SPACE

PHYSICS
The Earth and Solar System
 “The faster you
move through
space, the slower
you move through
time ”
—EINSTEIN
 OBJECTIVES:
Here’s what we’ll be learning in space physics:

● The Earth’s rotation and orbit.

● Define average orbital speed from the equation v = 2πr / T

● Describe the Solar System contains.

● Know the differences between the planets.
● Calculate the time it takes light to travel a significant distance
between objects in the Solar System
● Know that the strength of the Sun’s gravitational field
decreases and that the orbital speeds of the planets decrease
as the distance from the Sun increases.
● Know that an object in an elliptical orbit travels faster when
closer to the Sun and explain this using the conservation of
energy
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

EARTH, 0 ORBITAL
0
MOON &
1 2 SPEEDS
SUN
0 SOLAR
3 SYSTEM
0 CONCLUSIO 0GRAVITATIONA
4 NS 5 L EFFECTS
 0
The 1
Earth,
Moon and Sun
Atiyah Sulaiman
 THE
EARTH
● The Earth is a rocky planet that rotates in an almost
nuclear habit round the sun.
● The Earth completes one full rotation (revolution) in
approximately 24 hours (1 day).
● The rotation of the Earth on its axis is responsible
for the periodic cycle of day and night.
CYCLE OF DAY AND NIGHT

DAY Night
Day is experienced by Night is the other half
the half of the Earth's of the Earth's surface,
surface that is facing facing away from the
the Sun Sun
Rising and setting of
the sun
● The Earth's rotation on its axis makes the Sun
looks like it moves from east to west
○ At the equinoxes the Sun rises exactly in
the east and sets exactly in the west
○ Equinox (meaning 'equal night’) is when
day and night are approximately of equal
length.
● In the northern hemisphere (above the
equator):
○ In summer, the sun rises north of east and
sets north of west
○ In winter, the sun rises south of east and
sets south of west.
● The Sun is highest above the horizon at noon (12 pm)
● In the northern hemisphere, the daylight hours are
longest up until roughly the 21st June
○ This day is known as the Summer Solstice and is
where the Sun is at its highest point in the sky all
year
● The daylight hours then decrease to their lowest
around 21st December
○ This is known the Winter Solstice and is where the
Sun is at its lowest point in the sky all year.
 THE EARTH’S ORBIT
● The Earth orbits the Sun once in approximately 365 days. The combination of
the orbiting of the Earth around the Sun and the Earth's tilt creates the season.
 THE
MOON
● The Moon is a satellite around the Earth
● It travels around the Earth in roughly a circular orbit once a month
○ This takes 27-28 days
● The Moon revolves around its own axis in a month so always has the
same side facing the Earth at all times
○ We never see the hemisphere that is always facing away from
Earth, although astronauts have orbited the Moon and satellite
have photographed it
● The Moon shines with reflected light from the Sun, it does not
produce its own light
PHASES OF THE
MOON
THAT’S ALL FOR THE EARTH,
MOON AND SUN
0
2
Calculating
Speed
Orbital

Chiebuka Ozigbu
ORBITAL SPEED
When planets move around
the sun, or a moon moves
around a planet, they orbit in
circular motion This means
that in one orbit, a planet
travels a distance equal to the
circumference of a circle (the
shape of the orbit)
● This is equal to 2πr where
r is the radius a circle
AVERAGE ORBITAL SPEED OF
AN OBJECT
● Where:
○ v = orbital speed in metres per second
(m/s)
○ r = average radius of the orbit in
metres (m)
○ T = orbital period in seconds (s)
 THE ORBITAL PERIOD
❖ The time taken for an
object to complete one
orbit
❖ The orbital radius r is
always taken from the
centre of the object
being orbited to the
object orbiting.
The End of
Calculation
Orbital
Speeds
 0
The3
Solar
System
Darasimi Moses
 The Solar System
The solar system consists of:
● The sun
● Eight planets
● Natural and artificial satellites
● Dwarf planets
● Asteroids and comets
 The Sun and the Planets
The sun lies at the center of the solar system

The sun is a star that makes up about 99% of the mass of the solar system

There are eight planets and an unknown number of dwarf planets which orbit
the sun

● The gravitational field around planets is strong enough to have pulled in all
nearby objects with the exception of natural satellites
● The gravitational field around a dwarf planet is not strong enough to have
pulled in nearby objects
● The 8 planets in our Solar System in ascending order of the distance from
the Sun are: c. Earth e. Jupiter g. Uranus
a. Mercury d. f. h.
b. Venus Mars Saturn Neptune
The Objects in Our Solar
System
Accretion Model of the Solar
● System
There are 4 rocky and small planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars
○ These are the nearest to the Sun
● There are 4 gaseous and large planets: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune
○ There are the furthest from the sun
● The differences in the types of planets are defined by the accretion model for Solar System
formation
● The Sun was thought to have formed when gravitational attraction of pulled together clouds of
hydrogen dust and gas (called nebulae)
● The Solar System then formed around 4.5 billion years ago
a. The planets were formed from the remnants of the disc cloud of matter left over from
the nebula that formed the Sun
b. These interstellar clouds of gas and dust included many elements that were created
during the final stages of a star's life cycle (a previous supernova)
● Gravity collapsed the matter from the nebula in on itself causing it to spin around the Sun
a. The gravitational attraction between all the small particles caused them to join together
and grow in an accretion process
● A rotating accretion disc is formed when the planets emerged
Accretion Model of the Solar
● As the Sun grew in size it System
became hotter
● Where the inner planets were forming near the Sun, the temperature was
too high for molecules such as Hydrogen, Helium, water and Methane to
exist in a solid state
○ Therefore, the inner planets are made of materials with high melting
temperatures such as metals (e.g. iron)
○ Only 1% of the original nebula is composed of heavy elements, so the
inner, rocky planets could not grow much and stayed as a small size,
solid and rocky
● The cooler regions were further away from the Sun, and temperature was
low enough for the light molecules to exist in a solid state
○ The outer planets therefore could grow to a large size up and include
even the lightest element, Hydrogen
○ These planets are large, gaseous and cold
0
4
Orbiting Bodies
Olaoluwa Ogunkola
 Light Speed
Light takes time to travel. The Sun is so far away from the Earth
that the light we see actually left the sun eight minutes ago.

The speed of light is at a constant of 3 × 10 8 m/s

Therefore to find the speed of light or time taken to be visible:

 Elliptical Orbits
The term "elliptical orbit" is used to describe an oval-shaped path of a celestial
body. The Earth, as well as all the other planets in the Solar System, follow this type of
orbit around the Sun. The shape is created by the varying pull of forces, such as gravity,
on two objects, such as the Sun and a planet.
 Data of the planets in the solar
Planet Orbital system
Orbit Surface Gravitational Density/
Distances/ Duration Temperature/°C Field Strength at kg/m3
millions per km Surface/m/s2

Mercury 57.9 88 167 3.7 5427

Venus 108.2 224.7 464 8.7 5243

Earth 149.9 365.2 15 9.8 5514

Mars 227.9 687 -65 3.7 3933

Jupiter 77.8 4331 -110 23.1 1326

Saturn 1433.5 10747 -140 9.0 687

Uranus 2872.5 30589 -195 8.7 1271

Neptune 4495.1 59800 -200 11.0 1683

 0
5
Gravitational
Effects on
Orbits
Ibukunoluwa Akinola
 Weight vs Mass

Because of
Definition
Weight changes weight…
of Weight depending on the 1. Objects stay firmly
The force acting on planet's gravitational to the ground
an object due to field strength but 2. Objects will always
mass does not fall to the ground
gravitational
change. 3. Satellites are kept
attraction in orbit
 Gravitational Field Strength

➔ The strength of gravity on different planets after an object’s weight on

the planet
➔ Abbreviated to g
➔ Approximately 10N/kg on Earth
➔ Smaller on the surface of the moon than the Earth
- It would be easier to lift a mass off the surface of the moon than off of
the surface of the Earth
➔ More on gas giants (Jupiter & Saturn) than the Earth
- It would be harder to lift a mass off of the surface of a gas giant as
opposed to the Earth
- Objects are always attracted towards the centre
of the Earth due to its gravitational field
strength
- The weight of any body and the gravitational
strength differs between the surface of bodies in
space
- The greater the mass of the planet, the greater
its gravitational field strength
- A higher gravitational field strength means a
larger attractive force towards the centre of the
body
- The gravitational field strength also varies
depending on the distance from a body
- The gravitational field strength around a planet
decreases as the distance from the body
decreases
 Value for g on Different
Planets in the Solar System
293.0N 24.7N/ 10.5N/ 9.0N/ 9.8N/ 3.7N/ 1.7N/
/kg kg kg kg kg kg kg

THE JUPITE SATUR URAN THE

EARTH MARS
SUN R N US MOON
*you will not need to memorise these
values for exams but the value for the
Earth will be given to you
 Gravitational Attraction of
❏
the Sun
A smaller body will orbit a large
body like how the moon orbits the
Earth
❏ There has to be a force pulling the
smaller body towards the bigger
body and the force is gravity
❏ The force that keeps a planet in
orbit around the sun is called the
gravitational attraction of the sun
and it always acts towards the
centre of the larger body
❏ E.g.: from the Earth towards the
centre of the sun
❏ This gravitational attraction causes
the body to move in a circular path
The Sun’s Gravitational
Field &
As the distance Distance
from the Sun increases:
➢ The strength of the sun’s gravitational field
Centripetal force:
- The force on a object towards
on the planet decreases the centre of a circle when
➢ Orbital speed of the planet decreases the object is in motion
(turning) around a circle at a
Centripetal force is required to keep the object in constant speed
a circular path, for planets orbiting the sun, it is
gravity
● The strength of the sun’s gravitational field
on a plante affects how much centripetal
force is on the planet
● Strength decreases on the planet further
away from the sun making the centripetal
force weaker
TABLE OF ORBITAL DISTANCE,
SPEED & DURATION orbital
orbital
planet orbital speed/km/s duration/days or
distance/million km
years

mercury 57.9 47.9 88 days

venus 108.2 35 225 days

earth 149.6 29.8 365 days

mars 227.9 24.1 687 days

jupiter 778.6 13.1 11.9 years

saturn 1433.5 9.7 29.5 years

uranus 2872.5 6.8 75 years

neptune 4495.1 5.4 165 years

 ORBITS

The distance of an As the object

All objects which object from the sun approaches the sun,
orbit the sun are in determines the the radius of the
elliptical orbit speed of its orbit orbit decreases
● E.g.: comets while the orbital
Even though orbits speed increases, but
Elliptical orbit aren’t circular, they as it travels away
- Oval or ellipses are stable which from the sun, the
shaped orbit, means that the radius of the orbit
not circular radius must change increases while the
when its orbital orbital speed
speed changes decreases
 Conservation of
Energy
★ Throught an elliptical orbit, the G.P.E. and K.E. of the
object changs which means its speed also changes
but its energy must still be conserved
★ As it approaches the sun, it loses G.P.E. and gain K.E.
causing it to speed up, causing a slinshot effect
allowing the object to be flung back out into space
★ As it moves away from the sun, it gains G.P.E. and
loses K.E. causing it to slow down and eventually fall
back towards the sun
★ This forms a stable orbit
 Thanks for
listening.
That’s all for
now