DELHI PUBLIC SCHOOL RUBY PARK KOLKATA

SCIENCE STUDY MATERIAL FOR NOVEMBER

CLASS-II SESSION: 2020-2021

OUR UNIVERSE

In this chapter we will learn about:

 The Sun, the Moon and the stars.

 The moon and its different phases.

 The occurrence of days and nights

 The concept of a calendar

 The difference between weather and climate

 The different seasons on earth.

 Stars
A star is a giant mass of very hot, glowing gas that produces its own light and energy. There is innumerable number
of stars in the sky. Just like when stars age, they die; new stars are also born all the time.
The Sun is located in the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly a perfect sphere, a hot ball of glowing gases.
It is the most important source of energy for life on Earth.

 Amazing Facts:

 The Sun, which is the nearest star to the

earth, is around 4.5 billion years old.

 The Milky Way is the galaxy our Solar

System resides within. When the skies are

dark and clear the Milky Way appears like

a bright belt of stars.

The Moon and its Phases

The phases of the Moon are the different ways the Moon looks from Earth over about a month.
As the Moon moves around the Earth, the half of the Moon that faces the Sun will be lit up. The different shapes of
the lit portion of the Moon that can be seen from Earth are known as phases of the Moon. Each phase repeats itself
every 29.5 days.

The Moon was made when a rock smashed into Earth

The most widely-accepted explanation is that the Moon

was created when a rock the size of Mars slammed into

Earth, shortly after the solar system began forming

about 4.5 billion years ago.

What are day and night?

 Night and Day

We get day and night because the Earth spins (or rotates) on an imaginary line called its axis and different parts of
the planet are facing towards the Sun or away from it. The part of the earth that faces the sun and gets its lights and
heat experiences day and the part turned away from the sun experiences nightime.

The world takes 24 hours to move around the sun and this causes days on earth. Over a year, the length of the
daytime in the part of the Earth where you live, changes. Days are longer in the summer and shorter in the winter.

 The shortest day of the year is called the winter

solstice and the longest day of the year is called

the summer solstice.

 There are two days each year where every place

on Earth has 12 hours of daytime and 12 hours of

nighttime. These are called the spring and

autumn equinoxes.
Calendar: A calendar tells us dates and days of all the twelve months of the year. It also mentions the days in a
week and the total number of days in a month. While some months have thirty one days, some have only thirty.
February being the shortest month of the year has only twenty eight days.

The earth takes 365 and a quarter

day to revolve around the sun. Every

year the extra quarter day is

carried over and in the fourth year

it is added to the month of February

and is known as the Leap Day. A leap

year is a year with an extra day in

the month of February, giving it 29

days instead of 28.

 Weather and Climate

Whereas weather refers to short-term changes in the atmosphere, climate describes what the weather is like over a
long period of time in a specific area. Different regions can have different climates. In most places, weather can
change from minute-to-minute, hour-to-hour, day-to-day, and season-to-season. Climate, however, is the average
of weather over time and space.

Why do seasons occur?

Seasons are caused because of the Earth's movement around the Sun. The Earth travels around the Sun once a year or every 365
days. As the Earth moves around the Sun, the amount of sunlight each location on the planet gets every day from the sun changes
slightly. This change causes the seasons.
 Key words

heavenly glowing
phases experience
quarter weather
atmosphere comfortable
rainbow autumn
pleasant climate

Solve the following worksheet in your practice copy at home.

All written work to be done under the supervision of the teacher during the online class.

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