Earth Science Lesson 1
The Solar System

Lesson Plan

Objectives

Objectives

This lesson will explain:

• how the differences and similarities among the sun, the terrestrial planets, and the gas planets may have been established during the formation of the solar system;
    
• the evidence from the Earth and moon rocks for the solar system's formation from a nebular cloud of dust and gas approximately 4.6 billion years ago;
   
• the evidence from geological studies of the Earth and other planets that the early Earth was very different from today;
   
• the evidence that the planets are much closer than the stars;
   
• that the sun is a typical star and is powered by nuclear reactions, primarily the fusion of hydrogen to form helium;
   
• the evidence for the dramatic effects of asteroid impacts in shaping the surface of planets and their moons, and in mass extinctions of life on Earth;
   
• the evidence for the existence of planets orbiting the stars.

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B J Subbiondo © 2002