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Unit


12

Exploring the
Solar System

How do humans explore our


Solar System?

Fig. 1 Curiosity, a man-made vehicle,


on the surface of Mars.

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Getting started
Fig. 2
A satellite orbiting
the Earth.

satellite
in orbit
relay to
satellite

relay to
consumer
microwave
signal

Earth

satellite
reciever dish
on a house

ground station
transmitting
the TV signal

Satellite
An object
that orbits a
planet, such
as the Earth,
or another
large object
in space.
Satellites may
be natural or
man-made.

What do we use satellites for in our everyday lives?






air resistance and friction

Fig. 3
The arrows show
the forces acting
on a car.

acceleration

Place a tick in the correct answer box for each question.


When a car travels at a constant speed:
There are no forces acting on it
[ ]
The forces acting are balanced
[ ]
The forces acting are unbalanced
[ ]
Accelerate
This means to
get faster.

When the car accelerates:


There are no forces acting on it
The forces acting are balanced
The forces acting are unbalanced

[ ]
[ ]
[ ]

Decelerate
This means to
get slower.

When the car decelerates:


There are no forces acting on it
The forces acting are balanced
The forces acting are unbalanced

[ ]
[ ]
[ ]

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A force on an object can change the objects speed,


direction or shape.
Contact forces are forces between objects that are touching.
Non-contact forces are forces between objects that are
nottouching.

Learning Outcomes
Concepts
In completing this unit you will learn to:
Explain the effect of gravity in the
Solar System (E5)
Compare advantages and
disadvantages of different methods
of space exploration (E6)

Key Terms
The meanings of these terms can be found
in the glossary on pages 27590.
accelerate
Moon
astronaut
Newton
decelerate
orbit
electromagnetic
probe
radiation
satellite
gravitational field
shuttle
gravitational field
Soviet Union
strength
space race
gravity
telescope
lenses
weight
mass
Investigating Scientifically
S8
Success Criteria
Learning outcome E5
Here is what you might aim to achieve by
the end of this unit:
Emerging outline the movement of
bodies in the Solar System

Developing describe the effect of


gravity in our Solar System
Mastery explain the effect of
gravity in the Solar System

What level do you think you will be able


to achieve?
Learning outcome E6
Here is what you might aim to achieve by
the end of this unit:
Emerging identify ways in which
humans learn more about space
Developing describe one way in
which humans learn more about
space
Mastery compare advantages and
disadvantages of different methods
of space exploration

What level do you think you will be able


to achieve?

I know what
these words
mean

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1 Why does gravity keep you on


the ground?
Gravity
This is the
cause of
the force
that pulls
everyday
objects (and
us) towards
the ground.
In fact, it
pulls us
towards the
center of the
Earth.

E5
S8

We know that the Earths gravity keeps you on the ground.


You feel the Earths gravity when you jump off a wall and
land! The Earths gravity stops you floating off into space.

Fig. 4 Isaac
Newton sitting under
an apple tree, just
before the apple fell.

Isaac Newton lived in England in the 1600s. According to


an old story, he was sitting beneath an apple tree when he
started to think about how apples fall.
Before the apple falls, what is its speed?



When the apple is falling, is its speed still zero?
yes []no []
The speed of the apple must be changing when the apple
falls. You know that to change an objects speed, unbalanced
forces must be acting on it.

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support
from tree

weight

weight

Fig. 5 When the apple hangs on the tree, the


forces are balanced.

Fig. 6 Without support from the tree, the


forces are unbalanced. The apple accelerates
downwards.

The Earths gravity acts on everything


Everything on Earth (people, cars, houses, planes, clouds,
mountains, the atmosphere) is pulled downwards towards the
center of the Earth. In fact, everything near the Earth is pulled
towards the center of the Earth. This includes communication
satellites and the Moon.
Moon

Fig. 7 Everything is
pulled towards the
center of the Earth.

Earth

The Earth causes a gravitational field. Everything in Earths


gravitational field has a force acting on it due to the Earths
gravity.

Gravitational
field
An area
around an
object where
its gravity
causes a force.

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Is the force caused by a gravitational field a contact force or


anon-contact force?
Put a tick in one of these boxes.
contact force [ ]
Equipment:
Newton meter,
clamp stand,
slotted masses
Newton (N)
A Newton
is the unit
of force.
You have
measured
force in
Newtons
before, using
a Newton
meter.

Mass
The amount
of matter in
an object.
Every object
is made up
of atoms,
and each
atom has an
atomic mass.
The mass of
an object is
the total of
these atomic
masses.

non-contact force [ ]

Activity 1.1
What to do:
1. Hang the Newton meter from the clamp. A Newton meter
measures Newtons.
2. Copy and continue this table on a piece of paper. Your
table should have ten rows.
Mass (kg)

Force (N)

3. Read the Newton meter when no mass is hanging


from the hook. Write down the force in your table.
4. Hang the empty mass hook on the Newton meter. Record
the mass in the first column of the table. Read the meter,
and record the force in the table.
5. Continue adding masses, one by one. Record the total
mass and the force in the table each time.
6. Look at your
values. What is
the relationship
between the mass
on the left and the
force on the right?
7. On a piece of graph
paper, draw a pair
of axes. Plot mass
along the x-axis,
and force along the
y-axis. Both axes
should start at 0.
8. Choose a suitable
scale so that you can
plot all your values.
Plot the values from
your graph, and
draw a straight line
of best fit.

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9. Using your graph from Activity 1.1, what would be the


force on each of these masses?
0.1 kg

1 kg

0.15 kg

100 kg

0.57 kg

What is the relationship between the mass and the force that
acts on it?

x-axis
The horizontal
axis on a graph.
y-axis
The vertical axis
on a graph.



We can calculate the force on an object from the
gravitational field strength (g) and the objects mass (m).
The force on an object due to the gravitational field is called
the weight (w) of the object.
On the surface of the Earth, g 10 N/kg.
But g is not the same everywhere. Study and complete Table 1.
Weight of
Place

Gravitational
field strength
(N/kg)

1 kg

The surface of the Earth

10

10 N

The surface of the Moon

1.6

The surface of Mars

3.8

The surface of the Sun

274

The surface of Jupiter

24.9

0.5 kg

10 kg

80 kg

0.8 N
2750 N

Table 1

People have walked on the Moon. Your teacher will show you
a video of this.
Can you say how people move differently on the Moon? Can
you explain it?



Gravitational
field strength
The force that
is exerted on
every kilogram
of an object
that is in the
field. It is
normally given
the letter g. It
is measured
in Newtons
per kilogram,
N/kg.
Weight
The force
acting on an
object in a
gravitational
field, such as
the Earths
gravitational
field. It
depends on the
strength of the
gravitational
field (g) and
the mass of the
object (m).
w = mg.

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Looking at the information in this section, what problem do


you think there would be for people visiting Jupiter?



Now look at the graph in Fig. 8.
11
10
9
8
7
6
g (N/kg)
5
4
3
2
1

Fig. 8 This graph


shows Earths
gravitational field.

5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 35000 40000 45000 50000
distance from the Earths surface (km)

What is the weight of 1 kg at these distances from the surface


of the Earth? Give your answer in Newtons (N).
0 m

40 000 km

1000 km

50 000 km

10 000 km
The strength of the gravitational pull between two objects
depends on:
the mass of the objects
the distance between the objects.

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E5

2 How do satellites stay up?


What happens when you throw a ball straight up in
the air?

What happens when you throw a ball out in front of you?

Fig. 9 The ball


moves in the
direction that you
throw it. But at the
same time, it falls
towards the ground
due to Earths gravity.

Imagine you could throw a ball very far. Imagine you could
throw it so far that our picture has to show the curve of the
Earth. Fig. 10 shows this.
Fig. 10 You can see
that the ball travels
further than it would if
Earth wasflat.

Now imagine you could throw the ball very fast. Whenever
the ball falls towards Earth, due to Earths gravity, the Earth
curves away from the ball. This is what happens when a
satellite orbits the Earth.

Orbit
The circular
or elliptical
path of a
planet around
the Sun, or
of a moon
or artificial
satellite
around a
planet.

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Fig. 11 A satellite
orbits the Earth
but does not fall
towards it because
the satellite is going
very fast.

Equipment:
Some string
(about 1 meter),
an (old) tennis
ball, a length of
dowel (5cm), glue
or sticky tape, a
sharp knife

the Earths gravity


pulls on the satellite

Activity 2.1
What to do:
You will need to do this activity outside!
1. Tie the string tightly around the middle of the dowel. Use
sticky tape or glue to make sure the knot doesnt slip.
2. Cut a small slit in the tennis ball, and push the dowel into
theball.
3. Hold the string tight, about halfway along, and spin it.
When it is spinning, try to keep your hand quite still. Move
it just enough to keep the ball spinning.
What is the shape of the balls path?

4. Spin the ball with the string longer.
5. Spin the ball with the string shorter.

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What do you notice about spinning the ball when the string is
short, and when the string is long?



Fig. 12 shows the diagram of the spinning ball.
V

Fig. 12
The force F on the
ball from the string
keeps it moving in a
circle at velocity V.
When the ball goes
faster, you need
more force to keep
it in the circle. If the
ball goes too slowly,
the circle collapses.

The force on a satellite and the satellites speed keep it in


orbit. What force pulls the satellite towards the center?

The force on the satellite is constant. What would happen
to the satellite if it was moving more slowly? What would
happen if it was moving more quickly?



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E5

3 The Solar System

Mercury

Moon
A moon is
a natural
satellite of
a planet.
In English,
we use the
same word
as the name
of our moon.
Because its a
name, we give
it a capital
Mthe Moon!

Venus

Earth
(1 moon)

Mars
(2 moons)

Fig. 13 The Solar System is the Sun and everything that orbits the Sun. You
learned about orbits in the last section. All planets and moons in the Solar System
are in orbit.

The strongest gravitational force acting on the planets is


from the Sun, so the planets orbit the Sun. The strongest
gravitational force acting on each moon is its nearest planet,
so the moons orbit the planets.

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Jupiter
(4 large moons;
at least 63 smaller moons)

Saturn
(62 moons)

Uranus
(27 moons)

Neptune
(14 moons)

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You can see that in Fig. 13 the distances are not to scale. Also,
the planets do not really line up like this!
Think about what you have learned about gravity. Explain
how you know that the Sun must have a much larger mass
than the planets.






E6

4 Exploring the Solar System

People have known about some planets since


ancient times. But Neptune and Uranus were only
discovered in the 1800s. The moons of some planets are still
being found today.
Over the last 20 years, scientists have found planets outside
our Solar System. These areplanets orbiting distant stars.

Fig. 14 Arab
astronomers at work
in ancient times.

Reflection
Why do you think some
planets were discovered
long ago, and some
much more recently?
What do you think
people used to discover
these planets?

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Look at the names of the planets in English and in Arabic.


The names of the older planets (those first discovered) are
very different in the two languages, because different people
discovered them in different parts of the world and gave them
different names. The newer planets were discovered when
news traveled much more quickly.
Because Muslim astronomers named many of the stars, the
English names for most stars are taken from the Arabic.
An important invention for discovering objects far from the
Earth is the telescope.

a)

c)

Telescope
A device
that allows
us to look at
distant objects
in detail.

Lenses
Curved pieces
of glass used
to focus or
enlarge an
image, for
example in a
magnifying
glass.

b)

d)

Fig. 15 Four telescopes: a) Early optical, b) Modern optical, c) Radio telescope,


d) The Hubble Space telescope.

The telescope most people think of is the optical telescope,


which uses lenses to magnify light. Astronomers also use
radio and microwave telescopes to look for objects sending out
radiation that is not visible.
Telescopes let us view the Solar System without ever leaving
the planet. But people have always wanted to see further.

Fig. 16
A magnifying glass
has a lens.

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Soviet Union
A country
that was
made up
of Russia,
Ukraine and
several other
modern
countries.

In the 1960s and 70s, the United States and the Soviet Union
competed in the space race. Each country wanted to be the
first to achieve important goals.

John Glenn in 1962


became the first human
to orbit the Earth.

First man-made
satellite, 1957
Sputnik was the
worlds first artificial
satellite.

1957

1961

First man in space, 1961 Yuri Gagarin


became the first human to visit space.

1962

1963

First woman in space, 1963 Valentina


Tereshkova flew into space in Vostok 6.

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First probe on the Moon, 1966 Luna 9 landed on the Moon and sent
back photographs from the surface.

1966

1969

First men on the Moon, 1969 Apollo 11 Neil


Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the Moon.

1981

The space
race
The
competition
between the
United States
and the
Soviet Union
to be the first
to achieve
goals in space
exploration.

Fig. 17
A timeline showing
the space race.

First shuttle, 1981 Columbia flew into space


and orbited Earth before returning safely to the
ground.

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Astronaut
A person who
travels into
space.

Electro
magnetic
radiation
Energy that
is given out
and travels in
straight lines
from bodies
like the Sun.
Light is a
type of electro
magnetic
radiation.
Some radiation is harmful
and damages
human cells
which leads to
cancers.
Shuttle
A reusable
spacecraft
designed to
survive a trip
to space and
to be used
many times.
Although
the shuttles
themselves
were reused,
they were
lifted into
space by
a one-use
rocket.

Travelling in space
Travelling in space is very expensive. A rocket launched into
space needs to work against the Earths gravity, and needs
enormous amounts of fuel. When people are on board, lots of
money must be spent on safety. About 50 years ago, only the
United States and the Soviet Union could afford to have these
very ambitious space programs.
Space travel is dangerous. Only a few hundred people have
been into space, and at least 35 have died, normally during
the launch.
Space is very cold but on the return to Earth a spaceship
becomes very hot as it enters the Earths atmosphere. This
is a dangerous time for astronauts and spacecraft need to
withstand high temperatures.
The Earths atmosphere protects people on Earth from dangerous
electromagnetic radiation from the Sun. The spaceship needs
to protect astronauts from this radiation and it may limit how
long we can spend beyond the Earths atmosphere.
Far from the Earth, the Earths gravity is quite weak. This
means that our muscles dont need to work as hard and they
become weak over time. For trips far away from Earth, for
example to other planets, astronauts would need to do lots
ofspecial exercises to keep their muscles healthy.
On one-time spaceships, for example in the Apollo mission,
the outside of the spaceship was allowed to burn up. But
for the space shuttle, it was important not to damage the
spacecraft because it will be used for another mission.

Fig. 18 The shuttle was covered with insulating tiles to protect the spacecraft
and the crew inside. This silicon tile has been heated to 2200 C, but it is still safe to
touch because it conducts heat very badly.

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The silica glass tiles which cover the space shuttle are very
bad conductors of heat. How does this protect the shuttle?


In recent years, more countries have sent probes into space.
China, India and the European Union all have active space
programs, and the UAE has also launched its first satellite,
DubaiSat1.
Manned and unmanned missions
A manned mission is when men and women travel into space.
An unmanned mission uses probes controlled from Earth.
Modern probes are like robots. They can react to events.
Which of these missions were manned and which were
unmanned? You may need to use the Internet.

Manned Unmanned
Sputnik []
[]
Sputnik 2 []
[]
Luna 9
[]
[]

Manned Unmanned
Apollo 11 []
[]
Mars 2
[]
[]
DubaiSat1
[]
[]

Fill in this table of advantages and disadvantages:


Mission type

Advantages

Probe
An unmanned
craft, often
small, which is
sent into space
or to other
planets, moons
or comets
for scientific
research. We
also send
probes deep
into the ocean.

Rover
A space
exploration
vehicle
designed to
move across
the surface of
a planet.
Disadvantages

Telescopes on Earth
Telescopes in space (like Hubble)
Probes to the Moon and the planets
Probes that travel far, and even leave the
Solar System (for example Voyager)
Manned mission
Rovers (for example on Mars)
Observation from Earth

Table 2

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5 Presentation Task
You have seen some of the discoveries we have made in space.
The USA alone has spent over $900 000 000 000 on exploring
space.
With your team, research the reasons for and against manned
space travel. Make sure you consider both sides of the discussion.
Your team task is to produce a presentation giving details of
why you support or oppose manned space exploration.
Think about these questions:
What is the purpose of exploration?
How much does a mission cost?
What are the limits to what probes and rovers can do?
What are the limits to what humans can do?
What science do we learn from the missions themselves?
What other benefits are there from space missions?
What else could we spend the money on?
Use the Internet and the library to research your answers.
You could present your work in one of these ways:
A poster
A classroom display
When you are ready, your group will present your arguments
for or against. You will listen to other groups who are arguing
the other way. Be ready to ask and answer questions!

6 Feedback

Medals and Missions

Self Assessment
Shade in the level you have achieved for each outcome in this unit.
Concept Learning
Outcome

E5
E6

Emerging

Developing

Mastery

Outline the movement


of bodies in the Solar
System.

Describe the effect of


gravity in our Solar
System.

Explain the effect of


gravity in the Solar
System.

Identify ways in which


humans learn more
about space.

Describe one way in


which humans learn
more about space.

Compare advantages
and disadvantages of
different methods of
space exploration.

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Skill Learning
Outcome

Emerging
Record observations/
data in some kind of
systematic way.

S8

Developing

Mastery

Record observations/
data in a simple table.

Construct an
appropriate and
complete table to record
observations/data.

Medals
What have been your greatest achievements during this unit? For example,
mastering a concept outcome, improving a skill or feeling proud of your
organizational abilities, team work or presentation.
What did you do well?

How did you do it?

1.

2.

3.

Missions
What are your targets for improvement? Select two Learning Outcomes to focus
on and set yourself a target. For example, if you have reached developing, what
do you need to do next time to achieve mastery?
Learning Outcomes

Target

1.

2.

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7 Science I have learned in this unit

Mass is constant. The weight of an object depends on its own

mass, and the mass of the object that gravity pulls it towards.
Objects in the Solar System move in orbits.
Orbital movement is due to gravity.
Smaller objects orbit larger objects.
Humans can explore space from the Earth by travelling into

space, or by sending unmanned probes.


Telescopes are useful for exploring space from the Earth.
Manned missions are the most expensive way to explore space.
Some telescopes, like the Hubble, are situated in space.

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