The Earth in the Solar System Class 6 Important Questions and Answers
Class 6 Geography Chapter 1 The Earth in the Solar System Important Questions and answers cover all the topics and help students to understand the concepts better. Students can solve these for practice. They may come across some of these questions in the final exam.
Students can clear their doubts from the chapter by solving these CBSE Class 6 Geography Important Questions and prepare well for the board exams. The links to download the PDF version of these questions are given in a link to this article.
Class 6 Geography Chapter 1 The Earth in the Solar System Important Questions
1. Fill in the blanks.
(i) The North Star indicates the ______ direction.
(ii) The sun is in the ______ of the solar system.
(iii) We can see the full moon only once in about a _________ time.
(iv) Full moon night is also known as _________.
(v) Ursa Major or Big Bear is a __________.
(vi) _________ was a famous astronomer of ancient India.
Answer:
(i) north
(ii) centre
(iii) month’s
(iv) Poornima
(v) constellation
(vi) Aryabhatta
2. State True/False against each off the following statement
(i) All the planets move around the sun in an elongated path.
(ii) It is huge and made up of extremely hot liquids.
(iii) The word ‘planet’ comes from the Greek word “Planetai” which means ‘wanderers’.
(iv) The moon is in the centre of the solar system.
(v) Till recently (August 2006), Pluto was also considered a planet.
(vi) Word geography is made of two Greek words, ‘ge’ meaning’ ‘earth’ and ‘graphia’ meaning ‘writing’.
Answer:
(i) True
(ii) False
(iii) True
(iv) False
(v) True
(vi) True
Answer the following questions
1. How long does it take to go from a new moon to a full moon?
Answer: A fortnight
2. Name few dwarf planets.
Answer: Pluto, Ceres, 2003 and UB313
3. Which is the third nearest planet to the sun?
Answer: Earth is the third nearest planet to the sun.
4. Which is the closest celestial body to our earth?
Answer: The moon is the closest celestial body to our earth.
5. Name the natural satellite of the earth?
Answer: Moon is the natural satellite of the earth.
6. Where are the most asteroids found?
Answer: They are found between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
7. How many times can we see full moon in a month time?
Answer: We can see the full moon only once in about a month’s time.
8. How long does it take for the moon to complete one revolution?
Answer: The moon moves around the earth in about 27 days.
9. What is a geoid?
Answer: A sphere with its ends flattened at poles (just like earth) is called geoid.
10. Why do the stars look so small in the sky?
Answer: The stars look so small in the sky because they are very far from us.
11. From where does Earth receive heat and light?
Answer: Earth gets all its heat and light from the sun, which is its nearest star.
12. What is the speed of light?
Answer: Light travels at the speed of about 300,000 km per second.
13. How much time light takes to reach the earth?
Answer: The light of the sun takes about eight minutes to reach the earth.
14. Who are called astronomers?
Answer: Those who study the celestial bodies and their movements are called astronomers.
15. What cast shadow on the moon?
Answer: It has mountains, plains and depressions on its surface. These cast shadows on the moon’s surface.
16. What is a Pole Star?
Answer: The North Star indicates the north direction. It is also called the Pole Star.
17. What is a galaxy?
Answer: A galaxy is a huge system of billions of stars, and clouds of dust and gases.
18. How can we locate the position of the pole star?
Answer: We can locate the position of the Pole Star with the help of the Saptarishi.
19. Which planets have rings around them?
Answer: Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus have rings around them. These are belts of small debris.
20. What does the word planet mean?
Answer: The word ‘planet’ comes from the Greek word “Planetai” which means ‘wanderers’.
21. How do people used to determine direction in ancient times?
Answer: In ancient times, people used to determine directions during the night with the help of stars.
22. What do scientists hypothesize about the formation of the asteroids?
Answer: Scientists are of the view that asteroids are parts of a planet which exploded many years back.
23. What are meteoroids?
Answer: The small pieces of rocks which move around the sun are called meteoroids.
24. Who was the first man to step on the surface of the moon and when?
Answer: Neil Armstrong was the first man to step on the surface of the moon on 21 July 1969.
25. What is constellation? Write one example.
Answer: A group of stars forming a recognizable pattern is called constellation. Ursa Major or Big Bear is one such constellation.
26. Which is the most recognizable constellation?
Answer: One of the most easily recognizable constellations is the small bear or Saptarishi (Sapta-seven, rishi-sages).
27. Why can’t we see the moon and all those bright tiny objects during day time?
Answer: It is because the very bright light of the sun does not allow us to see all these bright objects of the night sky.
28. What are celestial bodies?
Answer: The sun, the moon and all those objects shining in the night sky are called celestial bodies.
29. Why earth appears blue from outer space?
Answer: From the outer space, the earth appears blue because its two-thirds surface is covered by water.
30. Why earth is called blue planet?
Answer: From the outer space, the earth appears blue because its two-thirds surface is covered by water.
31. Why Milky Way is called Akash Ganga?
Answer: In ancient India, it was imagined to be a river of light flowing in the sky. Thus, it was named Akash Ganga.
32. What is a satellite?
Answer: A Satellite is a celestial body that moves around the planets in the same way as the planets move around the sun.
33. Which planet is known as the “Earth’s Twin” and why?
Answer: Venus is considered as ‘Earth’s-twin’ because its size and shape are very much similar to that of the earth.
34. What is the Universe?
Answer: A galaxy is a huge system of billions of stars, and clouds of dust and gases. There are millions of such galaxies that make the Universe.
35. What are orbits?
Answer: All the eight planets of the solar system move around the sun in fixed paths. These paths are elongated. They are called orbits.
36. Which is the nearest planet to the sun? How much time it takes to complete one round along its orbit?
Answer: Mercury is nearest to the sun. It takes only about 88 days to complete one round along its orbit.
37. What is a whitish broad band, like a white glowing path that we see across the sky on a clear starry night?
Answer: It is a cluster of millions of stars. This band is the Milky Way galaxy. Our solar system is a part of this galaxy.
38. Write a short note on asteroids.
Answer: There are numerous tiny bodies which also move around the sun. These bodies are called asteroids. They are found between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
39. Name all the planets according to their distance from the sun.
Answer: There are eight planets in our solar system. In order of their distance from the sun, they are: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
40. What is meant by the ‘Solar System’?
Answer: The sun, eight planets, satellites and some other celestial bodies known as asteroids and meteoroids form the solar system. We often call it a solar family, with the sun as its Head.
41. What are stars?
Answer: Some celestial bodies are very big and hot. They are made up of gases. They have their own heat and light, which they emit in large amounts. These celestial bodies are called stars. The sun is a star.
42. Why do we see only one side of the moon always?
Answer: The moon moves around the earth in about 27 days. It takes exactly the same time to complete one spin. As a result, only one side of the moon is visible to us on the earth.
43. Why the Earth is called a unique planet?
Answer: Conditions favourable to support life are probably found only on the earth. The earth is neither too hot nor too cold. It has water and air, which are very essential for our survival. The air has life-supporting gases like oxygen. Because of these reasons, the earth is a unique planet in the solar system.
44 Despite being our nearest star, the tremendous heat of the sun is not felt so much. Why?
Answer: The sun is the ultimate source of heat and light for the solar system. But that tremendous heat is not felt so much by us because despite being our nearest star, it is far away from us. The sun is about 150 million km away from the earth.
45. Write a short note on Sun.
Answer: The sun is in the centre of the solar system. It is huge and made up of extremely hot gases. It provides the pulling force that binds the solar system. The sun is the ultimate source of heat and light for the solar system.
46. How do meteoroids burn up?
Answer: Sometimes these meteoroids come near the earth and tend to drop upon it. During this process due to friction with the air they get heated up and burn. It causes a flash of light. Sometimes, a meteor without being completely burnt, falls on the earth and creates a hollow.
47. Write about Human-made Satellite?
Answer: A Human-made Satellite is an artificial body. It is designed by scientists to gather information about the universe or for communication. It is carried by a rocket and placed in the orbit around the earth. Some of the Indian satellites in space are INSAT, IRS, EDUSAT, etc.
Practice Sheet
1. What are Poornima and Amavasya?
2. Do you wonder why we can’t see the moon and all those bright tiny objects during day time?
3. What is meant by the ‘Solar System’?
4. What do animals and plants require in order to grow and survive?
5. How does a planet differ from a star?
6. Name all the planets according to their distance from the sun.
7. Why is the Earth called a unique planet?
8. Why do we see only one side of the moon always?
9. What is the Universe?
10. Word geography is made of two Greek words, ‘ge’ meaning’ ‘earth’ and ‘graphia’ meaning ‘writing. True or False?
11. Mention the names of the dwarf planets.
12. Where are more asteroids found?
13. Which are celestial bodies that do have the light of their own but reflect the light from the sun?
14. Define the Galaxy.
15. Mention the ways used by the people of ancient times to determine direction.
16. Write a short note about the Universe.
17. What are the constellations, pole star and planets? Explain.
18. What is the easy method to memorise the name of the planets in order of their distance from the sun is?
19. Who are astronomers? Who is Aryabhatta?
20. Write a short note about the earth.