Gravity Practice Quiz

Why does the Sun not orbit Earth?

• Only celestial objects within ten thousand miles of each other can be brought into another body's orbit
• Earth's mass is less than the Sun's, so it does not have a strong enough gravitational pull to attract the Sun into its orbit.
• Only celestial bodies that emit light, like the Sun, can be the center orbits.
• The Sun has an elliptical orbit, so it cannot orbit Earth, which has a circular orbit.

A student is looking at a model of the solar system noted there is a belt of objects in orbit in between Mars and Jupiter. What are these orbiting objects?

• Comets
• Moons
• Asteroids
• Pluto

A small planet that is close to the Sun will -

• have a strong gravitational pull exerted on it
• pull several smaller planets into its orbit
• have too great a mass to orbit the Sun
• orbit in an elliptical path

A student was challenged to put the planets of the solar system in order by the amount of the force of gravity of each planet. What planet should be listed as having the greatest gravitational force?

• Jupiter
• Earth
• The Sun
• Uranus

What is the massive object the planets of our solar system orbit?

• Venus
• Earth
• Jupiter
• The Sun

What is the biggest factor in determining the motion of objects in our solar system?

• Gravity

• Magnetisim

• Sunlight

• Friction

What determines an objects orbital path?

• The shape of the celestial body and its chemical components.

• The frictional forces acting on the bodies.

• The age of the bodies and their contact with other bodies.

• The speed or motion of the bodies and the force of gravity.

Gravity is increased when:

• The distance between the objects increase.

• The mass of the object is decreased.

• The distance and mass both increase.

• The distance decreases and/or the mass increases.

Gravity is decreased when:

• The distance between the objects decrease.

• The mass of the object is decreased and/or the distance is increased..

• The distance and mass both increase.

• The distance decreases and/or the mass increases.

If the mass of Jupiter was reduced, what would you have to do to maintain the same gravitational pull between it and the Sun?

• Reduce the mass of the Sun.

• Increase the distance between them.

• Decrease the distance between them.

• Increase the speed of Jupiter's Orbit.