1. May 14, 2013

2.  How long does it take for a planet to orbit around the sun?

3.  One year

4.  Why does the earth experience different seasons?

5.  Because the earth is tilted, allowing more hours of direct sunlight in the summer. Fewer hours of sunlight occur during the winter.

6.  Describe the orientation of the sun, earth, and moon during a lunar eclipse.

7.  SunEarthMoon

8.  What phase is the moon during a lunar eclipse?

9.  Full Moon

10.  Why don’t we see a lunar eclipse during every full moon?

11.  The moon is not perfectly aligned on the same plane as the sun and earth. The moon generally passes by the earth at an angle, allowing use to see a full moon.  When perfectly aligned with the sun and earth, the earth blocks the light from the sun.

12.  What is a spring tide?

13.  Very high and very low tides.

14.  What causes spring tides?

15.  When the sun, earth and moon are in full moon or new moon phases (aligned in a straight line).  Sun EarthMoon

16.  What are neap tides?

17.  Very little difference between high and low tides.

18.  During what moon phase do we see neap tides?

19.  When the sun, earth and moon are in first quarter or last quarter moon phases (sun and moon pulling at different angles.  Moon  Sun Earth

20.  The earth is a transparent, translucent, or opaque sphere?

21.  Opaque

22.  The earth rotates on its axis towards the North, south, east, or west?

23.  East

24.  Does the moon create its own source of light?

25.  No – it reflects light from the sun.  The sun is a luminous source of light.

26.  Which scientist described gravity as - a curvature of space around an object that affects the path of other objects traveling in space?

27.  Albert Einstein

28.  What is weight?

29.  The amount of gravity on an object.

30.  What is mass?

31.  The amount of matter within an object.

32.  Why does the moon rise 50 minutes later each day?

33.  As the moon orbits around the earth, the earth is rotating on its axis. In order for the moon to return to the same position on the earth, it must travel a little bit farther due to the rotation.

34.  What two factors is surface gravity dependent upon?

35.  Mass and radius

36.  What is a sidereal month?

37.  The amount of time it takes for the moon to travel completely around the earth.

38.  What is a synodic month?

39.  The times it takes for the moon to complete a full phase cycle.

40.  Which is longer – synodic month or sidereal month?

41.  Synodic month

42.  What is an annular eclipse?

43.  A ring formed around the moon because the orbit of the moon is not completely circular.  It occurs when the moon is slightly farther from the earth, which leaves the sun looking bigger than the moon, creating the ring around the moon.

44.  The force of gravity between two objects is directly related to what?

45.  The product of their masses  Inversely related to the square of the distance between the center of the two objects.

46.  Which Apollo mission brought the first man to the moon?

47.  Apollo 11 with Neil Armstrong

48.  Why do the phases of the moon occur?

49.  We view the moon from different angles, which changes the illuminated area that we can see.