Atoms to the Universe

The closest planet to the sun is

• Venus

• Neptune

• Jupiter

• Mercury

In our solar system, what is ONE reason for why inner planets don't have rings and some outer planets can have rings? Choose the TWO BEST answers.

• Planets near the sun (inner planets) are way TOO BIG to have rings.

• Most rings contain some ice or ice particles. Only planets far from the sun (outer planets) are cold enough to contain rings.

• Inner Planets are far from the sun so they can't have rings because rings have fire particles in them.

• Inner planets are too close to the sun to have rings because rings contain ice and these rings would melt.

According to Kepler's Third Law, planets further away from the sun take longer to go around the sun than planets closer to the sun. Since it takes less time for planets near the sun to complete one revolution (go all the way around the sun), which set of data do you think correctly reflects planets in our solar system?

• Revolution Data

  Mercury: 88 days

  Saturn, 10, 759 days

• Revolution Data

  Earth: 28 days

  Mars: 12 days

• Revolution Data

  Earth 365 days

  Jupiter 13 days

Answer explanation

It takes longer for planets far from the sun to go all the way around the sun. REASON IT OUT THIS WAY:

Wrong answer explained:

Yes, Earth takes 365 days to go all the way around the sun (1 revolution = 1 year). HOWEVER, Jupiter is an OUTERMOST PLANET. Jupiter is further from the sun than Earth. So Jupiter MUST TAKE LONGER not shorter to go around the sun.

It does NOT take earth only 28 days to go all the way around the sun. Plus, Mars if FURTHER AWAY than earth. It should take MARS MORE TIME to go around, not less.

Correct Answer: SO, even if you didn't KNOW "Mercury: 88 days, Saturn, 10, 759 days" you could REASON IT OUT!

Venus, named for the Goddess of Beauty, is very hot. This is because this heat-trapping gas is very ABUNDANT in Venus' atmosphere.

Hint: It's also considered a greenhouse gas on Earth, and plays a role in global warming.

This gas is also helpful on Earth. Plants use it to make glucose (sugar) in photosynthesis.

• Oxygen

• Methane, CH₄

• Carbon Dioxide, CO₂

The outer planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune can BEST be described as: Select ALL that apply

• Gas Giants

• Having a lot of the elements Helium, He and Hydrogen, H in their atmospheres.

• Capable of having more than one moon since they are big, they can exert a strong gravitational force around smaller celestial objects

• Super Hot, having temperatures exceeding 280^oC.

Neptune has dark rings made of ice, methane and ammonia. What elements must be present in the rings for these compounds to be formed?

Hint: What elements-ingredients found on the periodic table-are found in the compounds?

Recall: Compound = COMBINATION of elements (ingredients found on the Periodic Table)

• CO₂, carbon dioxide

• H, hydrogen,

  O, oxygen

  C, carbon,

  N, nitrogen

• O₃ ozone, ammonia, methane

• water, N, nitrogen, C, carbon

Answer explanation

Elements are the pure ingredients found on the Periodic Table.

Compounds are combinations of elements-when we mix different elements together, and in different amounts, we get different things, just like a recipe to make a cake vs a muffin.

If the rings have ice...

Since ice is solid water, and water is a compound made of the elements hydrogen, H and oxygen, O, we need H and O.

If rings have the compound methane...

Methane is made of carbon and four hydrogens.

If rings have ammonia, we need the elements N, nitrogen and H, hydrogen to make ammonia.

Examine the Bar Graph and Pie Chart showing the abundance of different elements in Earth's Crust.

Over all, do both sources of data agree and support one another or do they give us differing information? Select ALL that apply

• They give different information. One is a pie chart. One is a bar graph.

• They agree. For example, oxygen is shown to be the most abundant non-metal in both the pie chart and bar graph.

• They show the same thing they are just different representations of data.

• The information in one supports the information in the other. because the percentages of different elements are the same/similar in both. For example,

• They give us different information about earth's crust's elemental composition.

Answer explanation

Reading graphs and charts and interpreting data is CRITICAL in SCIENCE (especially in HIGH SCHOOL).

Understanding that we can show the data we collect in different ways is important.

If we carefully look at each element and compare the % in the graph to the % in the chart, we can see the %'s are same/similar for each element.

For example,

Oxygen is shown to be 47% in the pie chart.

Oxygen is also shown to be 47% (in between 45 and 50) on the bar graph.

Silicon is shown to be 28% in the chart and also

Silicon: 28% in the bar graph (between 25 and 30), etc.

Which element classified as a metal is most abundant in earth's crust, according to the data?

• Oxygen, O₂

• Silicon, Si

• Aluminum, Al

• Sodium, Na

Which is the best explanation for why the moon revolves (goes around) earth rather than the earth going around the moon? Select ALL that apply.

• Earth is larger than the moon so Earth exerts a stronger gravitational force on the moon than the moon can exert on the earth.

• Since earth is bigger, it has a stronger pull on the moon (has a stronger attractive force).

• Gravity is the attractive FORCE of one object on another.. This is effected by mass. Since Earth is more massive, it has a stronger gravitational force.

• It's all a hoax (trick). Earth goes around the moon!

Both land (solid parts) and atmosphere are more likely to be found on ________ planets.

• inner

• outer

• equally present on both inner and outer