Patterns of Light and Stars

Practice Questions

5th Grade Science › Patterns of Light and Stars

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1

Mr. Green's class is studying the Solar System and Milky Way Galaxy. Today they are doing an investigation in the lab. Asia and Chele are partners for today's activity. They are given a ping pong ball with a sticker on one side, a flashlight, and their lab journals with a pencil for recording observations or data. Mr. Green turns off the lights. Asia holds the ping pong ball that represents Earth at a slight angle (like its axis) while Chele shines a flashlight on the center of the ball. Asia slowly rotates the Earth counterclockwise, and they observe where the light shines and where it doesn't. They take notice of the sticker and whether the sun shines on it or it is in darkness while the Earth rotates. Their observations are below.

Screen shot 2020 06 30 at 8.43.34 am

How does the amount of sunlight change as the Earth rotates?

2

Mr. Green's class is studying the Solar System and Milky Way Galaxy. Today they are doing an investigation in the lab. Asia and Chele are partners for today's activity. They are given a ping pong ball with a sticker on one side, a flashlight, and their lab journals with a pencil for recording observations or data. Mr. Green turns off the lights. Asia holds the ping pong ball that represents Earth at a slight angle (like its axis) while Chele shines a flashlight on the center of the ball. Asia slowly rotates the Earth counterclockwise, and they observe where the light shines and where it doesn't. They take notice of the sticker and whether the sun shines on it or it is in darkness while the Earth rotates. Their observations are below.

Screen shot 2020 06 30 at 8.43.34 am

Based on Asia and Chele's observations, how do we know which areas of the world are experiencing daytime?

3

Dev looked at the night sky through his telescope on the first night of each season (spring, summer, fall, and winter). Each night he started looking at the stars at the same time and the same location. He observed the stars for five hours each night. If the sky was clear of clouds on all four nights, which of the following did he most likely observe?

4

A series of photographs of a 1-meter stick and shadow were taken throughout the day. Students analyzed the photos and recorded the data in the table below. What pattern(s) are revealed about the length of the shadow in the provided data?

Screen shot 2020 09 25 at 8.11.29 am

5

A series of photographs of a 1-meter stick and shadow were taken throughout the day. Students analyzed the photos and recorded the data in the table below. What pattern(s) are revealed about the length of the shadow in the provided data?

Screen shot 2020 09 25 at 8.11.29 am

6

Dev looked at the night sky through his telescope on the first night of each season (spring, summer, fall, and winter). Each night he started looking at the stars at the same time and the same location. He observed the stars for five hours each night. If the sky was clear of clouds on all four nights, which of the following did he most likely observe?

7

Mr. Green's class is studying the Solar System and Milky Way Galaxy. Today they are doing an investigation in the lab. Asia and Chele are partners for today's activity. They are given a ping pong ball with a sticker on one side, a flashlight, and their lab journals with a pencil for recording observations or data. Mr. Green turns off the lights. Asia holds the ping pong ball that represents Earth at a slight angle (like its axis) while Chele shines a flashlight on the center of the ball. Asia slowly rotates the Earth counterclockwise, and they observe where the light shines and where it doesn't. They take notice of the sticker and whether the sun shines on it or it is in darkness while the Earth rotates. Their observations are below.

Screen shot 2020 06 30 at 8.43.34 am

Based on Asia and Chele's observations, how do we know which areas of the world are experiencing daytime?

8

Mr. Green's class is studying the Solar System and Milky Way Galaxy. Today they are doing an investigation in the lab. Asia and Chele are partners for today's activity. They are given a ping pong ball with a sticker on one side, a flashlight, and their lab journals with a pencil for recording observations or data. Mr. Green turns off the lights. Asia holds the ping pong ball that represents Earth at a slight angle (like its axis) while Chele shines a flashlight on the center of the ball. Asia slowly rotates the Earth counterclockwise, and they observe where the light shines and where it doesn't. They take notice of the sticker and whether the sun shines on it or it is in darkness while the Earth rotates. Their observations are below.

Screen shot 2020 06 30 at 8.43.34 am

How does the amount of sunlight change as the Earth rotates?

9

If you were to watch the night sky from dusk to dawn, you would notice starts rising from the eastern horizon. They will sweep across the night sky and set beneath the western horizon at dawn. Something interesting happens over time. If you were to look outside again a few weeks later, those same stars would disappear from your view. A new group of stars would take their place. In the winter months, stargazers in the Northern Hemisphere look into the night sky and see Orion the Hunter. The same spot in the summertime revels the stars of Scorpius. In the spring, the constellation of the Sickle of Leo, the Lion, is present. Finally, in the fall, the Great Square of Pegasus comes into view. Every season this same pattern takes place, and the constellations return to the skywatcher's view.

As our Earth whirls through space around the Sun, its motions cause night and day, the four seasons, and the passage of the years. The Earth completes a single turn on its axis, not in 24 hours, but 23 hours 56 minutes. As a result, the stars appear to rise, cross the sky and set four minutes earlier each night. The Earth does not merely stand in the same spot in space and spins but is always rushing eastward along in its orbit around the Sun.

Based on this information, which constellation(s) will be visible next summer in the Northern Hemisphere?

10

What statement about patterns of stars in the sky is correct?

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