A changing picture of the universe (1)

Sources: A Brief History of Time

I From: A Brief History of Time

1. Click on the turtle on Hawking’s desk. What is scientific theory? Is the ‘turtle theory’ a scientific theory? Support your answer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Click on the yellow hexagons and choose: 1. Our Picture of the Universe.

A. Aristotle

Lived in the __________ century B.C.

1. He said that the earth was a __________________, not a __________________.

He based this on the fact that _______________________________________

_______________________________________________________________.

2. According to Aristotle, where was the earth relative to the stars, sun and moon?

2. Ptolemy

Lived in the ____________ century A.D.

What assumption did Ptolemy make in order to accept Aristotle’s model?

3. Copernicus

Proposed a new theory in __________ A.D.

What is his model of the solar system?

4. Galileo

Proposed a new theory in __________ A.D.

1. What technological advance led Galileo to his new theory?
2. What led him to believe that the planets and sun do not orbit around the earth?

 

3. What group opposed Galileo’s theory? Why?

E. Newton

Lived ________________________.

1. What is Hawking’s opinion of Newton’s Principia Mathematica?

2. What are some of the ideas developed in the Principia?

Look up Astronomy. Look at the animation of the solar system.

1. Match each of the words at the left with one of the explanations at the right.

____ planets a. small fragments of rock in a belt between Mars and Jupiter

____ satellites b. a solid nucleus, with a tail of dust and gas

____ asteroids c. there are nine of them in our solar system

____ meteoroids d. moon that orbit planets

____ comets e. small chunks of asteroids

 

2. Write each of the words below in the correct space in the table.

small Mercury Saturn

large Venus Uranus

made of iron and rock Earth Neptune

made of gases Mars Pluto

close to sun Jupiter