Mr. Boothby
World Geography
Lecture Notes CH II Sec I
Name_________________
Read the pages in your textbook before you begin to answer these questions. Remember
to always answer by using complete sentences. Keep this sheet in your notebook.
I. What is a Solar System? What is the name of our Solar System?
A solar system is a grouping of sphere or ball like objects that are held together by gravitational forces.
1. What is the textbook definition of a Moon? What are some of the things that our
moon (the moon) helps the Earth to do? Moons are smaller satellites of planets. Some planets have many
moons and some have none at all. Moons are known as natural satellites and they help the Earth’s tide/water movement. The
rotations of the Earth and moon together revolving around the sun.
2. What is the textbook definition for “The Sun” and what are some of the statistics
of our Sun? (Ex: Diameter?)
A large spherical mass composed of gas that has multiple satellites, which revolve around its gravitational field(s).
3. What is the actual scientific name of the earth’s sun? What are some facts about it?
The Sun STATS: Earth’s diameter is 8,000 miles The Suns diameter is over 800,000 miles or or 100x the wall map in
comparison (map is 13 feet x 100 = 1,300 feet or past Safeway for you non-scientific type. Cool huh?
II. How does the Earth receive most of its “solar energy”?
Primarily from the rays of the Sun. The nearest star to the earth is proxima Centauri, which is about 25 trillion mils away.
4. What are the three factors that control the amount of solar energy that fall on the
Earth? (Name then and explain their effects)
Rotation / Revolution and Tilt.
5. How long does it take the Earth to make one complete rotation? Find Minutes and seconds
It takes 24 hours or 1,440 minutes or 86,400 seconds
6. (Trick question) Why does the sun move in the sky during the day and rotate
around the Earth? Because the Earth is moving and it appears to us that the Sun has changed its position!
7. How long does it take the Earth to make one complete revolution? Do you know
now long it takes the other planets to make a complete revolution, is it the same?
Find the Earths Revolution time in hours, minutes, and then …seconds!
365.25 days or 876,600 hours/ 52,596,000 minutes WOW!!!
8. How many degrees is the Earth tilted? Why is the Earths tilt important to life on
planet Earth (Hint: It’s not in the book)? 23.5 degrees
Scientists agree that if the tilt were off by as little as a tenth of a degree life as we know it would not be possible on this planet!
Movies like “Armageddon” give examples of how important this can be!
9. Solar energy only _strikes__ the __Half_ of the Earth that is facing the sun.
10. What do scientists think the earth would be like if the tilt was altered? Think
about this one…altering tilt or coarse is very SERIOUS!!! We would all die…Serious stuff!!!