Short answer for Solar System Test

You may write these short answer questions out IN ADVANCE of the test! Look stuff up! Discuss them with your friends! Proof read them!

On the day of the test you will be assigned two of them. If you have them done in advance, you may pull them out of your notebook and turn them in!

One essay per sheet of paper. If they are typed the MUST be signed by your parent/guardian.

    A. State Newton’s Laws of Motion

    B. Who was Johannes Kepler, when did he live, what were his beliefs and what was his lasting contribution to our understanding of the solar system?

    C. Who was Ptolemy, when did he live, what were his beliefs and what was his lasting contribution to our understanding of the solar system?

    D. Who was Sir Issac Newton, when did he live, what were his beliefs and what was his lasting contribution to our understanding of the solar system?

    E. Why are the inner planets rocky and the outer planets (except Pluto) gaseous?

    F. Describe how the magnetic field of a planet is thought to have formed.

    G. Describe how we know what we have learned about Venus. (BE SPECIFIC)

    H. Describe at least two reasons why Mercury’s craters are still there, even though most of them were formed billions of years ago.

    I. Describe why Mercury is both one of the hottest planets and one of the coldest at the same time.

    J. Explain how reaction engines use Newton’s third Law of Motion.

    K. The Chinese first used reaction engines to launch weapons about 1000 AD, by the end of the 1800’s people wanted to use them to explore space. Who was the Russian that studied solid fuel rockets to see it they could go to space? What were his conclusions? Would a solid fuel rocket make it to space? Why or why not?

    L. Describe the contribution of Dr. Robert Goddard to modern rocketry.

    M. Name at least four space probes and describe what we have learned from them.

    N. Describe the proto-planet model for the formation of the solar system.

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