Trends in the Solar System

Which planet in the Solar system orbits the sun in the shortest amount of time?

• Mercury

• Earth

• Jupiter

• Neptune

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS1-1

NGSS.MS-ESS1-2

What planet is spinning the fastest on its axis?

• Mercury

• Jupiter

• Venus

• Earth

One similarity between asteroids, comets and meteoroids is that they all:

• are made of the same materials

• come from the Asteroid Belt

• have long tails that follow behind them

• orbit the sun

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS1-3

Which is true of the dwarf planets? (Select all that are true.)

• have cleared their orbit of other objects

• made of ice

• orbit the Sun

• spherically shaped

According to a livescience.com headline from earlier in the week, "On Wednesday (Sept. 22), the fall equinox will bring the Earth about 12 hours of daylight, 12 hours of night, and a renegade space rock measuring about three times the size of the Statue of Liberty."

This object would be classified as a...

• comet

• asteroid

• meteoroid

• moon

The graph shows the average temperatures of the planets in our solar system. Which planet has the highest average temperature?

• Mercury

• Venus

• Earth

• Jupiter

Imagine that a new object is found in our solar system. It is small and made of rock and orbits the dwarf planet Eris. How would scientists classify this object?

• A moon

• A comet

• An asteroid

• A meteoroid

Which SEP are students using when creating a scale diagram of the solar system?

• engaging in argument from evidence

• planning and carrying out investigations

• developing and using models

• constructing explanations and designing solutions

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS1-2

NGSS.MS-ESS1-3

Which of the following best describes the trend in the orbital speed of planets as they move further from the Sun?

• A) Increases

• B) Decreases

• C) Remains constant

• D) Fluctuates unpredictably

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS1-2

NGSS.MS-PS2-4

What is the primary reason for the temperature differences between planets in the solar system?

• A) Distance from the Sun

• B) Size of the planet

• C) Presence of an atmosphere

• D) Magnetic field strength

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-6