WEATHER AND THE SOLAR SYSTEM

WEATHER AND THE SOLAR SYSTEM

The Solar System

The solar system consists of many things. Things found in the solar system include:

a) The sun

b). The planets

c) The stars

d) The comets

e) The asteroids etc.

3. All these revolve around the sun.

  1. The sun is the nearest star to the earth.

5. It is about 150km millions away from the earth.

6. The sun is made up of hot, glowing gases.

  1. The sun is a huge source of energy.

8. It is from the sun that the earth gets most of its heat and light

9. It appears larger and brighter because it is the closest star to us.

PLANETS

  1. A planet is a celestial body that is in the orbit around the sun
  2. It has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium shape.
  3. .A planet is not a star but a solid body.
  4. Planets do not shine on their own; light but reflect light from the sun.
  5. Planets revolve around the sun in a path called an orbit.
  6. The planets are held in their orbits by the sun due to the force of gravity.
  7. The planets spin or rotate on their axis and revolve around the sun.
  8. Most of these planets have natural satellites or moons.

ORDER OF PLANETS

  1. The known planets today are:

    a) Mercury

    b) Venus

    c) Earth

    d) Mars

    e) Jupiter

    f) Saturn

    g) Uranus

    h) Neptune

  2. Initially, Pluto was a known planet but today, scientists rule it out as one of the planets.

  3. It is referred to as a dwarf planet.

MERCURY

  1. Mercury is the smallest planet.
  2. It is the nearest planet to the sun.
  3. Mercury is one of the inner planets.
  4. It is seen in the west after the sun sets.
  5. It has the shortest orbit, taking 88 days to revolve around the sun.
  6. Mercury has no moon.

VENUS

  1. It is the morning and evening star
  2. It is seen in the East before sunrise.
  3. Venus is the brightest planet due to its size in comparison to Mercury
  4. It is the hottest planet due to the presence of carbon dioxide in its atmosphere.
  5. Due to its high density, carbon dioxide can retain heat for a long time.
  6. It is one of the inner planets
  7. it has no moon.
  8. Venus takes 225 days to revolve around the sun.

EARTH

  1. Earth is a planet that supports life.
  2. This is because it has useful gases and water.
  3. It is the third planet in terms of distance away from the sun
  4. It has one moon.
  5. It moves around the sun taking 365 1/4 days causing season.
  6. This movement is called the revolution.
  7. As it revolves, it follows an imaginary path called an orbit.
  8. The earth rotates on an imaginary line called an axis
  9. This imaginary line passes through the center of the earth from the North Pole to the South Pole.
    1. It spins from West to East taking twenty-four hours.
    2. This movement is called rotation.
    3. Rotation causes day and night.

MARS

1. Mars is known as the red or the Orange planet.

  1. It is the fourth planet in terms of distance away from the sun.

  2. It is part of the inner planets.

JUPITER

  1. It is the largest planet among the eight planets with the greatest gravitational pull.
  2. it has the highest number of moons (12 moons).
  3. This is the reason why it is possible to see it the whole night.

SATURN

1. It has a large round ring around it referred to as a halo.

2. It is the second largest planet. 3. It is the sixth planet from the sun.

URANUS

  1. It is the fourth largest planet and the seventh planet away from the sun.
  2. It appears green and also appears to have rings.

NEPTUNE

  1. It is the third largest planet and the eighth planet away from the sun.
  2. It appears to be blue.

Modeling the solar system

Materials needed

  1. Cardboards/soft boards/manila papers
  2. Clay or plasticine or candle wax or papier mache.
  3. Pins or thorns
  4. Glue or paste.

Steps

  1. Model the sun and the planets first using either clay or plasticine or papier mache or candle wax.

  2. Cut and paste the manila paper on the soft board.

3. Draw circles on the manila paper to indicate the orbit.

  1. Pin the sun at the center of the solar system.
  2. Mount the planets on the orbits.
  3. Put name tags against the sun and the planets.