Name: _________________________________________
Science Per: ___________
Date: __________________
Chapter 4: The Solar System
Lesson 3: _______________________________________
Essential Question: What do the inner planets have in common?
The inner planets are _______________, and _____________, and have __________________________.
The inner planets are called the ________________ planets from the Latin word “__________” meaning
“____________”. Each inner planet has a ________________________ and all, except Mercury, have an
atmosphere.
Complete “The Inner Planets” exercise on page 147.
Complete the “Assess your understanding” exercise on page 147.
Essential Question: What are the characteristics of the inner planets?
Mercury

Mercury is the ________________ terrestrial planet and the planet ________________ to the sun.

Mercury is not much larger than __________________________.

The surface of Mercury is covered with ____________. Mercury has almost ________________.
Because its ____________ is so small, the gravity is ____________________ to hold on to gases.

Because it is so close to the sun, during the day Mercury’s temperature gets _________________,
up to 430oC. But with almost no __________________ to hold on to that heat, it _____________
at _______________, dropping to -170oC. Mercury has the greatest variation between its high and
low temperatures.

Information about Mercury has come from unmanned space _______________ like Mariner 10
and MESSENGER.
Complete the “Mercury” assignment on page 148.
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Venus

Venus is so similar to Earth in ____________ and ____________ that it is sometimes called
Earth’s “____________” or Earth’s “sister” planet.

Venus has a thick ______________________, an unusual pattern of __________________, and
the ______________________________________ of any planet.

The atmosphere on Venus is made mostly of _______________________.

A _____________ (the time it takes to revolve around the sun) on Venus is about ________ Earth
months. A ___________ (the time it takes to rotate once on its axis) on Venus is about ____ Earth
months. So a day on Venus is actually _____________ than a year.

Venus also rotates _________________ (from east to west) compared to other planets and moons.

The thick atmosphere ____________________ of the radiation from the sun. But the solar energy
that does pass through the atmosphere becomes _____________, making the surface __________
than any other planet. The average temperature is 460oC. The trapping of the heat is called the
_______________________________.

Venus has been explored by various unmanned space probes.
Earth

Earth is the only planet in our solar system that can _________________ easily. It has _________
____________, a suitable __________________________, and an ________________ for living
things to survive.

The Earth is unique because over ________ of its surface is covered by liquid _____________.

Earth is just the right ______________ away from the sun that it is not too cold or too hot for
water to be _____________ instead of freezing into ______ or ______________ into water vapor.

Earth has enough ____________ to hold on to its atmosphere that is made of about 80%
_______________ and 20% _______________.

Earth experiences a _____________________________, but not as much as Venus. Without it,
our planet would be much ________________.

The Earth has _____ main layers: the ____________, the ___________, and the ____________.
The crust is the ___________________________. The mantle is a thick layer of _____________.
The core is ______________ and made of mostly ___________ and ________________.

The Earth has __________ moon.
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Complete the “Compare and Contrast” assignment on page 150.
Complete the “Greenhouse Effect” assignment on pages 150-151.
Complete the “Earth’s Structure” assignment on page 151.
Mars

Mars is sometimes called the “_____________________”.

The atmosphere of Mars is mostly ____________________________.

It is _____________ on Mars than on Earth. Mars is too cold for _____________ water, but ice
can be found at the _____________________________ and __________________________.
Mars may have had liquid water in the past.

Some regions of Mars have giant _________________. _____________________ is the
________________ volcano in the solar system.

Mars has ________ very small _____________, _______________ and ________________.

Mars has been explored by many ___________________ space probes.
Complete the “Sol Tours” exercises on pages 148 and 152.
Complete the “Assess your understanding” exercise on page 153.
Complete the “Review and Assessment” questions #8, 9, and 10 on page 175.
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Lesson 4: _______________________________________
Essential Question: What do the outer planets have in common?

The four outer planets are much ___________________ and more __________________ than the
inner planets. Because these planets are so large, they are often called the “_________________”.

Because they are so large, they exert a very strong _____________________________ that keeps
_______________ from escaping, forming __________________________________.

The __________________ inside these planets is so strong that most of the material is actually
_______________. They do not have a _________________________.

The outer planets are very ____________ because they are so far away from the _________.

All gas giants have many ______________.

Each of the gas giants is surrounded by a set of ___________ made of small bits of ___________
and _____________.
Complete “The Outer Planets” exercise on page 155.
Complete the “Assess your understanding” on page 155.
Essential Question: What are the characteristics of each outer planet?
Jupiter

Jupiter is the ______________ and most _________________ planet.

Jupiter’s atmosphere is mostly __________________ and ____________________.

The ________________________________ is a giant (larger than Earth) _____________.
Moons of Jupiter: Jupiter has over _______ moons. Its 4 largest are bigger than Earth’s moon. They are
called the “______________________” because they were discovered by _______________ in the 1610.

____________________ is the ______________ moon in the entire solar system, it is larger than
Mercury.

_________________ has the most _______________.

______ is covered by active ____________________.

_______________ is covered with _______. There may be _____________ water ____________
the layer of ice.
Complete “The Moons of Jupiter” exercise on page 157.
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Saturn

The __________________________ planet in the solar system.

Thick atmosphere of ________________ and ________________.

Saturn has the most spectacular ________________________ of any planet in the solar system.
Made of _________ and ____________, they are ___________ and ____________.

Saturn has the ____________________________ of any planet, it would ___________ in water.

Second largest moon in solar system, ___________________.
Uranus

Looks _____________________ because of _______________ in atmosphere.

Surrounded by _____________.

Much _______________ than Saturn because it is ___________________.

Has at least _______ moons.

Axis of rotation is ________________________________________________________. Rotates
_____________________________ instead _____________________ like other planets, possibly
because of _____________________________________________________________________.
Complete the “A Sideways Planet” assignment on page 160.
Neptune

Similar in ____________ and _____________ to Uranus.

Atmosphere contains _______________________________________.

Large storm was called the ___________________________________.

Has at least _____ moons, largest is _________________.
Complete the “Sol Tours” exercise on pages 157, 158, and 160.
Complete the “Assess your understanding” exercise on page 160.
Complete the “Review and Assessment” question #12 on page 175.
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Lesson 5: _______________________________________________________
Essential Question: How do scientists classify small objects in the solar system?
Scientists classify small objects in the solar system based on their _______________, _______________,
_______________________, and _______________. The major categories include _________________,
_____________, ___________________, and ___________________.
Areas of the Solar System: Most of the small objects in the solar system are found in three areas: the
__________________________, the ____________________, and the _____________________.

The ____________________ is located between ____________ and __________________.

The ____________________ is beyond Neptune’s orbit and extends to about ________________
_____________________________________________________________.

The _____________________ is past the ___________________ and stretches more than
_____________________________________________________________________.
Complete the “Areas of the Solar System” assignment on page 163.
Dwarf planets: Dwarf planets orbit the ____________ and have enough gravity to have formed into a
_______________. But they have ________________________________________________________.

_________ official dwarf planets so far: ______________, ___________, __________________,
________________, and _______________.

____________ is the largest.

Ceres is located in the _______________________; all others orbit in the ___________________
(these are called ______________).

May have _______________.
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Comets: _____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________.
Most comets come from the ___________________.

The ______________ is the ___________________________ of a comet.

The ____________ is the _______________________ that forms when sunlight turns the ice to
__________ and _____________ is released.

The tail forms when ___________________________________________________________.
The gas tail always points _________________________________.
Complete the “Vocabulary” exercise on page 164.
Complete the “Summarize” exercise on page 165.
Complete the “A Comet’s Orbit” on page 165.
Asteroids: ___________________________________________________________________________.
Asteroids are ________________ than dwarf planets. There are at least ____________ discovered so far.

Most asteroids are _____________ and not ___________________.

Probably formed from ____________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________.

Most orbit the sun in the _______________________________, between Mars and Jupiter.
Meteoroids: _________________________________________________________________________.

Called _________________ when located outside of Earth’s atmosphere (“o” is for “outer space”)

Called ________________ when they enter Earth’s atmosphere, and ________________ with the
air creates __________ and produces a _______________________. The meteor burns up
completely in the atmosphere. Sometimes called a “__________________________”.

Called a _________________________ when they are large enough to have a piece actually land
on the Earth. (“ite” is for “I touched Earth”)

A __________________________ occurs when Earth passes through an area with many meteors.
Complete the “Apply it!” exercise on page 166.
Complete the “Assess your understanding” exercise on page 167.
Complete the “Review and Assessment” questions #13-16 on page 176.
Complete the “Florida Benchmarks Review” questions #1-6 on page 177. This will be graded for accuracy.
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