Test on Wednesday, December 7th
Solar System Study Guide
The Sun
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A star
Made of gases (mostly hydrogen and helium)
Makes its own light energy (only stars make their own light energy)
Makes its own heat energy (Earth does this too)
Gives off two types of energy (light energy & heat energy)
The Sun’s heat energy is the driving force of the water cycle because it causes
evaporation
The Sun and the Water Cycle
 Evaporation- heat energy (from the Sun) is added to a liquid and the state
changes from a liquid to a gas
 Condensation- heat energy is lost from a gas (water vapor) and the state
changes from a gas to a liquid
 The water droplets begin to clump together to form clouds
 Precipitation- the water droplets in the cloud are pulled to the earth by gravity in
the form of rain
 If the water droplets continue to lose heat energy they can become solid and fall
to earth as either snow, sleet, or hail
 The heat from the sun causes the whole cycle to run
Test on Wednesday, December 7th
The Earth, Sun, and Moon
 The Earth (a planet) orbits the Sun (a star) once every 365 days
 The Moon (a satellite) orbits the Earth once every 29.5 days
Solar System
 Made up of all the planets that orbit our Sun
 Every planet orbits our Sun
 8 planets in our solar system