UNIVERSAL EDUCATION

CAIE GRADE 6
SUBJECT: SST

Chp: 1 The Earth in the Solar System

A. Fill in the blanks.

1) Milky Way
2) Asteroids
3) Dwarf planets
4) Earth
5) Waxing

B. Choose the correct option.

1) Earth
2) Ceres
3) Moon
a. Olympus Mons
4) Aitkin basin

C. Answer the following questions very briefly.

1) Light years is the distance that light travels in one year.
2) Nicolaus Copernicus.
3) Planets are celestial bodies which do not have light and heat of their own
but appear to shine in the darkness of space because they reflect the Sun’s
light.
4) The Moon.
5) New Moon, Full Moon, Waxing Phase and Waning Phase.

D. Answer the following questions briefly.

1) A celestial body is a natural object in the universe. Examples are planets
and asteroids.
2) The universe comprises all existing matter and space taken together as a
whole. It contains millions of galaxies. The universe is approximately 93
billion light years in diameter. It has been expanding since its creation
during the Big Bang about 14 billion years ago.
3) A galaxy is a large group of stars and associated matter that are found
throughout the universe. Constellation is stars arranged in a pattern.
4) In the order of their distance from Sun, the planets are Mercury, Venus,
Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
5) Nicolaus Copernicus.

E. Answer the following questions in detail.

1) Only one side of the Moon is visible from Earth because the Moon rotates
about its spins axis at same rate that Moon orbits the Earth, a situation
known as synchronous rotation or tidal locking. As orbit around the Earth
is elliptical, the Moon is at an average distance of 384,403 km from the
Earth. The Moon completes an orbit around the Earth in 27 days and 8
hours. It takes the same time to rotate on its own axis. That is the reason
why we always see the same side of the Moon.
2) Planets are celestial bodies which do not have light and heat of their own
but appears to shine in the darkness of space because they reflect the
Sun’s light. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) set the following
conditions for any solar system body to qualify as a planet:
 It must be a celestial body orbiting around the Sun.
 It must have enough weight for its self - gravity.
 It must have a nearly round shape.
 It must have cleared the neighborhood around its orbit.
3) The Earth is a unique planet because it is the only planet that sustain life.
The Earth is surrounded by a layer of air, composed of life supporting
gases, called the atmosphere. The atmosphere helps in maintain the
temperature on the Earth and protect us from harmful rays of the Earth.
4) Asteroids are irregular shaped rocks and debris lying between the orbits of
Mars and Jupiter. Meteors, also called the shooting star, are space particles
that may have left behind by comets or broken off from asteroids. They
appear as bright trials speeding through the Earth’s atmosphere.
5) Asteroid belt is a belt of millions of irregular shaped rocks and debris,
known as asteroids, lying between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. The
Kuiper Belt, discovered in 1992, is also called the ‘final frontier’ of our solar
system. It is a disk- shaped containing a swarm of icy- bodies, lying way
beyond Neptune.