SPACE

Lesson 4: The SunA Spin Around the solar System: The Sun: Our Star Attraction (Discovery Education video and worksheets)

Aurora borealis (Discovery Education video clip)

ON Science 9 page 335-340

SciencePower 9 page 518-523

BrainPOP: Sun, Life Cycle of Stars

http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/natureofthings/2010/northgoessouth/

THE SUN

Huge!

99% of the mass of the solar system

1.4 million km in diameter (110x Earth, 1 million Earth’s can fit inside)

Its gravity holds the solar system together

Essential to life on Earth

Provides us with heat, light (energy for photosynthesis), weather

BrainPOPs: Sun,

Life Cycle of Stars

http://www.space.com/

PARTS OF THE SUN

http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/classroom/classroom.html

COMPOSITION

75% hydrogen gas, 25% helium gas, small amounts of

other heavy elements

Core temperature: 15 million°C

Surrounded by a magnetic field (an area that can attract

metals and other charged particles)

Pressure is 200 billion times that on Earth

The intense heat and pressure convert H into He by a

chemical reaction called nuclear fusion

Nuclear fusion produces light and heat which travel out into

the photosphere and then through space to Earth and the rest

of the solar system

SUN SPOTS

Cooler areas forming dark

spots on the Sun’s surface

Caused by the Sun’s

magnetic field

High solar activity makes

the magnetic field produce

more sun spots and the Sun

shines more brightly

http://www.space.com/

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/

SOLAR CYCLE

Periods of high and low solar activity

Each cycle is 11 years long

Solar maxima – high activity, more sun spots and solar flares

Solar minima – low activity, fewer sun spots and solar flares

Our climate is affected by the activity or energy output of

the Sun

SOLAR FLARES

Violent eruptions or

explosions that take place

near sun spots

Send streams of high energy

particles, UV light and X-

rays into space – called solar

wind

http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/classroom/classroom.html

EARTH’S MAGNETIC FIELD (MAGNETOSPHERE)

Protects Earth from solar wind by deflecting plasma and

charged particles

Like the magnetic field around a bar magnet

Forms a region around Earth called the magnetosphere

VIDEO: WHEN NORTH GOES SOUTH

http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/natureofthings/2010/no

rthgoessouth/

45 min

SOLAR WIND

Streams of fast moving charged

subatomic particles that travel

through space from the Sun

High solar activity = stronger

solar wind

Solar storms (high solar wind) or Coronal Mass Ejections

disrupt telecommunications, damage electronic equipment

on spacecraft, overload power networks and cause blackouts,

and the radiation can be harmful to astronauts

AURORAS

When the charged particles from solar wind leak into

the Earth’s magnetosphere they collide with gases in

the upper atmosphere producing beautiful light

shows:

Aurora borealis (Northern Lights)

Aurora australis (Southern Lights)

SOLAR RADIATION

The Earth’s atmosphere protects us from solar radiation

DISCOVERY EDUCATION

Video: A Spin Around the solar System:

The Sun: Our Star Attraction

Video clip: Aurora borealis

LOOK TO THE STARS: CLOZE ACTIVITY

1. Nebula

2. Interstellar medium

3. Gravity

4. Gas

5. Nuclear fusion

6. Fused

7. Energy

8. Helium

9. Hydrogen

10. Elements

HOW THE SOLAR SYSTEM WORKS:

CLOZE ACTIVITY

1. Gravity

2. Spheres

3. Bigger

4. Planets

5. Ground

6. Inertia

7. Straight

8. Force

9. Direction

10. Holds

11. Balance

VIDEO QUIZ ANSWERS

THE SUN: OUR STAR ATTRACTION

1. Milky Way

2. A million

3. Gravity

4. Nuclear fusion

5. Hydrogen

6. Atoms (or nuclei)

7. Energy

8. Surface

9. 8.5

10. Billion

DISCUSSION QUESTION ANSWERS

THE SUN: OUR STAR ATTRACTION

1. The sun has the largest gravitational pull of all objects in our

solar system.

2. Light and heat

3. UV radiation, can cause cancer, affects weather

4. Inertia keeps objects moving away, gravity pulls objects

toward…they work opposite each other

5. Nuclear fusion – atoms are combining/fusing together to make

larger elements

11. Sun spots, solar flares

12. 300 000 m/s

WKST 3.2: WHAT ARE THE SUN AND THE MOON.....

P.99

1-8. C, A, H, B, F, G, E, D

9. Chemical reaction where 2 atoms fuse together. 2 hydrogen

atoms fuse to form helium. Lots of energy released.

10. Perfect distance from the Sun to sustain life.

11. the Earth's tilt and the moon's orbit around the Earth

12. Ring of light where the center is blocked out by the moon.