Name: Date:

Earth Science 11: The Solar System

Text: Chapter 15 *This is required reading!

Part A: Solar System Formation

-The Nebular Theory is the most accepted model describing the formation of our solar system.

-Watch Birth of the Solar System.

-Why does the cloud of dust and gas spin faster as it is compressed?

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-What triggers nuclear fusion to create our Sun?

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Part B: Organization of Our Solar System

-Humans have been creating models of our solar system for over 6,000 years in an attempt to explain their astronomical observations of the stars, seasonal constellations and planetary movements. Before we consider two of these explanations we need a little vocabulary:

a) Astronomical Unit: Average distance between the Sun and Earth. Used to measure distances in our solar system only.

b) Rotation: Object spinning on its axis (creates night and day on Earth).

c) Orbit: One object moving a fixed distance around another.

d) Revolution: Object completing one orbit (365 days on Earth = 1 year).

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e) Gravity: Attraction between two objects. Increases with mass and smaller distances (PhET simulation).

1. Geocentric Model

-Ptolemy and other ancient Greek astronomers reconciled their social values and astronomical observations by hypothesizing that Earth was a sphere that remained motionless in the centre of the Universe and that all other planets wandered in circles around it.

-This model was dominant until the 17 th century despite the fact that it had difficulty accounting for the retrograde motion of planets.

*View the Retrograde Motion Smartfigure.

*Complete the Retrograde Motion section of Exercise 19.

2. Heliocentric Model

-The Heliocentric Model was also first proposed by ancient Greek astronomer, but it did not gain popularity until evidence was collected to support it and social values changed during the Enlightenment:

a) Nicolaus Copernicus (Polish, 1473-1543)

-Concluded that Earth was a planet like all the others and proposed the Heliocentric Model.

-Problematic as he retained the idea of circular orbits and epicycles. This meant that he could not accurately predict the future location of planets.

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b) Tycho Brahe (Danish, 1546-1601)

-Worked to disprove the Copernican Theory by collecting data to test for stellar parallax. The telescope had not been invented yet, so Brahe was not able to observe the shift in star positions even though it did exist.

c) Johannes Kepler (German, 1571-1630)

-Used Brahe’s data to develop three Laws of Planetary Motion:

i) First Law of Planetary Motion:

-Planets orbit the sun in an ellipse.

-This means that a planet’s distance from the sun will change or stay the same throughout its orbit?

ii) Second Law of Planetary Motion (Equal Area Law):

-An orbiting planet will always cover the same amount of area in a given time.

-What happens to Earth’s orbital speed between December and January?

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-What phenomenon allows for this to occur?

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iii) Third Law of Planetary Motion (Harmonic Law):

-Orbital periods (Earth years) of planets and their distances (AU) from the Sun are proportional. P2 = D3

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-Solar distances of planets can be calculated if their periods of revolution are known. Very useful if can’t actually go into space and measure the distances yourself!

-According to the Harmonic Law, why would the period of a planet increase with its distance from the sun?

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-Complete the following table using the Harmonic Law (P2 = D3):

Planet Period of Orbit in Years (P) Distance from Sun in AU (D)

Mercury0.241

Venus0.72

Earth1

Mars1.52

Example: Mercury

1. Convert P into P2

P = 0.241 P2 = 0.058081

2. You now have D3, but need to cube root to convert your answer to D.

D3 = ∛0.0.058081 D = 0.387

d) Galileo Galilei (Italian, 1564-1642)

-A supporter to of the Copernican Heliocentric Model, Galileo used the telescope to make important observations about the universe that proved the Heliocentric model.

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*View the Venus Phases Smartfigure to see one of Galileo’s important discoveries.

e) Isaac Newton (English, 1642 -1727)

-Newton built off of the developments of the previous scientists to hypothesize the forces involved in planetary motion.

-Newton already knew that a moving object unaffected by an outside force will continue at a uniform speed in a straight line (Inertia).

-What he did not know was what force prevented the planets from drifting in a straight line off into space. What do you think?

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*View Orbital Motion of Planets Smartfigure.

Part C: Solar System Structure

-In the space below, draw the structure of our solar system:

What is an easy way to remember the Solar System’s structure?

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*Complete the Spacing of the Planets section of Exercise 18.

*Scale model of the solar system.

Part D: Sun

-The Sun makes up __________ of all of the mass in our Solar System and is primarily made up of

____________________ and ____________________

*Remember, despite the Sun’s importance in our Solar System it is not even considered a large star; it is a main sequence star!

-As a main sequence star, why is the Sun not crushed by the force of gravity acting on it?

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Sun Layer Characteristic Temperature (°C)Core Fusion of H into He 15,600,000Radiative Zone Cooler and less dense than the 8,000,000

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Core; Energy travels by radiation and takes 100,000 years to travel through.

Convective Zone Convection currents carry energy to the Sun’s surface.

1,500,000

Photosphere Visible surface of Sun, Convection currents create granules. Energy transported by radiation and light is produced here.

6,000

Sunspot Dark spots produced by variations in Sun’s magnetic field

3,500

Chromosphere Inner atmosphere, energy transported by radiation, temperature found here causes H to emit reddish light

20,000

Corona Outer atmosphere, produces solar wind.

1,000,000

Prominence Loops of magnetic field.1. Sun’s Layers

2. Sun’s Features

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a) Sunspots

-Sunspots are dark spots on the Sun’s

____________________ and are very hot and bright. If this is true, why are they dark coloured?

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-Sunspots are caused by variations in the Sun’s magnetic field that are 1000x stronger than what is found in the surrounding photosphere.

-These strong magnetic fields trap and cool rising hot gas and are responsible for massive releases of energy called solar flares.

*View Hale Explains Sunspots.

*Activity: View Sun Spots projected through a telescope. (Never look at the sun directly through a telescope!).

b) Solar Wind and Magnetic Storms

*View Raging Solar Wind.

-The solar wind is a stream of _______________

and _______________ given off by the corona in two ways:

i) Coronal Holes: ___________________________

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ii) Solar Flares: ____________________________

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-Auroras are produced by interactions between Earth’s magnetic field and solar wind particles. They follow lines of magnetic force created by Earth’s core.

-Magnetic and electrical forces interact with each other in shifting patterns, making it look like auroras are dancing across the sky. The colour of the aurora is determined by which atom the charged particles encounter in Earth’s atmosphere.

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Part E: Terrestrial and Jovian Planets

-According to the Nebular Theory, the collection of dust and gas circling the protosun gradually cooled and aggregated together through repeated collisions to form planetesimals, which would eventually form the planets of our Solar System.

-The composition of the planetesimals depended on their proximity to the protosun. Why do you think this mattered?

-Highest temperatures closest to the sun, so only materials with a high melting temperature (metals and rocky materials) could be solid there.

1. Inner Planets

2. Outer Planets

How are Jovian planets different from Terrestrial planets?

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*Complete the Comparing the Terrestrial and Jovian Planets section of Exercise 18.

*Complete Lab 20.

*Assignment: Post Cards from Space!

Part F: Solar System Debris

1. Comets

-Comet nuclei are made up of ____________________________________________________________

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-Typically found in the Kuiper Belt beyond Neptune’s orbit, but some travel in elliptical orbits closer to the sun.

-The coma is a cloud of dust and gas formed when the Sun’s energy heats the comet. It is pushed by solar wind to form the comet’s tails.

*View The Late Heavy Bombardment.

-Why are comets thought to have been important to life on Earth?

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2. Asteroids, Meteoroids, Meteorites

a) Asteroids

-Asteroids are planetsimals remaining from the formation of the Solar System and most orbit the sun between Mars and Jupiter.

*View Tracking Killer Asteroids.

b) Meteoroid, Meteor and Meteorite

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-Meteoroids are only different from asteroids due to their size, which can range from 100 m in diameter to as small as a grain of sand.

-A meteorite is the _______________ produced when a meteoroid passes through Earth’s atmosphere.

-Collections of meteors create meteor showers and are associated with debris produced by a passing comet.

-A meteorite is part of a meteoroid ____________________. There are three types:

i) Irons: Fe aggregate with 5-20% Ni.

ii) Stony: Silicate minerals

iii) Stony-Irons: A mixture of the first two types.

-Most meteorites are burnt up in Earth’s atmosphere and do not leave impact craters (other craters are removed by weathering and erosion). There are actually only 150 known impact craters on Earth!

-A meteorite crashed into Russia in 2013.

-Asteroids are rich in resources that can be rare on Earth.

Part G: Earth’s Moon

-Formed as a consequence of a collision between a Mars-sized body and Earth. The ejected material was thrown into orbit around Earth and aggregated to form the Moon.

*View a simulation of the collision.

1.

Moon’s Orbit

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-As with the Sun and other stars, Earth’s apparent motion makes the moon rise in the east and set in the west.

-Use the diagram above to figure out the moon’s position when it is visible during:

a) Daytime on Earth

b) Night time on Earth

-The moon’s orbit is _______________, with a point of maximum (Apogee) and minimum (Perigee) distance from Earth.

2. Moon’s Phases

-The moon’s phases are its daily changes in appearance because:

a) __________________________________________________________________________________

b) __________________________________________________________________________________

-Phases are either:

a) Waxing: ___________________________________________________________________________

b) Waning: ___________________________________________________________________________

*Complete Phases of the Moon Oreo Lab and Phases of the Moon in Exercise 21.

-There are five different types of moon phases. Test your understanding by matching phase names to the correct description and providing an illustration in the space provided:

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a. Brightly lit face is away from Earth, resulting in no visible moon.

b. Half of the moon faces Earth. Half of this is bright and the other half is dark.

c. Brightly lit face is completely visible from Earth.

d. A small sliver of the brightly lit face can be seen from Earth.

e. Almost all of the brightly lit face can be seen from Earth

Phases Definition Letter Illustration1. New Moon

2. Crescent Moon

3. Quarter Moon

4. Gibbous Moon

5. Full Moon

3. Eclipses

a) Lunar Eclipses

-Lunar eclipses involve the moon falling into Earth’s Penumbra (partial shadow) or Umbra (complete shadow).

-Using the diagram above, explain why lunar eclipses can only occur during the full moon phase. Make sure to also discuss why a lunar eclipse does not occur every full moon.

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*View the Lunar Eclipse animation to see the idea in action.

b) Solar Eclipses

-Solar eclipses occur annually, but Vancouver may only witness a total solar eclipse every 400 years! Explain why this is.

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-To see when the next solar eclipses will be visit:

http://astro.unl.edu/classaction/animations/lunarcycles/eclipsetable.html

http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEmap/SEmapNA.html

*Complete Eclipses in Exercise 21.

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Part H: Earth’s Motion and Structure

1. Earth’s Rotation

-Earth’s rotation is its movement around its axis. One full rotation occurs every 24 hours.

-There are two main pieces of evidence for Earth’s rotation:

a) Foucault’s Pendulum: ________________________

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b) Coriolis Effect: ______________________________________________________________________

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*View Coriolis Effect between 2 and 11 minutes and What is the Coriolis Effect?

*Conduct Foucault’s Pendulum and Coriolis Effect Labs.

a) Axis and Rate of Rotation

-Earth’s axis is an imaginary line between the North and South Poles.

-The imaginary path on which Earth revolves around the Sun is called its orbital plane.

-Does Earth’s axis and orbital plane form a right angle?

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-Do all locations on Earth rotate at the same speed?

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b) Effect of Earth’s Rotation

-What are some obvious effects of Earth’s rotation?

-Day/night, coriolis effect, Foucault’s Pendulum…

-Earth’s rotation also creates time:

-Earth rotates __________ degrees every __________ hours, averaging __________ degrees/hour.

-Standard time zones reflect this average as they are also __________ degrees wide.

-Each standard time zone is centred on a __________ (line of longitude divisible by 15).

-The ____________________ is 0 degrees for lines of longitude and as such is the starting point for international time zones.

-Moving west from Greenwich, England means that you must set your clock ______________________________

-The international date line is located __________ degrees from Greenwich.

-Moving West of the International Date Line means that you must set your clock ______________________________

-When moving overland, most time zones are not straight in order to account of local needs (see B.C.’s time zone).

*View BBC’s History of Time Zones.

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*See the future of time too.

2. Earth’s Revolution

-Earth Revolution is its _________________________________________________________________

-How are Earth’s rotation and revolution different in their effects on the apparent motion of the sun?

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-What evidence is there of Earth’s revolution? Describe this idea.

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-The combination of Earth’s tilt and revolution creates seasons. Draw and label your understanding of this idea below.

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3. Earth’s Structure

-The Nebular Hypothesis states that early Earth’s internal structure was uniform, but that its characteristics were changed by the addition of heat from:

a) ________________________________

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b) ________________________________

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c) ________________________________

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-Earth’s internal materials segregated by chemical composition into several layers:

Layer State Depth from Surface (km)

Temperature Composition

Crust

Mantle

Outer Core

Inner Core

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-Which of Earth’s layers is most dense?

-Inner core, heavy elements sink to the centre of the planet.

Lab 17: Rotation of Earth causing apparent changes in the position of the sun, moon and stars. Sections will take several weeks to complete and so maybe it can be started in the Universe section? (Stellar Parallax)

Lab 18: Distinguish between terrestrial and Jovian planets; Motion of the planets; Scale model of the solar system.

Lab 19: Greater understanding of the movement of the planets and how to predict their locations.

Lab 20: Terrestrial Planets in depth

Lab 21: Eart –Moon motions and phases. Solar and Lunar eclipses.

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