YALE INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL

CLASS-IX / STUDY MATERIAL

PHYSICS / CHAPTER-24 / TOPIC-“EARTH & THE SOLAR SYSTEM”

LECTURE 1

Some Key Words

 Axis: It is the imaginary line about which the Earth rotates or spins.
 Orbit: The path taken by an object (e.g. Earth) as it revolves around a larger object
(e.g. Sun).
 Equator: The imaginary line drawn on the Earth’s surface equidistant from the
poles, dividing the earth into two equal halves.
 Poles: The ends of the Earth through which the axis of rotation passes.
 Northern Hemisphere: The half of the Earth’s surface which is north of the equator.
 Southern Hemisphere: The half of the Earth’s surface which is south of the equator.

Earth, Sun and Moon

The Sun is a big star and is the center of our Solar System.
The Earth is one of the eight planets in the Solar System that orbits around the Sun in a
nearly circular path.
Earth has a natural satellite called the Moon which orbits around it in a circular path.
Motion of the Earth and the Moon causes yearly and daily natural events.
Yearly evens include the seasons (summer, autumn, winter and spring).
Daily events include day and night.
The Sun is about 400 times larger than the Moon but at the same time it is 400 times
further away from the Earth than Moon is. So both the Sun and the Moon appear to be the
same size from the Earth.

Day and Night

The day and night are caused by the Earth’s rotation about its axis.
Earth’s axis of rotation is slightly tilted by an angle of 23.5˚ from vertical.

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The Earth spins from west to east; so it appears that the Sun rises in the east and sets in
the west.
The time taken by the Earth to complete one rotation about its axis is approximately 24
hours.
The side facing the Sun experiences day while the side opposite experiences night.

Rising and Setting of the Sun

At sunrise the Sun is just visible in the eastern horizon, then at midday the Sun is right
overhead and again at sunset the Sun slips below the western horizon.
The Sun rises exactly in the east and sets exactly in the west only at equinoxes.
Equinoxes are the particular days in a year on which the day and night are approximately
12 hours each.
Equinoxes occur twice a year; 20th March and 23rd September.
On equinoxes the Earth’s tilt is perpendicular to the direction of the incident rays of the
Sun.

The table below shows the rising and setting of the Sun during summer and winter on the
northern hemisphere and the southern hemisphere.

Rising & Northern hemisphere Southern hemisphere

Setting of the
Summer Winter Summer Winter
Sun
Sunrise north of east south of east south of east north of east
Sunset south of west south of west south of west south of west

LECTURE 2
Seasons
The factors responsible for the seasons are:
1. The orbiting of the Earth around the Sun.
2. The tilting of the Earth’s axis to the plane of its path around the Sun.

Earth takes approximately 365 days to orbit once round the Sun. This time is equal to a
year.
As Earth moves through its orbit around the sun, different parts of the Earth are tilted
closer or further from the Sun because of the tilt in Earth’s axis.
It is the distance from the Sun due to the Earth’s tilt that causes the seasons.
Where the axis is tilted towards the Sun, that hemisphere experiences summer.
Where the axis is tilted away from the Sun, that hemisphere experiences winter.
There are four main seasons in a year: summer, autumn, winter and spring.
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The table shows the month and the corresponding season in the northern and southern
hemispheres.

Month Northern Hemisphere Southern Hemisphere

Summer; the Sun shines Winter; the Sun shines
June
directly indirectly
Autumn; the Sun shines Spring; the Sun shines
September
equally equally
Winter; the Sun shines Summer; the Sun shines
December
indirectly directly
Spring; the Sun shines Autumn; the Sun shines
March
equally equally

In summer, day-time is longer than night-time and there are more hours of daylight. In
regions near to the North Pole it is daylight 24 hours per day in summer.
In winter, night-time is longer than day-time and there are fewer hours of daylight. In
regions near to the North Pole it is full darkness 24 hours per day in winter.
When it is summer in the northern hemisphere, it is winter in the southern hemisphere.
When it is winter in the northern hemisphere, it is summer in the southern hemisphere.
Month
A lunar month is measured by the time taken for the Moon to orbit Earth once.
The time for the Moon to go through a complete cycle (from a full Moon to the next full
Moon) is approximately 29.5 days.
Calendar months are based on this and vary between 29 and 30 days in length.
The moon is a rocky natural satellite of the Earth.
It travels in an approximately circular orbit once a month taking approximately 29.5 days.
It also revolves on its own axis in a month and always has the same side facing the Earth.
We never see the dark side of the Moon. The moon is seen due to its reflection of the light
from the Sun.
It rises in the east and sets in the west. It does not have any atmosphere. It has a week
gravitational field.
A month is measured by the time taken for the Moon to orbit Earth once.
The time for the Moon to go through one complete cycle (from a full Moon to the next full
Moon) is approximately 29.5 days.
Calendar months are based on this and vary between 28 and 31 days in length.

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Lecture 3
The Solar System

The Solar System consists of the Sun which is our star and the following objects that orbit
around it.
The eight planets – Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
Natural satellites called Moons that orbit planets.
Dwarf planets like Pluto, Ceres, Makemake, Haumea, and Eris.
Smaller rocky objects called asteroids and meteoroids.
Comets are described as giant snowballs orbiting the Sun in very irregular paths.

The Sun’s Gravitational Pull

The motion of the objects in a circular path requires a centripetal force.

The motions of the astronomical bodies around the Sun are almost orbital.
The force needed to keep these objects orbiting the Sun comes from the gravitational
attraction from the Sun.

Distances & Times In The Solar System

Distances measured in the Solar System in terms of how long it takes the light to travel.
The unit is called light year; the distance travelled by the light in 1 year = 9.5 x 1015 m.
The Sun is 0.00001581 light-years away from the Earth.
The nearest star after Sun is Proxima Centauri which is 4.2 light years from the Earth.

Orbital Speed
The speed with which an object travels in a circular or elliptical path around a larger
object is called its orbital speed.
Velocity is a vector quantity which changes with the direction of motion.
Speed is a scalar quantity which remains constant as long as the radius of the orbital path
remains constant.
If the path is elliptical, then the orbital speed changes with the position of the object in
motion.

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Lecture 4
Formation Of The Solar System
The Sun and the planets formed together, 4.6 billion years ago, from a cloud of gas (mostly
hydrogen) and dust called the solar nebula.
A shock wave from a nearby supernova explosion probably initiated the collapse of the
solar nebula.
Gravity pulled together the masses produced in the explosion.
The Sun formed in the center.
The planets formed from the materials of the nebula that were not pulled into the Sun by
the process known as accretion.

The Accretion Model Of The Formation Of The Planets

The spinning motion of the dust and gas formed a flat, spinning disc called the accretion
disc.
Gravity pulled the dust and gas together causing rocks and then larger rocks to form.
The continued process of accretion led to the formation of inner rocky planets.
The intense heat forced some of the lighter materials further away and these formed the
outer planets.
The inner planets are small and rocky while the outer planets are large and gaseous.

Forces Due To Sun’s Gravity

The Sun is the center of the Solar System.
It makes up 99% of the mass of the Solar System and has the maximum gravitational field
strength.
All planets, minor planets, asteroids & meteoroids and comets are all held in their orbits
by the gravitational attraction of the Sun.
The gravitational attraction is a non-contact force that decreases with the distance.
The outer planets therefore experiences less attraction force than the inner planets.

Lecture 5
Orbits & Energy
The orbits of the planets are not completely circular but rather slightly squashed forming
elliptical in shape. The amount an orbit is squashed is called its eccentricity. Comets have
the most eccentric orbit.
The Sun is at the focus of the elliptical path of each of the planet.
The planets move closer to the Sun and then further away from the Sun during each orbit.
The Sun’s pull of gravity therefore varies.
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The Sun’s gravity pulls the orbiting objects in, speeds it up and then the speed carries on
to the furthest part of the orbit.
The object’s speed therefore is the greatest when it is closest to the Sun and slowest when
furthest away from the Sun.
The planet’s energy remains the same throughout its orbit as there is no frictional force or
air resistance.
It has two types of energy: gravitational energy and kinetic energy.
When the planet is nearest to the Sun, it has its minimum gravitational potential energy
and has its maximum kinetic energy.
When it is at its furthest from the Sun, it has its maximum gravitational potential energy
and minimum kinetic energy.

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