement
Sensitivity
Excreting
Reproduction
What are the defining characteristics of a planet? (What makes a planet a planet?)
A large sphere that
orbits the around the sun,
Which dominates its orbit.
What is a crater?
A round hole made by an asteroid hitting a body of rock
What is the moon made of?
Rock
Describe the surface of the moon
Not smooth.
Dusty.
Covered with pieces of broken rock.
Has large holes called craters.
Has no proper soil.
What have astronauts discovered about moon rocks?
They are similar to earth rocks
Why can the moon not support life?
There is no air and
There is no liquid water
It is never the right temperature
Where do scientists think there might be water on the moon?
As ice in shaded craters where it is cold
What is the distance from the moon to the earth, in kilometers?
384 400km
How long does it take light to travel to the earth from the sun?
8 min
How long does it take light to travel to the earth from the moon?
1.5 seconds
What is the closest body in space to earth?
The moon
In general, what are phases of the moon?
The different shapes of the moon due to the changing pattern of sunlight on the moon
How does the moon appear bright?
Sunlight reflecting from the surface of the moon. Moon does not produce its own light
Why does the moon not always look fully round?
Because the sun cannot shines on all of the moon at the same time. Only the part that the sunlight hits is lit
Name the phases of the moon
New moon
Waxing crescent
First quarter
Waxing gibbous
Full moon
Waning gibbous
Last quarter
New moon
If it is a new moon now, how long until it is a new moon again?
29.5 days
What is a rocket?
Long tall structure that can be launched into space.
What does it mean to launch?
To send a space craft into space
What is gravity?
The force that keeps things on earth.
What is a payload?
The people, equipment or other space craft carried by a rocket
What is a vehicle?
A machine that is used to transport things and/or people from one place to another
What does it mean to propel?
To move something forward
What makes a rocket a system?
- It uses multiple parts that work together to make it launch.
- It has an energy input of fuel
- it has an energy output (big flames out of the bottom of it propelling it upwards)
Why does a rocket need energy?
To propel it fast enough to
* escape earth’s gravity and
* push through earth’s atmosphere
and get into space
