The Solar System Flashcards
Grade 7 · Science · Flashcards
Key vocabulary for the Sun, planets, moons, and other bodies in our solar system.
Flashcards
- Solar system
- The Sun and all objects gravitationally bound to it: planets, moons, asteroids, comets, and dust.
- Terrestrial planets
- Inner rocky planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars. Solid surfaces; smaller and denser than gas giants.
- Gas giants
- Jupiter and Saturn; huge planets of mostly hydrogen and helium with no solid surface.
- Ice giants
- Uranus and Neptune; contain hydrogen, helium, and large amounts of water, ammonia, and methane ice.
- Asteroid belt
- Region of rocky fragments between Mars and Jupiter; never formed a planet due to Jupiter's gravity.
- Kuiper Belt
- Region beyond Neptune containing icy bodies including dwarf planets like Pluto and Eris.
- Dwarf planet
- Object orbiting the Sun that is spherical but has not cleared its orbital neighborhood (e.g., Pluto).
- Moon
- A natural satellite orbiting a planet; Earth's Moon causes ocean tides.
- Orbit
- The curved path an object follows around another due to gravity.
- Nuclear fusion
- The process in the Sun's core where hydrogen atoms fuse into helium, releasing enormous energy.
- Gravity
- The attractive force between objects with mass; holds the solar system together.
- Comet
- Icy body from the outer solar system that develops a glowing tail of gas and dust when near the Sun.
- Asteroid
- Rocky, metallic object orbiting the Sun; most are found in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
- Revolution
- The orbital motion of one body around another (e.g., Earth revolves around the Sun once per year).
- Rotation
- The spinning of a body on its own axis (e.g., Earth rotates once every 24 hours).
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