Exploring Our Solar System: Earth, Moon, and Sun

1. Integrated Science

2. Astronomy The Solar System • Earth and Moon • Solar System • The Sun

3. Chapter Learning Goals • Describe how Earth’s dimensions were determined. • Use the equation of universal gravitation to determine mass and gravitational force. • Explain why the moon stays in orbit around Earth. • Describe the moon’s formation. • Define the solar system in terms of gravity. • Characterize the planets in terms of size, distance from the sun, atmosphere, and period of orbit. • Name and describe other objects found in the solar system. • Describe the size and composition of the sun. • Explain the process through which the sun produces energy. • Identify and define the parts of the sun. • Explain how the sun’s energy can be harnessed. • Describe how a photovoltaic cell works.

4. asteroid astronomical unit comet gravitational force law of universal gravitation gas planets meteor orbit Chapter Vocabulary Terms • orbital speed • satellite • solar constant • solar energy • solar system • sunspots • terrestrial planets • tides

5. Earth and Moon • Earth's Dimensions • Earth’s shape is almost spherical except for a slight bulge at the equator. • If you were to travel exactly once around along the equator, you would travel 40,076 km • This distance is the circumferenceof Earth.

6. Earth and Moon • Earth's Dimensions • The diameter is 12,756 km and its radius at the equator is equal to half of this value, or 6,378 km. • Because of its slight bulge at the equator, if you were to measure the radius from one of the poles it would be slightly less (6,357 km).

9. Earth’s only moon revolves around us at a distance of 384,400 kilometers (240,250 miles). It is the only object beyond Earth that humans have visited. Earth and Moon

10. Gravitational force is a measure of the attractive force exerted by an object (planet or moon) on a 1 kg object held at its surface. This quantity is measured in newtons or pounds. Earth and Moon

11. Orbital speed is the speed required to achieve a balance between the pull of gravity on a satellite and its forward motion. The orbital speed of the moon is about 3,700 kilometers per hour. If the moon were any slower, it would fall toward Earth and eventually crash into it. Earth and Moon

14. Key Question: What does the length of the year have to do with Earth's distance from the sun? Earth and Moon *Read text section 31.1 BEFORE Investigation 31.1

15. Through their observations of the night sky, ancient observers noticed that five bright objects seemed to wander among the stars each night. The Solar System • They called these five objects planets, from the Greek word meaning “wandering star."

16. German mathematician Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) discovered that the orbits of some of the planets were not perfectly round but slightly oval or ellipticalin shape. The Solar System

17. The Solar System • The solar system consists of the sun, the nine planets and their moons, and a large number of smaller objects (asteroids, comets, and meteors). • The solar system is the region in space where the sun’s gravitational force is dominant. • The reason they don’t fall into the sun is because as they fall toward it, they are moving forward because of their inertia.

19. Astronomers often use the distance of Earth from the sun as a measurement of distance in the solar system. One astronomical unit (AU) is equal to 150 million km.

20. Key Question: How big is the solar system? The Solar System *Read text section 31.2 BEFORE Investigation 31.2

21. The Sun • The sun’s diameter is 1.4 million km. • About one million Earth could fit inside of the sun. • The core of the sun is about 15 million °C. • The coolest parts of the sun are nearly 4,000 °C. • The outermost layer of the sun can stretch millions of km into space. • The sun is 150 million km from Earth. • The sun spins around once every 27.4 days. • The sun is about 5 billion years old.

22. The Sun • The sun’s energy comes from nuclear fusion. • Nuclear fusion occurs when the nuclei of atoms are joined, or fused.

23. The Sun • In 1905 Albert Einstein proposed that matter can be converted into energy. • His famous equation shows how huge amounts of energy can be created from a smaller mass. E = m c2

24. The Sun

25. The Sun • The sun has three regions: • The chromosphereis a very hot layer of plasma, a high energy state of matter. • The coronais the outermost layer of the sun’s atmosphere extending millions of kilometers beyond the sun. • The apparent surface that we can see from a distance is called the photosphere, which means “sphere of light.”

26. The Anatomy of the Sun • Sunspots are areas of gas that are cooler than the gases around them.

28. Photovoltaic (or PV) cells, also called solar cells, are devices that convert sunlight directly into electricity. You may have seen PV cells on calculators, watches, or some outdoor light fixtures. They are made out of at least two layers of a semiconductor material such as silicon. Solar Cells

29. Solar Cells • One layer has a negative charge, and the other has a positive charge. • When light falls on the cell, some of it is absorbed by the semiconductor atoms, freeing electrons from the PV cells’ negative layer. • These electrons then flow through an external circuit and back into the positive layer. • The flow of electrons produces electric current.

30. Key Question: How can we use energy from the sun to generate electricity? The Sun *Read text section 31.3 BEFORE Investigation 31.3