Lesson 4 | Dwarf Planets and Other Objectsimages.pcmac.org/SiSFiles/Schools/AL/MobileCounty/... ·...

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Student Labs and Activities Page

Launch Lab 64

Content Vocabulary 65

Lesson Outline 66

MiniLab 68

Content Practice A 69

Content Practice B 70

School to Home 71

Key Concept Builders 72

Enrichment 76

Challenge 77

Lab A 80

Lab B 83

Lab C 86

Chapter Key Concepts Builder 87

Lesson 4 | Dwarf Planets and Other Objects

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64 The Solar System

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How might asteroids and moons form?In this activity, you will explore one way moons and asteroids might have formed.

Procedure

Launch Lab LESSON 4: 15 minutes

Data and Observations

Think About This 1. If the collision you modeled occurred in space, what would happen to the sand?

2. Key Concept Infer one way scientists propose moons and asteroids formed.

1. Read and complete a lab safety form.

2. Form a small ball from modeling clay and roll it in sand.

3. Press a thin layer of modeling clay around a marble.

4. Tie equal lengths of string to each ball. Hold the strings so the balls are above a sheet of paper.

5. Have someone pull back the marble so that its string is parallel to the tabletop and then release it. Record the results in the Data and Observations section below.

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Dwarf Planets and Other ObjectsDirections: Answer each question on the lines provided. Use complete sentences.

impact crater meteor meteorite meteoroid

1. What is the difference between a meteorite and a meteoroid?

2. How is an impact crater formed?

3. How is a meteor related to a meteoroid?

Content Vocabulary LESSON 4


66 The Solar System

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Dwarf Planets and Other ObjectsA. Dwarf Planets

1. A dwarf planet is a sphere that orbits a(n) .

2. A dwarf planet has objects similar in orbiting near it or crossing its orbital path.

3. The dwarf planets in the solar system are , Ceres, Eris, Makemake, and Haumea.

a. Ceres is located in the belt. It is the

dwarf planet in the solar system.

b. Pluto has a rocky core surrounded by . It has

known moons.

c. is the largest dwarf planet. It is three times farther

from the Sun than the dwarf planet is.

d. Makemake and Haumea are dwarf planets in the .

B. Asteroids

1. Asteroids orbit the Sun in a band between and Jupiter.

2. The largest asteroid is called .

3. Asteroids are chunks of rock and .

C. Comets

1. Comets are made up of rocks, ice, and .

a. between the particles in a comet holds it together.

b. Comets the Sun in long elliptical orbits.

2. As a comet approaches the Sun, a bright can develop on the comet.

a. The is the solid, inner part of a comet.

b. As the comet approaches the Sun, it heats, changing some ice in the nucleus

into a(n) .

c. Energy from the Sun pushes gas and dust particles away from the nucleus and

makes it .

Lesson Outline LESSON 4


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Lesson Outline continued

3. comets take less than 200 years to orbit the Sun. They

usually come from the .

4. comets take more than 200 years to orbit the Sun. They

come from the .

D. Meteoroids

1. A small, rocky particle that moves through space is

a(n) .

2. As it passes through Earth’s atmosphere, friction with the air makes a meteoroid

and the air around it .

3. A streak of light in the atmosphere made by a glowing meteoroid is

a(n) .

4. Most meteoroids up in the atmosphere.

a. A meteoroid that strikes the surface of a planet or a moon is called

a(n) .

b. A meteorite can form a bowl-shaped depression called a(n)

in the surface it strikes.


68 The Solar System

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How do impact craters form? In this lab, you will model the formation of an impact crater.

Procedure

MiniLab LESSON 4: 20 minutes

1. Pour a layer of flour about 3 cm deep in a cake pan.

2. Pour a layer of cornmeal about 1 cm deep on top of the flour.

3. One at a time, drop different-sized marbles into the mixture from the same height—about 15 cm. Record your observations below.

Data and Observations

Analyze and Conclude 1. Describe the mixture’s surface after you dropped the marbles.

2. Recognize Cause and Effect Based on your results, explain why impact craters on moons and planets differ.

3. Key Concept Explain how the marbles used in the activity could be used to model meteoroids, meteors, and meteorites.


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Dwarf Planets and Other Objects Directions: Complete this concept map by choosing terms from the word bank and writing them in the correct spaces.

Ceres Eros Ida inner long-period

meteorites meteoroids outer Pluto short-period

Content Practice A LESSON 4

asteroids

planets

SolarSystemObjects

comets

dwarfplanets

impactcraters

1.

2. 3.

4.

5.

6.

8.7.

10.

9.


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LESSON 4Content Practice B

Dwarf Planets and Other Objects Directions: Respond to each statement on the lines provided. Use complete sentences.

1. Describe and give an example of a dwarf planet.

2. Describe the characteristics of a comet.

3. Explain the differences among a meteoroid, a meteor, and a meteorite.

4. Describe and give an example of an asteroid. Tell where most asteroids are located.

5. Explain how an impact crater forms.


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School to Home

Dwarf Planets and Other ObjectsDirections: Use your textbook to answer each question or respond to each statement.

1. Our solar system has five dwarf planets: Pluto, Ceres, Eris, Makemake, and Haumea. All of them are smaller than Earth’s moon.

Based on the definition of a dwarf planet, infer why our moon is not considered a dwarf planet.

2. Asteroids are solid pieces of ice and rock. Most of the asteroids in our solar system are in a belt between Mars and Jupiter.

What might have kept the asteroids from forming a planet?

3. Comets are loose balls of ice, rock, and dust. The gravitational attraction of the particles holds a comet together.

What causes a comet to form a tail?

4. Millions of meteoroids enter the Earth’s atmosphere every day. Most of them burn up before they reach Earth’s surface.

What happens when a meteoroid strikes a moon or a planet?

LESSON 4

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LESSON 4Key Concept Builder

Dwarf Planets and Other ObjectsKey Concept What is a dwarf planet?

Directions: Read each description. Write the name of the dwarf planet being described. Then summarize each dwarf planet’s characteristics.

1. Dwarf planet: 2. Dwarf planet:

This spherical object is about two-thirds the size of Earth’s moon, takes 248 years to complete one orbit of the Sun, and is similar in mass to objects orbiting near it.

This is one of the largest objects in a region called the Kuiper belt. It is spherical in shape, orbits the Sun, and is similar in mass to objects orbiting near it.

Characteristics:••••


3. Dwarf planet: 4. Dwarf planet:

This spherical object is about one-fourth the size of Earth’s moon but similar in mass to objects orbiting near it. It orbits the Sun in the asteroid belt. Scientists believe it has a rocky core surrounded by water ice and a thin, dusty crust.

This is the largest dwarf planet and is probably similar in structure to Pluto. It takes about 557 years to orbit the Sun. It is similar in mass to objects orbiting near it and has one known moon.

Characteristics:•••••

Characteristics:•••••

5. Dwarf planet: List similar characteristics of all five dwarf planets:•

•

•

This is spherical and orbits the Sun in the Kuiper belt. It is considerably smaller than Pluto but is similar in mass to objects orbiting near it. It was discovered in 2008.


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Dwarf Planets and Other Objects Key Concept What is a dwarf planet?

Directions: Answer each question on the lines provided.

1. Why are Ceres, Pluto, Eris, Makemake, and Haumea classified as dwarf planets?

2. Which dwarf planet orbits the Sun within the asteroid belt?

3. What makes Ceres different from the other objects of similar mass that are orbiting within the asteroid belt?

4. Why are asteroids not considered dwarf planets?

5. Why are meteoroids not considered dwarf planets?

6. What is similar about the compositions of Pluto and Ceres?

7. Why was the designation of Pluto changed from a planet to a dwarf planet?


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Dwarf Planets and Other Objects Key Concept What are the characteristics of comets and asteroids?

Directions: On each line, write the term or phrase that correctly completes each sentence.

Characteristics of Comets Characteristics of Asteroids

1. A comet is 6. Asteroids are

.

2. The particles in a comet are held together by

.

3. A comet’s tail forms when

.

4. The difference between a short-period comet

and a long-period comet is

.

5. The zone that long-period comets come from

is the .

.

7. Most asteroids orbit the Sun in the

.

8. Scientists believe that asteroids might be left

over from

.

9. The asteroid belt is between the orbits of

.

10. Pallas is

.

11. Asteroids and comets the Sun.


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Dwarf Planets and Other Objects Key Concept How does an impact crater form?

Directions: Use a term from the word bank to answer each question. Some terms might be used more than once or not at all.

asteroid asteroid belt comet impact crater

meteor meteorite meteoroid

1. What is a small rocky particle that moves through space and most often is about the

size of a grain of sand?

2. What is a streak of light caused by a glowing meteoroid?

3. What usually burns up when it reaches Earth’s atmosphere?

4. What is a particle of rock that survives a fall through Earth’s atmosphere and hits the

surface of Earth?

5. What forms on the surface of a planet, moon, or other space object, has a rounded

shape, and results from a meteoroid strike?

6. What is acted on by friction, is one of many millions that enter Earth’s atmosphere

without hitting the surface, and becomes quite hot as it falls?

7. What formed when a meteorite struck where Arizona is today, producing a 1.2-km-wide

depression?

8. What strikes planets and moons and is made of rock?

9. What type of depressions are present on Earth in more than

170 locations?


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Dwarf Planets and Other Objects

Enrichment

Applying Critical-Thinking SkillsDirections: Answer each question or respond to each statement.

1. Explain why Pluto was reclassified as a dwarf planet.

2. Summarize the main reason why Ceres is not classified as a plutoid dwarf planet.

3. Compare the names of as many planets and moons in the solar system as you can think of. Explain how the names of the most recent dwarf planets and their moons differ from all the others except one. Which one is the exception?

NEWS RELEASE: Pluto’s family of dwarf planets has added two more members. Two objects lying beyond Neptune’s orbit have been qualified as dwarf planets. The new dwarf planets are Makemake (MAH ke MAH ke) and Haumea (how MAY ah). Both dwarf planets are in the Kuiper belt—a band of icy objects including comets and asteroids that orbit the Sun beyond Neptune. Makemake and Haumea were named after a Polynesian god and goddess. Makemake is the second brightest object in the Kuiper belt and only slightly smaller than Pluto. Haumea has a shape almost like a football. It has two moons, Hi’iaka (hee ee AH kah) and Namaka (nah MAH kah).

In 2006, the International Astronomical Union declared that Pluto is a dwarf planet. Pluto was formerly considered to be the

LESSON 4

farthest out of nine planets in the solar system. Pluto has three moons. The largest one, named Charon, is about half the size of Pluto. Pluto shares its orbit around the Sun with other icy objects in the Kuiper belt.

At the same time that Pluto was reclassified as a dwarf planet, two other dwarf planets were identified. Ceres resides in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. It is the only officially identified dwarf planet in the asteroid belt, although there are other candidates. Eris is the largest of the named dwarf planets, so far. Eris also lies within the Kuiper belt. The dwarf planets that lie in the Kuiper belt are also called plutoids because of their similarity to Pluto.

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Challenge

Dwarf Planets and Other Objects Comets

Astronomers estimate that there are more than 1 trillion comets in the solar system, but only about 1,300 of them have been discovered. Comets are balls of ice coated with the debris left over from the formation of the solar system and bits of dust they have collected over the billions of years they have been in orbit. As a comet approaches the Sun, the ice begins to evaporate from its surface. A common misconception is that the comet shows its tail in its wake because it is traveling really fast. Actually, a comet usually has two tails, one of gases and one of dust. These tails blow away from the comet in the same direction as the solar wind.

Choose a long-period comet, such as Hale-Bopp, which has a period of about 4,000 years. On the diagram below, draw the comet in several positions—its origin and its elliptical path (use arrows to show the direction of its orbit)—along its orbit, including near the Sun and its path back to its origin. Show the comet’s tails and how they relate to the comet and the Sun.

LESSON 4

Sun Asteroid belt Oort cloud

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80 The Solar System

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Scaling down the Solar SystemA scale model is a physical representation of something that is much smaller or much larger. Reduced-sized scale models are made of very large things, such as the solar system. The scale used must reduce the actual size to a size reasonable for the model.

QuestionWhat scale can you use to represent distances between the solar system objects?

Materials2.25-inch-wide register tape (several rolls)

meterstick

masking tape

Safety

Procedure 1. First, decide how big your solar system will be. Use the data in the table to figure out

how far apart the Sun and Neptune would be if a scale of 1 meter = 1 AU is used.

Would a solar system based on that scale fit in the space you have available?

2. With your group, figure out the scale that allows you to make a model that fits the available space. Larger models are usually more accurate, so choose a scale that will make the largest model that fits in the space you have.

3. Once you have decided on a scale, write the unit you have chosen in the third column of the table.

Then calculate and fill in the scaled distance for each planet.

Planet Distance from the Sun (AU)

Distance from the Sun (Scale)

Mercury 0.39Venus 0.72Earth 1.00Mars 1.52Jupiter 5.20Saturn 9.54Uranus 19.18Neptune 30.06

Lab A 40 minutes

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4. On register tape, mark the positions of objects in the solar system based on your chosen scale.

Use a length of register tape that is slightly longer than the scaled distance between the Sun and Neptune.

5. Tape the ends of the register tape to a table or the floor.

Mark a dot at one end of the paper to represent the Sun.

Measure along the tape from the center of the dot to the location of Mercury.

Mark a dot there and label it Mercury.

Do this for the other planets as well.

Analyze and Conclude 6. Critique Think of all the objects in the solar system with different sizes, structures,

and orbits. How accurate is the model that you made?

How could the model be changed to be more accurate?

Lab Tips • A scale is the ratio between the actual size of

something and a representation of it.

• The distances between the planets and the Sun are average distances because planetary orbits are not perfect circles.

Lab A continued

Remember to use scientificmethods.

Ask a Question

Form a Hypothesis

Test your Hypothesis

Analyze and Conclude

Communicate Results

Make Observations


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Lab A continued

7. The Big Idea Pluto is a dwarf planet located beyond Neptune. Based on the planets shown in the table, about how far from the Sun would you expect to find Pluto? Explain the reason for your answer.

8. Calculate What length of register tape is needed if a scale of 30 cm = 1 AU is used for the solar system model?

Communicate Your ResultsCompare your model with other groups in your class by taping them all side-by-side. Discuss any major differences in your models. Discuss the difficulties in making the scale models much smaller.


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Lab B 40 minutes

Scaling down the Solar SystemA scale model is a physical representation of something that is much smaller or much larger. Reduced-sized scale models are made of very large things, such as the solar system. The scale used must reduce the actual size to a size reasonable for the model.

QuestionWhat scale can you use to represent solar system objects?

Materials2.25-inch-wide register tape (several rolls)

meterstick

masking tape

Safety

Procedure 1. First, decide how big your solar system will be. Use the data given in the table to figure

out how far apart the Sun and Neptune would be if a scale of 1 meter = 1 AU is used. Would a solar system based on that scale fit in the space you have available?

2. With your group, determine the scale that results in a model that fits the available space. Larger models are usually more accurate, so choose a scale that produces the largest model that fits in the available space.

3. Once you have decided on a scale, record the unit you have chosen in the third column of the table. Then fill in the scaled distance for each planet.

Planet Distance from the Sun (AU)

Distance from the Sun (Scale)

Mercury 0.39

Venus 0.72

Earth 1.00

Mars 1.52

Jupiter 5.20

Saturn 9.54

Uranus 19.18

Neptune 30.06


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4. On register tape, mark the positions of the objects in the solar system based on your chosen scale. Use a length of register tape that is slightly longer than the scaled distance between the Sun and Neptune.

5. Tape the ends of the register tape to a table or the floor. Mark a dot at one end of the paper to represent the Sun. Measure along the tape from the center of the dot to the location of Mercury. Mark a dot at this position and label it Mercury. Repeat this process for the remaining planets.

Analyze and Conclude 6. Critique There are many objects in the solar system. These objects have different sizes,

structures, and orbits. Examine your scale model of the solar system. How accurate is the model? How could the model be changed to be more accurate?

Lab Tips • A scale is the ratio between the actual size of

something and a representation of it.

• The distances between the planets and the Sun are average distances because planetary orbits are not perfect circles.

Remember to use scientific methods.

Ask a Question

Form a Hypothesis

Test your Hypothesis

Analyze and Conclude

Communicate Results

Make Observations

Lab B continued


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7. The Big Idea Pluto is a dwarf planet located beyond Neptune. Based on the pattern of distance data for the planets shown in the table, approximately how far from the Sun would you expect to find Pluto? Explain your reasoning.

8. Calculate What length of register tape is needed if a scale of 30 cm = 1 AU is used for the solar system model?

Communicate Your ResultsCompare your model with other groups in your class by taping them all side-by-side. Discuss any major differences in your models. Discuss the difficulties in making the scale models much smaller.

Lab B continued

Extension

How can you build a scale model of the solar system that accurately shows both planetary diameters and distances? Describe how you would go about figuring this out.


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Digging Deeper into the PlanetsDirections: Use the information and data from Lab Modeling the Solar System to perform this lab.

You have created a model of planetary distances in our solar system. Use the skills and knowledge you gained to make a model of the interior composition of the planets. As a class, you will determine the scale diameter of each of the planets and then research and create a model of their inner layers and the composition of those layers.

You must complete Lab B before beginning Lab C. Also, have your teacher approve your design and safety procedures before beginning your experiment.

Lab C


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The Solar System End-of-Chapter PracticeDirections: Work with a small group to create a model of the solar system or a multimedia presentation about the solar system. Here is what you will need to do to complete this activity:

• As a group, make a list of the advantages and disadvantages of creating a model of the solar system or a multimedia presentation about the solar system.

Creating a Model

Advantages:

Disadvantages:

Creating a Multimedia Presentation

Advantages:

Disadvantages:

• Then,

As a group decide on creating a model or a multimedia presentation.

Brainstorm what you would like the model or multimedia presentation to look like at the end.

Divide the responsibilities for the activity.

List the steps you will need to take to carry out your responsibilities for the activity.

List the materials you will need for the activity.

• Create the model or multimedia presentation.

Share you model or multimedia presentation with your class. Your model or multimedia presentation should show the following: • planets in the solar system • at least two dwarf planets in the solar system • the Sun • the asteroid belt • a comet

Chapter Key Concepts Builder

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