WESTMEAD ACADEMY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY FOUNDATION, INC.

Batangas City
SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL DEPARTMENT
1st SEMESTER, 1st QUARTER
S. Y. 2022 – 2023

ACTIVITY NO. 2

NAME: Historillo, Jeanice Fionah M.

GRADE & STRAND: Grade 12 – STEM (IRREG)

A. Explain why among the eight planets in our solar system, only the earth permits
life emergence and evolution.

The only place we are currently aware of where there are living things is our home
planet, which is the third planet from the Sun. Earth is the only planet in our solar system having
liquid water on its surface, while being only the fifth largest planet overall. Earth is the largest of
the four planets nearest to the Sun, all of which are composed of rock and metal, and is only
slightly larger than adjacent Venus. Earth's hospitable climate and chemical composition have
led to an abundance of life on this planet. Most importantly, since the temperature permits liquid
water to exist for long periods of time, Earth is unique in that the majority of our planet is
covered with liquid water. Around 3.8 billion years ago, the huge oceans of Earth provided an
ideal setting for the emergence of life. The continuous consequences of climate change are
causing some of the characteristics of our planet that make it ideal for supporting life to alter.

B. In the next billion years, the Sun will expand into a red giant. Explain what this would
imply.

The sun will grow to the size of a red giant, which will eventually swallow our planet, in
a few billion years. But much sooner than that, the Earth will cease to be habitable. The sun will
get hot enough to burn our oceans in approximately a billion years. Currently, the sun is
categorized as a main sequence star. This indicates that it is turning the hydrogen found in its
core into helium, which is the most stable phase of its life. The Sun will run out of hydrogen fuel
in its core in about 5 billion years and begin burning helium instead, prompting a red giant star
transformation. Its atmosphere will enlarge during this transition to a distance from the Sun of
approximately 1 astronomical unit. This implies that Mercury, Venus, and possibly Earth will be
gradually engulfed by the Sun. Any remaining inhabitants of Earth will have long since retreated
from the burgeoning Sun or, as some scientists have lately proposed, relocated the planet to a
happier orbit.