The relative sizes of the Earth, Sun and Moon (non-statutory) | Science

Starter quiz

Which of these objects is a sphere?
- egg
- basketball ✓
- pizza
What shape is the planet we live on?
- 'sphere' ✓
If something has been divided into four equal parts, how much is each part?
- A half
- A third
- A quarter ✓
- A fifth
What is the name of this object in space?
- 'Moon' ✓
How big is a kilometre?
- 100 centimetres
- 1,000 centimetres
- 100 metres
- 1,000 metres ✓
If we wanted to find out facts about something, which of these would not be a good place to look for information?
- A story book ✓
- A non-fiction book
- The internet

Starting with the largest, put these objects in order of size.
- 1
  
  ⇔
  
  Sun
- 2
  
  ⇔
  
  Earth
- 3
  
  ⇔
  
  Moon
- 4
  
  ⇔
  
  A person
Match the object in space with its approximate diameter.
- The Sun
  
  ⇔
  
  1.39 million km ✓
- Earth
  
  ⇔
  
  12,742 km ✓
- The Moon
  
  ⇔
  
  3,475 km ✓
What do we mean when we talk about the relative size of objects in space?
- The distance they are from each other
- Their size measured in kilometres
- Their size in comparison with each other ✓
Why is it useful to use a scale when drawing or modelling the sizes of objects in space?
- It is helpful to know how much each object weighs
- They are too big to draw or model in their actual size. ✓
- It makes it easier to understand smaller numbers.
We use secondary sources of information when we do ______ to find out more about something.
- 'research' ✓
How many times could Earth fit into the Sun?
- Ten
- 10 thousand
- 1 million ✓
- 10 million

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The Earth, Sun and Moon are the same size, or that the Sun is much smaller than it actually is.

Provide opportunities for children to explore diagrams and 3D models of the Earth, Sun and Moon which clearly show the differences in size.

Earth - Earth is the planet on which we live.
Sun - The Sun is a star and is at the centre of our solar system.
Moon - Our Moon is an object that travels around planet Earth.
Relative - We can compare the relative size of objects to help us understand how big they are.
Scale - We can use scale to help us understand the size of very big or very small things.