Student Name: _______________________________
Mrs. Lee – 8th Grade Physical Science
Period #: ______
Date: _____________
Chapter 12 Vocabulary: Earth, Moon & Sun
Axis: An imaginary line that passes through Earth’s center & the North & South poles, about
which Earth rotates (p 465)
Revolution: The movement of an object around another object (p 465)
Calendar: A system of organizing time that defines the beginning, length, & divisions of year (p
466)
Equinox: The 2 days of the year on which neither hemisphere is tilted toward or away from the
sun (p 471)
Astronomy: The study of the moon, stars, & other objects in space (p 464)
Rotation: The spinning motion of a planet on its axis (p 465)
Orbit: The path of an object as it revolves around another object in space (p 465)
Solstice: The 2 days of the year on which the sun reaches its greatest distance north or south of
the equator (p 470)
Gravity: The attractive force between objects; its strength depends on their masses & the
distance between them (p 474)
Mass: The amount of matter in an object (p 475)
Inertia: The tendency of an object to resist a change in motion (p476)
Phase: One of the different apparent shapes of the moon as seen from Earth (p 479)
Force: A push or a pull exerted on an object (p 474)
Law of universal gravitation: The scientific law that states that every object in the universe
attracts every other object (p 474)
Weight: The force of gravity on an object (p 475)
Newton’s 1st law of motion: The scientific law states that an object at rest will stay at rest & an
object in motion will stay in motion with a constant speed & direction unless acted on by a force
(p 476)
Solar eclipse: The blocking of sunlight to Earth that occurs when the moon is directly between
the sun & Earth
Penumbra: The part of a shadow surrounding the darkest part (p 482)
Ch 12 Vocabulary
1
Student Name: _______________________________
Mrs. Lee – 8th Grade Physical Science
Period #: ______
Date: _____________
Chapter 12 Vocabulary: Earth, Moon & Sun
Tide: The periodic rise & fall of the level of water in the ocean (p 484)
Neap tide: The tide with the least difference between consecutive low & high tides (p 485)
Eclipse: The partial or total blocking of one object in space by another (p 481)
Umbra: The darkest part of a shadow (p 482)
Lunar eclipse: The blocking of sunlight to the moon that occurs when Earth is directly between
the sun & the moon (p 483)
Spring tide: The tide with the greatest difference between consecutive low & high tides (p 485)
Maria: Dark, flat areas on the moon’s surface formed from huge ancient lava flows (p 489)
Meteoroid: A chunk of rock or dust in space (p 489)
Telescope: A device built to observe distance objects by making them appear closer (p 488)
Crater: A large round pit caused by the impact of a meteoroid (p 489)
Ch 12 Vocabulary
2