Download Earth, Moon, Sun Study Guide

Study Guide
Earth, Moon, and Sun
Test February 14, 2014
1) Rank the Earth, Moon, and Sun in order from largest to smallest
Sun > Earth > Moon
2) What direction does the moon appear to move across the sky?
East to West
3) What direction does the sun appear to move across the sky?
East to West
4) Why do the moon/sun appear to move across the sky?
The earth is spinning (rotating) on its axis. This makes it look like the moon and sun
move across the sky.
5) How long does it take the earth to make one rotation?
24 hours (one day)
6) What is an earth revolution and how long is it?
It is when the earth orbits, or goes around, the sun. It takes 365 days.
7) Why does the sun look smaller than the moon?
The sun looks smaller because it is much farther away.
8) What is a natural satellite of the earth?
The Moon
9) Why does the moon appear to have different shapes?
We can only see the part of the moon that is lit by the sun. Sometimes we can see the
whole lit side (full moon), and other times we can half of the moon, or none of the moon.
It depends on where the moon is in its revolution around the earth.
10) What do you know if you find a fossil of a still-living thing?
It means that living thing has been living there a long time.
11) How can scientists tell what extinct animals ate?
By their teeth, what is in their stomachs, and by what other plant or animal fossils are
near it.
12) How are the earth and sun similar and different?
Same: gravity, solar system, spheres, atmospheres
Different: no air on the sun, sun is a star/earth is a planet, sun is a gas/earth is solid
13) Explain how the moon phases change.
14) Draw how the Earth spins and orbits around the sun, giving us day/night and
seasons.