Directed Reading A
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Name Class Date Skills Worksheet Directed Reading A Section: The Outer Planets (pp. 486–491) Write the letter of the correct answer in the space provided. ______ 1. Which of the following describes a gas giant? a. planets that have hard surfaces b. planets that have snow and ice c. planets that have massive gas atmospheres d. planets that have no atmospheres ______ 2. Which outer body could NOT be called a gas giant? a. Neptune b. Pluto c. Saturn d. Uranus JUPITER: A GIANT AMONG GIANTS ______ 3. Which is the largest planet in our solar system? a. Jupiter b. Earth c. Saturn d. Neptune ______ 4. What is Jupiter made of? a. mainly oxygen b. mainly methane c. mainly hydrogen d. mainly carbon dioxide ______ 5. What is Jupiter’s Great Red Spot? a. thick clouds b. colorful compounds c. metallic hydrogen d. a huge storm ______ 6. What is unusual about Jupiter’s energy supply? a. It gets energy from the Great Red Spot. b. It gives off more energy than it takes in. c. It gets energy from its moons. d. It gets energy from a neutron star. Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved. Holt California Physical Science 191 Our Solar System Name Class Date Directed Reading A continued The Exploration of Jupiter ______ 7. What information did the Galileo mission’s atmospheric probe send back about Jupiter? a. details about its weather b. facts about its gases c. images of its Great Red Spot d. facts about its moons SATURN: THE RINGED WORLD ______ 8. Which of the following is the second-largest planet in the solar system? a. Pluto b. Neptune c. Jupiter d. Saturn ______ 9. Which of the following is true of Saturn’s density? a. Saturn’s density is higher than Jupiter’s. b. Saturn’s density is more than the density of water. c. Saturn is the least dense of all the planets. d. Saturn is the most dense of all the planets. The Rings of Saturn ______ 10. What are Saturn’s rings made of? a. rocks and dust b. iron and metals c. water ice and dust d. organic compounds The Exploration of Saturn ______ 11. Which spacecraft reached Saturn in 2004 to study its rings and northern polar region? a. Cassini b. Galileo c. Pioneer d. Voyager Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved. Holt California Physical Science 11 Our Solar System Name Class Date Directed Reading A continued URANUS: A SMALL GIANT ______ 12. What affect does the methane in its atmosphere have on Uranus? a. It causes Uranus to have rings. b. It gives Uranus a greenish tinge. c. It causes Uranus to have clouds. d. It makes Uranus look blue. A Tilted Planet ______ 13. What is unusual about Uranus’s axis? a. The planet is tipped on its side. b. The axis is tipped at an angle of 45°. c. The axis is tipped at an angle of 65°. d. The planet is straight up and down. ______ 14. What do scientists think may have caused Uranus’s tilt? a. Uranus escaped Jupiter’s gravity. b. Uranus’s moons had a cosmic tug of war. c. Uranus was pulled by Saturn’s gravity. d. Uranus was hit by a large object. NEPTUNE: THE BLUE WORLD ______ 15. What causes Neptune’s blue color? a. methane in the atmosphere b. rocks and ice c. helium in the atmosphere d. the Great Dark Spot The Weather on Neptune ______ 16. What is the Great Dark Spot? a. gases in the atmosphere b. a storm the size of Earth c. a volcanic system d. a polar icecap ______ 17. How fast do Neptune’s winds travel? a. more than 100 m/s b. less than 1,000 km/hr c. approximately 300 km/s d. more than 1,000 km/h Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved. Holt California Physical Science 12 Our Solar System Name Class Date Directed Reading A continued PLUTO: A DWARF PLANET A Small World ______ 18. What is Pluto made of? a. hydrogen and helium b. mainly organic compounds and ice c. hydrogen and water d. rock and ice ______ 19. What is unusual about Pluto’s moon? a. Its orbit is not regular. b. It is more than half the size of Pluto. c. It is about the same size as Pluto. d. It is denser than Pluto. Beyond Pluto ______ 20. Which of the following is a region that contains small bodies made mostly of ice? a. Jupiter’s interior b. Pluto’s atmosphere c. the Kuiper belt d. the Great Dark Spot ______ 21. What did scientists discover in the Kuiper belt in 2003? a. 2003UB313 b. Pluto c. Charon d. another sun Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved. Holt California Physical Science 13 Our Solar System.