WPHS-ESRP NAME: MR. PEARL DATE: Solar System in Human History, Many Believed That the Earth Was the Center of the Universe
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WPHS-ESRP NAME: MR. PEARL DATE: Solar System In human history, many believed that the Earth was the center of the universe. We now know that we are not even the center of our solar system. We reside in a complex and crowded neighborhood composed of: planets, moons, asteroids, comets, meteors, and more. Though humans have long gazed at the planets (5 of them are visible by eye---do you know which?), only recently have we sent spacecraft to them. There have been many famous recent discoveries about our solar system. Some of them are a little strange to us. For example, we are not alone! We now know that there are many stars in our galaxy that have planetary systems. We also now realize that Pluto is not a planet! In fact, the very eccentric orbit and size of Pluto place it into a category called an “Extra-planetary body”. In other words, there are hundreds of other “Plutos” in our solar system. Base your answer to question 1 & 2 on the diagram which shows a portion of the solar system. 1. What is the average distance, in millions of kilometers, from the Sun to the asteroid belt? (1) 129 (2) 189 (3) 503 (4) 857 2. Which of the planets noted has the greatest equatorial diameter? _______________________ Base your answers to questions 3 - 5 on the data table, which shows the average distance from the Sun, the average surface temperature, and the average orbital velocity for each planet in our solar system. 3. State the relationship between the average distance from the Sun and the average surface temperature of the Jovian planets. _________________________________________ _________________________________________ 4. Venus has an atmosphere composed mostly of carbon dioxide. Mercury has almost no atmosphere. Explain how the presence of the carbon dioxide in Venus’ atmosphere causes the average surface temperature on Venus to be higher than the average surface temperature on Mercury. _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ 5. Which of the Planets on the list has the: longest period of revolution?____________________ shortest period of revolution? ___________________ 6. Which diagram here represents the geocentric model of the solar system? 7. Which planet has the least distance between the two foci of its elliptical orbit? (1) Venus (2) Earth (3) Mars (4) Jupiter Base your answers to # 8 – 12 on the tables. Table 1 shows the average distance of planets from the sun in Astronomical km Units (AU), and their average orbital speed ( /sec ). Table 2 lists five large asteroids and their distance from the sun. 8. On the grid below, plot the average distances from the sun and the average orbital speed for each of the eight planets listed in Table 1. Construct an eight point line graph. 9. State the relationship between a planet’s average distance from the sun and the planet’s average orbital speed. ______________________________ ______________________________ 10. The orbits of asteroids listed in Table 2 are located between two adjacent planetary orbits. State the names of the two planets. __________________________ & ___________________________ 11. Based upon its distance from the sun, what may be the orbital speed of the asteroid Hygiea? ______________________________ 12. Which planet in the data table has a density that is closest to the Earth's? ______________________________ .