Study Guide Energy From The Sun Anwsers
If you are looking for a book Study guide energy from the sun anwsers in pdf form, then you have come on to faithful website. We presented the full option of this book in ePub, doc, PDF, DjVu, txt formats.
Use the questions below as a springboard for discussion. The answers provided are not meant to be exhaustive. Rather, they summarize key concepts introduced in the show where student dialogue may land. ALL GRADES What have you learned about stars? Answers may include. A star is a huge glowing ball of hot gas, mainly hydrogen and helium.
The temperature is so high in its core that nuclear fusion occurs, producing energy. Stars are in equilibrium between the inward force of gravity and the outward force of pressure. Energy created by a star escapes out into space as light of all wavelengths (radio to X-ray), as well as. Though stars appear static, they rotate and vary in brightness. They are also all at different points in their lives. There are hundreds of billions of stars in the Milky Way Galaxy alone. Among them is our Sun, the closest star to Earth.
Why are stars important to us? Answers may include. Without stars, we wouldn't be here at all. All naturally occurring elements (except for hydrogen, some helium, and trace amounts of lithium) were formed during the life and death of stars. At the end of a star's life, much of its matter is blown into space, where it provides the gas and dust for building new stars and planets. Closer to home, when our Sun was born, its gravitational force held gas and dust in orbit around it, allowing for Earth's formation.
Now the Sun holds the planets in their orbits, heats the surface of Earth to habitable temperatures, drives Earth's dynamic climate, and fuels photosynthesis. How do scientists study stars? How do they study the Sun? Answers may include. Scientists can see some nearby stars with the naked eye. But to observe them in detail, we depend on technology on the ground and in space. The majority of our knowledge about stars comes from ground-based telescopes, which enable scientists to see visible light, radio waves, and some infrared light. Canon mg2922 user manual pdf.
Satellites that orbit Earth, orbit the Sun, or journey through space allow scientists to observe light at all wavelengths, free from the blurring and obscuring effects of the Earth's atmosphere, and also enable them to sample the solar wind. In the lab, scientists conduct experiments to infer atomic and molecular properties of stars, and to investigate how nuclear fusion works. Finally, scientists use theoretical modeling and computer simulations to compute how the properties of stars (such as density, pressure, velocity, or composition) change over time.
Because much of our data comes from observing light that is already billions of years old, when we study the stars we actually look back in time. GRADES 3-5 What is the Sun? Answers may include.
The Sun is a middle-aged yellow star of somewhat above average mass. The Sun is the closest star to the Earth, and the Earth travels a complete orbit around it once a year. How is the Sun important? Answers may include. The Sun is a star that nurtures and supports life on Earth. Its heat and light warm Earth's surface, drive dynamic processes such as weather and ocean currents, and fuel photosynthesis.
We ourselves experience the Sun's energy every time we feel its warmth on our skin or see with the aid of its light. How are stars the same? How are they different? Answers may include. All stars generate energy deep within their cores by one of the most powerful processes in the Universe: nuclear fusion. Hydrogen nuclei smash together, forming helium and releasing huge amounts of energy. This is why a star shines.
The pressure of the gas heated by fusion supports the star against its own gravity. Stars are different masses, temperatures, and colors. More massive stars are hotter and bluer, while less massive stars are cooler and redder.
Yellow stars are in between. GRADES 6-8 How does the Sun affect Earth? Answers may include. The Sun's gravitational pull keeps Earth in a steady orbit, which, along with the tilt of Earth's rotational axis, causes a cycle of seasons each year.
The Sun's heat and light warm the Earth's surface, drive dynamic processes such as weather and ocean currents, and fuel photosynthesis. We ourselves experience the Sun's energy every time we feel its warmth on our skin or see with the aid of its light. The Sun continuously blasts a solar wind made up of charged particles (protons, electrons, and heavier ions). The Earth is almost always protected from the solar wind thanks to our magnetic field, but a trickle of solar wind gets through, sliding down at the poles and producing radiant displays of light called auroras. Magnetic explosions called produce storms in the solar wind and generate radiation. Under rare conditions, such storms can disrupt radio, cell phones, and GPS, or even cause blackouts on Earth. How is our Sun similar to or different from other stars?
Answers may include. The Sun is similar to other stars because all stars create energy in their cores through the process of nuclear fusion. The Sun shines and emits energy at many wavelengths, just like all other middle-aged stars. Other stars may differ from the Sun in mass, size, temperature, color, age, and composition.
Many stars have companions in binary or multiple star systems. What are star clusters?
Answers may include. Are groups of hundreds to millions of stars orbiting each other. Like isolated stars, star clusters form from dense clouds of gas and dust. Eventually, mature star clusters eject most of their stars. What is mass?
How does mass relate to gravity? Answers may include. Mass is a measure of how much matter or stuff is contained within a given object. The more massive an object is, and the closer one is to it, the stronger the force of gravity towards it. Very massive objects such as stars have strong enough gravity to hold planets and other stars in orbit. Are so small and dense that not even light can escape their gravity.
What are the stages of the life of a star? Answers may include. Stars and other celestial objects are born in dense clouds of gas and dust. Gravity pulls the gas and dust into clumps. If the clump is massive enough, a star forms—increased pressure from gravitational collapse raises the temperature, causing nuclear fusion to begin in its core.
This heats the core further, raising the pressure high enough to prevent further gravitational collapse. The star remains in equilibrium as long as there is fuel available for fusion. After millions to billions of years, the star runs out of fuel in its core. What happens next depends on the mass of the star. For low and intermediate mass stars (up to 8 times the mass of the Sun), the outer layers swell enormously and the star turns into a. The star then ejects its outer layers, while the core of the star collapses to form a, which takes billions of years to cool down.
Energy Study Guide Answers
A high mass star (between 8 and 20 times the mass of the Sun) also first becomes a red supergiant and sheds its outer layers. The core of the star collapses violently in on itself, causing the star to explode as a, ejecting even more matter. Its core collapses to form an extremely dense object called a, which only takes millions of years to cool down. The most massive stars (over 20 solar masses) form red or yellow supergiants, and then explode in supernovas, forming in their centers. Are so dense that not even light can escape their gravity.
GRADES 9-12 What does the Sun emit? Answers may include.
The Sun emits visible light that reaches Earth and lights our day, and also gives off energy in invisible wavelengths of light, such as gamma rays, X-rays, ultraviolet, infrared, microwave, and radio. The Sun also emits solar wind: a flow of hot gas that blasts out from the Sun's at a million miles an hour. How do stars form?
Answers may include. Every star forms in a huge cloud of gas and dust. Over time, gravity causes the cloud to contract, drawing the gas closer and closer together. As more gas accumulates at the center, it becomes denser and pressure increases. This causes it to heat up and begin to glow. A protostar is born.
Its gravity continues to pull in gas and dust, further increasing its mass, and thus its pressure and temperature. Eventually, the center reaches millions of degrees Celsius—hot enough to fuse hydrogen nuclei and generate intense energy. The heat generated by nuclear fusion causes the gas at the center of the star to expand, exerting an outward pressure. When is reached, a star is born. Why do stars shine? Answers may include. Stars shine because the temperature is so high in their cores that nuclear fusion occurs, producing energy.
Radiation and carry the energy from the core out to a star's atmosphere. When the energy gets high enough in the atmosphere that the region above it is transparent, it escapes out into space as light of all wavelengths (radio to X-ray), and stellar wind. The escaping energy is the starlight that we see at night, or the sunshine that we see in the day. What does the color of a star indicate? Answers may include. The color of a star depends on its surface temperature. Red stars are coolest, yellow stars intermediate, and blue-white or blue stars are the hottest.
The lowest mass, dimmest stars are cool and red, while the highest mass, most luminous stars are hot and blue. The yellow Sun lies in between. How does life depend on ancient stars? Answers may include.
Without stars, we wouldn't be here at all. At the beginning of the universe, the only elements that existed were hydrogen, some helium, and trace amounts of lithium. All other naturally occurring elements have been formed during the life and death of stars. At the end of a star's life, much of its matter is blown into space, where it provides gas and dust for building new stars and planets. Even in our own bodies, everything except the hydrogen was formed in ancient stars that lived and died before the birth of the Sun. How might the Sun impact future stars? Answers may include.
As a star like our Sun dies, it ejects matter out into space that provides raw materials for building new stars and planets. When our Sun dies, some of the new elements that it has created by fusion will spread throughout our cosmic neighborhood, providing ingredients for new stars, new planets, and perhaps even new life to develop. How does the discovery of brown dwarfs expand our understanding of stellar objects? Answers may include. Share properties of both stars and planets, having a mass that's in between the two. For every star like our Sun, there are hundreds of brown dwarfs, and similar numbers of low mass stars.
Smaller than all stars (less than 8% the mass of the Sun), brown dwarfs have enough mass to generate only limited nuclear fusion, fusing deuterium (heavy hydrogen) for a brief period of millions of years. After this fuel runs out, the brown dwarf simply cools down over billions of years. The discovery of brown dwarfs reminds scientists that the categories that we create to talk about celestial bodies is constantly changing, and that there are many more mysteries to explore in the cosmos!
Now that spring is here, many homeowners are thinking about taking advantage of the warmer weather and longer days to tackle some home improvement projects. You don’t need to look very far to find a great opportunity to increase the value of your home and save you money in the long run – just look up!
Solar energy is growing in popularity because of its many benefits. But homeowners naturally have a number of important questions. I hope to answer some of the most common ones here. Will solar panels really save me money? In many cases, the answer is yes, but it all depends on three important considerations, all of which are location dependent. The most obvious one is the amount of sunshine where you live, but this is less important than you might think (and I address this point in more detail below). The other very important factors is assessing the profitability of solar energy are the available that bring down the cost and the where you live.
Obviously, the more you pay for electricity, the more you stand to save with solar energy. The term grid parity is used to describe when the cost of solar electricity is the same or cheaper than electricity from your utility. A number of, such as California and New Jersey to name a couple. They receive quite different amounts of sunshine, but because of the generous incentives and the high cost of electricity, solar energy is a worthwhile investment in these states. In another example, going solar in Connecticut makes much more financial sense then in Florida (the Constitution State beats the Sunshine State hands down, when it comes to the value of solar electricity!) A solar power calculator, like, can help you determine the profitability of solar energy where you live, and by adjusting some of the parameters in the, you can determine the best way to finance your system.
Generally speaking, a purchase (with or without a solar loan) will save you more money than a lease in the long run. It’s only natural to think about the level of sunshine where you live, when you think of solar energy. But even places that are fairly cloudy year round or further north with short winter days benefit from solar energy. Germany, for example, is a world leader in terms of installed solar capacity, and Berlin, Germany receives just over half as much solar radiation as Los Angeles, California. Yes, it’s true that cloudy places will not produce as much solar electricity, but they can still produce enough to be a profitable investment, if the other two factors I mentioned (available incentives and cost of electricity) are favorable for solar energy.
If I still need to be connected to the grid at night, then what’s the point? Most residential solar photovoltaic systems are grid-tied. In other words, you keep your connection to your local utility. This is important for two reasons: 1) you can receive extra electricity when your panels are not producing enough, such as at night and 2) you can sell your excess electricity back to the utility for credits when you are producing too much. This is called net-metering. Recently, there has been quite a bit of news about changes to net-metering in certain states, such as. Instead of being compensated for excess electricity at the retail rate (what you would have paid for the electricity if you needed it), Nevada is only compensating solar generators at the wholesale rate (what the utility pays to buy electricity from power plants), which is considerably lower.
This can significantly lower the profitability of your solar system if you’re regularly sending excess electricity back to the grid for credits. As a result, we will see batteries for excess solar electricity grow in popularity in areas that do not credit solar electricity at the retail rate ( is a great example of this trend). However, most states still have net-metering policies that credit homeowners for their excess electricity at the retail rate. Even if you’re not producing electricity at night, you will benefit from the credits you accumulate producing excess electricity during the day, and/or benefit from lower electricity rates at night where time-of-use electricity rates are in place.
Will installing panels cause roof damage? This is a common question.
One of the first things a solar installation company should do, when preparing a quote for you, is to visit your house and look at your roof. In addition to looking at the shade levels and orientation of your roof, they will be assessing the condition of your roof. If it is relatively old or in need of repairs, you will want to address this before proceeding with a solar system installation. After all, those solar panels can be ticking for 20-25 years, and the last thing you want to do is remove them after a few years for a roof repair. But what about a brand new roof? It is important to look at the fine-print of your roof warranty (because most roof warranties are null and void if you do anything that interferes with the integrity of the roof), but you should also protect yourself by choosing a solar company that offers their own warranty.
Talk to the installer and get them to explain the risks and their warranty, and read consumer reviews to find the most in your area. Nearly one million homeowners have gone solar in the U.S., according to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA).
With some initial homework, you can find a solar company you feel comfortable with, and join those homeowners who are enjoying the benefits of producing their own clean, green electricity. Shouldn’t I wait until solar-panel prices come down more?
Like with many high-tech purchases, it’s usually not long after you purchase them that the price comes down. According to SEIA, the price of residential solar has dropped nearly 60 percent since 2006, but this rate of decrease is likely to slow down, as mass production and intense competition in the solar equipment market (i.e. The panels and inverters) made up most of the price drop. Today, it’s actually other so-called “soft costs” that make up most of the cost of installing solar panels.
These soft costs include permits, design and customer acquisition to name a few. While many companies are working hard to bring down these soft costs with innovative software tools, the rate of price decreases is not likely to be as dramatic as it has been. In locations where grid parity has been reached, holding off from going solar means missing out on savings today. This lost opportunity could translate into a considerable chunk of change in the long run. If you’re on the fence about whether to go solar, there are two other important considerations to keep in mind: the electricity escalation rate and the federal investment tax credit of 30%.
Electricity prices have been going up on average across the United States. Since 2005, the average escalation rate (the rate by which electricity prices have gone up each year since 2005) for the U.S. Was 3%, with Michigan experiencing the highest average year-over-year increases since 2005, at nearly 5.5%.
By comparison, Louisiana experienced the lowest average year-over-year increases since 2005, at 0.3%. While looking at what has happened in the past does not tell us what will happen in the future, it gives us some ideas about the general trend. Solar energy gives you the chance to lock-in cheaper electricity for the next 25 years on average. The of 30% for solar panels is another very important reason not to delay by too much. While it was originally set to expire at the end of 2016, it was recently extended through 2019, after which it will be gradually phased out over the following three years. The solar ITC has made the difference in many places, making solar electricity cheaper than electricity from the utility. Make sure you take advantage of this generous incentive by going solar soon.
There’s never been a better time to reap the benefits of solar energy. Conclusion So there you have it: solar power may sound a bit complicated at first, but with some basic research you can be on your way to generating your own clean power at a very competitive price point. Now, if only tackling your kids’ bedroom closets for spring cleaning was this easy. Is the co-founder of, an online consumer education website for residential solar energy. The goal of Sunmetrix is to help homeowners go solar and save money with our. In addition to the 200+ articles about solar energy, Sunmetrix offers homeowners two main tools:, to preview solar energy for your home, and, the only solar energy test drive experience.
Read all of Simone's MOTHER EARTH NEWS POSTS. All MOTHER EARTH NEWS community bloggers have agreed to follow our, and they are responsible for the accuracy of their posts. To learn more about the author of this post, click on the byline link at the top of the page.
Study Guide Answer Key
Money-Saving Tips in Every Issue! At MOTHER EARTH NEWS, we are dedicated to conserving our planet's natural resources while helping you conserve your financial resources.
Chapter 14 Study Guide Energy From The Sun Answers
You'll find tips for slashing heating bills, growing fresh, natural produce at home, and more. That's why we want you to save money and trees by subscribing through our earth-friendly automatic renewal savings plan. By paying with a credit card, you save an additional $5 and get 6 issues of MOTHER EARTH NEWS for only $12.95 (USA only).
You may also use the Bill Me option and pay $17.95 for 6 issues.