Starter quiz
- Which of these statements about the Sun are correct?
- The Sun is a planet.
- The Sun is a star. ✓
- The Sun is a huge ball of gas and the gas is burning.
- Nuclear reactions in the Sun make it hot and bright. ✓
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- What shape are stars?
- all stars are approximately spherical ✓
- all stars have points and are ‘star-shaped’
- some stars are spherical, and some are ‘pointy’ and ‘star-shaped’
- stars have a range of different shapes, including spherical and ‘star-shaped’
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- What would the Sun look like if it were two times further away?
- the same size and more yellow
- smaller and more yellow
- the same size and the same colour
- smaller and the same colour ✓
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- Why do stars appear to move across the night sky, with their movement repeated once each day?
- they orbit Earth once each day
- they orbit the Sun once each day
- the Earth orbits the Sun once each day
- the Earth spins round once each day ✓
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- Why can you only see stars at night?
- all of the stars are on the far side of Earth, away from the Sun
- light from the Sun makes the whole sky brighter than individual stars ✓
- stars only appear at night
- stars are not so bright during the day
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- Match each object in space to the correct description.
- planet⇔a large spherical object that orbits a star ✓
- star⇔a very hot ball of gas and plasma that emits light radiation ✓
- galaxy⇔a group of billions of stars clustered together in space ✓
- universe⇔the whole of space and everything in it ✓
Exit quiz
- How does the size of the Sun compare to the size of other stars?
- it is smaller than most
- it is similar to the average size ✓
- it is bigger than most
- all stars are about the same size
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- The Sun is one of about 300 billion stars in the ______ galaxy.
- 'Milkyway' ✓
- What sort of reaction inside the core of a star causes it to become very, very hot?
- a chemical reaction
- a nuclear fission reaction
- a nuclear fusion reaction ✓
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- What is a nebula typically made of?
- hydrogen gas ✓
- a mixture of gases (air)
- fine dust ✓
- rocks
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- A huge spinning ball of very hot, dense gas that forms from a collapsing nebula is called a ______.
- 'protostar' ✓
- Put each stage in the early life of a star in the correct order, starting with the first.
- 1⇔A nebula is disturbed and starts to collapse.
- 2⇔Gravitational forces accelerate particles of gas and dust towards each other.
- 3⇔The particles move faster as they come together and the nebula heats up.
- 4⇔A hot dense spinning ball of dust and gas forms, which is called a protostar.
- 5⇔If nuclear fusion begins in the core, it becomes a star.
Worksheet
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Lesson Details
Key learning points
- The Sun is a medium sized star that emits radiation as a result of nuclear fusion reactions in its core.
- A star is formed from a cloud (nebula) of dust and gas pulled together by gravitational attraction.
- Dust in a nebula is any sort of fine particle, such as specks of rock, and most of the gas in space is hydrogen.
- As a star forms, dust and gas accelerate towards its centre over a very long time, creating very high temperatures.
- A star forms when hydrogen nuclei in a protostar fuse together converting mass into gamma radiation that causes heating.
Common misconception
The Sun is not a star.
Compare the properties of the Sun with those of stars to show they are similar.
Keywords
Star - a ball of very hot gas and plasma that emits radiation and is powered by nuclear fusion in its core
Nuclear fusion - the process of merging small nuclei into larger nuclei with the release of energy
Nebula - a region of space containing traces of gas (mostly hydrogen) and dust
Protostar - a dense, hot, ball of gas formed by a collapsed nebula
Main sequence star - the stable period of a star when it is fusing hydrogen in its core
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