Natural Sciences and Technology Grade 6 Term 4: Planet Earth and Beyond The Solar System (ppt 2)

Natural Sciences and Technology - Grade 6 Topic 1 The Solar System The Planets Natural Sciences and Technology - Grade 6

Natural Sciences and Technology - Grade 6 The Planets Eight major planets. Four rocky “inner” planets. Four gaseous “outer” planets. Includes asteroids and moons. Orbit [pathway of the planets] around the Sun. The Sun is the biggest and heaviest object in our Solar System. Natural Sciences and Technology - Grade 6

Natural Sciences and Technology - Grade 6 Order of the planets Natural Sciences and Technology - Grade 6

Natural Sciences and Technology - Grade 6 Inner Four Planets Made up of rock and metal and have a few to no moons. Natural Sciences and Technology - Grade 6 5

Natural Sciences and Technology - Grade 6 Mercury Mercury is the closest to the Sun. It: - is the smallest planet. - has no atmosphere. - has no moons. - is hot. - takes 88 days to orbit the Sun. Visit http://space-facts.com/mercury/ DISTANCE OF PLANETS FROM THE SUN http://www.universetoday.com/15462/how-far-are-the-planets-from-the-sun/ Natural Sciences and Technology - Grade 6

Natural Sciences and Technology - Grade 6 Mercury Mercury has many craters [circular holes]. Its average temperature is 168 ºC. Distance from the Sun [closest is 46 M km; furthest is 60 million km, average is 57 M km. Mercury can be observed from the Earth in an event called a transit. Visit http://space-facts.com/mercury/ DISTANCE OF PLANETS FROM THE SUN http://www.universetoday.com/15462/how-far-are-the-planets-from-the-sun/ Natural Sciences and Technology - Grade 6

Natural Sciences and Technology - Grade 6 Venus Second planet from the Sun. Named after the Roman goddess of beauty and love. It has a very thick atmosphere of CO2. Hottest planet [average surface temperature is 462 °C]. It has no moons nor water. http://space-facts.com/venus/ Natural Sciences and Technology - Grade 6 8

Natural Sciences and Technology - Grade 6 Venus It is about the same size and mass as Earth and named the Earth’s sister planet. It takes 225 days to orbit the Sun. It takes 243 Earth days to rotate once on its axis. It is also known as the Morning Star and the Evening Star. http://space-facts.com/venus/ Natural Sciences and Technology - Grade 6 9

Natural Sciences and Technology - Grade 6 Earth Third planet from the Sun. Called ‘the blue planet’ [ocean water makes the Earth appear blue from space]. It has one moon. It takes actually 365.2564 [365¼ = year] days to orbit the Sun [results in leap year every 4th year with 29 days in February]. http://space-facts.com/earth/ Natural Sciences and Technology - Grade 6 10

Natural Sciences and Technology - Grade 6 Earth 70% of Earth is covered with water. It takes 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4 seconds to rotate on its axis. It is not actually round in shape; in fact it is geoid. (Its rounded shape has a slight bulge towards the equator). http://space-facts.com/earth/ Natural Sciences and Technology - Grade 6 11

Natural Sciences and Technology - Grade 6 There is 3% fresh water on Earth [2% is frozen in ice sheets and glaciers and only 1% water of the Earth is fresh - in rivers, lakes and underground]. 97% water is salted on Earth. The Earth tilts at an angle of 23.5 degrees as it moves around the Sun. Earth is 150 million km from the Sun. Earth http://space-facts.com/earth/ Natural Sciences and Technology - Grade 6 12

Natural Sciences and Technology - Grade 6 Earth Average temperature is 15 °C. Atmosphere contains oxygen which animals breathe in and carbon dioxide which plants take in. http://space-facts.com/earth/ Natural Sciences and Technology - Grade 6 13

Natural Sciences and Technology - Grade 6 Mars Fourth planet from the Sun. Called ‘red planet’ because its rocky surface is covered in red dust. Many volcanic mountains [e.g. Olympus Mons that is 21km high and 600 km in diameter]. It has a thin atmosphere, mostly carbon dioxide. http://space-facts.com/mars/ Natural Sciences and Technology - Grade 6 14

Natural Sciences and Technology - Grade 6 Mars Average temperature is 55 °C. No surface water - all ice. Two moons. 320 days to orbit the Sun. Largest dust storms in solar system. http://space-facts.com/mars/ Natural Sciences and Technology - Grade 6 15

Natural Sciences and Technology - Grade 6 Asteroids There is an asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. It is lumps of rocks that broke away from planets long ago. Some travel very fast [25 km per second] as it orbits around the Sun. Different sizes [big as small stones or bigger than a school building]. Gathered in a ring [asteroid belt] in the solar system. Natural Sciences and Technology - Grade 6 16

Natural Sciences and Technology - Grade 6