Earth and the Solar System (Science Alive! Series)

Introduces concepts related to our solar system and Earth's place in it through various activities and projects.

It's a blast to learn about space! Explore Earth's atmosphere and beyond -- to our satellite, the moon; the sun; the stars; and the other planets in our solar system. Action-packed activities include building a model of the solar system, shadowing the sun, tracking a planet's orbit, and discovering why Earth is the only planet that can support life!

Children's Literature

What makes up the solar system? Why is Earth the only planet in it that supports life? And what is a comet? With a combination of interesting experiments and text, this edition of the "Science Alive!" series unravels some of the mysteries of our solar system (though not all as promised in the introduction). It is a good solid book of physics, if not an overly inspired one. Each section addresses a different space/physics question, such as "Why does Earth move around the sun?" In an interesting twist on formatting, the writers put the experiments at the beginning of the section and then refer back to them during longer discussion. This may force reluctant experimenters to get up and try some of the hands-on activities instead of just using the book as reference material for the history of Copernicus and an explanation of centripetal force. The experiments are clearly laid out and marked Easy, Moderate or Difficult. The longer text sections are also written clearly. The experiments are illustrated by drawings while the text has photos and text boxes, including a reoccurring "QuizTime" question and answer box. The book includes a Table of Contents, Glossary and Index. 2002, Crabtree Publishing Company, Hansen