Racing to English
Activity 32d
Sun, moon and earth
True
stories
Look at the moon in the sky. It looks about the same size as
the sun.
But they are not the same size. The moon is much, much
smaller than the sun. It is much smaller than the earth.
The diameter of the moon is about 2160 miles; but the
diameter of the earth is about 7920 miles. So the diameter
of the moon is much less than one third the diameter of the
earth.
What about surface area? The surface area of the moon is about 23 million square
miles. That sounds like a lot, but it’s actually smaller than the continent of Asia.
The surface area of the whole earth is 316 million square miles, so the area of the
moon’s surface is only about 7% of the size of the earth’s surface.
Compared to earth,
the sun is enormous!
It contains 99.86% of
all of the mass of the
entire solar system.
1
The sun is 864,400 miles across. This is about 109 times the diameter of earth.
The sun weighs about 333,000 times as much as earth.
The sun is so large that about 1,300,000 planet earths could fit inside of it. The
earth is about the size of an average sunspot!
So why do the moon and the sun look about the same size?
That is because the moon is quite close to the earth but the sun is a long, long way
away. The sun is about 93,000,000 miles away from the earth. It takes light more
than eight minutes to reach us from the sun.
The moon is only about 240,000 miles away from the earth. It only takes light about
1½ seconds to travel from the moon to the earth.
1 http://www.relfe.com/07/solar_system_sun_earth_size.html
© Gordon Ward 2014. Photocopiable only for use in the purchasing institution.
Step 32d: Sun moon & earth
Racing to English
Activity 32d
Sun, moon and earth
Worksheet
Look at this passage with some friends. Decide which words fit in each space:
Look at the moon in the sky. It ________1_______ about the same size as the
sun. But they are not the same size. The moon is much, much smaller than the sun.
It is. _______2________ than the earth. The diameter of the moon is about
2160 miles; but the diameter of the earth is about 7920 miles. So the diameter of the
moon is ________3_______ one third the diameter of the earth. What about
surface area? The surface area of the moon is about 23 million
________4_______ . That sounds like a lot, but it’s actually smaller than
_______5________ Asia. The surface area of the whole earth is 316 million
square miles, so _______6________ of the moon’s surface is only about 7% of
the size of the earth’s surface.
Compared to earth, the sun is _______7________ ! It contains 99.86% of all of
the mass of the entire _______8________. The sun is 864,400 miles across.
This is about 109 times the diameter of earth. The sun weighs about 333,000 times
as much as earth. The sun is so large that about 1,300,000 planet earths
_______9________ inside of it. The earth is about the size of an average
sunspot!
So why do the moon and the sun look ________10_______ ?
That is because the moon is _______11________ to the earth but the sun is a
long, long way away. The sun is about 93,000,000 miles away from the earth. It
takes light more than eight minutes ________12_______ us from the sun.
The moon is only about 240,000 miles away from the earth. It only takes light about
1½ seconds to travel from the moon to the earth.
about the same size
could fit
enormous
looks
much less than
much smaller
quite close
solar system
© Gordon Ward 2014. Photocopiable only for use in the purchasing institution.
square miles
the continent of
the area
to reach
Step 32d: Sun moon & earth