Discover fascinating facts about Mars with this engaging worksheet! Including reading passage, questions, a word search game and even an unmistakable hidden message!
Mars, the fourth planet from the Sun, can be easily seen as a reddish light point in the night sky. This planet features mountains, valleys, and polar ice caps with its thin atmosphere allowing solar radiation to escape easily.
Mars is the fourth planet from the sun
Mars, commonly referred to as “the Red Planet” due to its reddish hue due to the surface iron oxide, is the second smallest planet in our Solar System and boasts an atmosphere similar to our own; its surface features include craters, volcanoes, valleys deserts and polar ice caps; its rotation on an axis takes 24.6 hours while seasons there can change more rapidly than they do here on Earth.
The rocky planet features a thin atmosphere and protective ozone layer, shielding its surface from harmful UV radiation. Due to low gravity, strong winds produce dust storms lasting for months that cover the planet entirely. Furthermore, rapid temperature fluctuations contribute to rapid atmospheric change on this world.
Mars exhibits numerous evidences of liquid water’s past presence, such as ancient river valley networks, deltas, and lakebeds. One particularly impressive geographic feature is Valles Marineris Canyon system which spans 10 times longer than Grand Canyon with depths reaching over two miles wide at its deepest point. Furthermore, Mars boasts tall volcanoes like Olympus Mons whose summit reaches heights exceeding 370 miles and covers enough area to cover New Mexico state itself.
Though humans may never inhabit Mars, robotic rovers like NASA’s Perseverance are helping scientists learn more about its environment and potential life forms there. This printable makes a fantastic educational resource if projectors are available; either print a size that’s easy for students to handle physically, or project it onto a wall for students if available.
This worksheet is an engaging way for children to learn about the Solar System and its planets, especially Mars. Once students finish learning more about it, they can put what they’ve learned into practice through coloring and unscrambling activities on this sheet before moving on to other planets sheets and printables from this series.
It has a thin atmosphere
Mars, being the driest planet in our solar system, features an extremely tenuous atmosphere due to its low gravity which makes it hard to trap gases in its air, combined with no magnetic field to shield its atmosphere from solar radiation – this means ultraviolet radiation reaches ground level without filtering through atmospheric molecules, potentially killing any organic molecules present and making life unlikely even in underground environments.
Mars’ surface is covered in an atmospheric dust cloud that gives it its characteristic hues of orange to red and brown, consisting largely of iron that reacts with air to form iron oxide. At one-tenth the mass and half its diameter as Earth, Mars is smaller and colder compared to Earth; hence its geology activity remains less dynamic than our own planet.
Mars’ atmosphere consists primarily of carbon dioxide with trace amounts of nitrogen, argon, and oxygen – though its thin atmosphere fails to keep heat trapped under its influence and makes its temperatures vary from -81F in winter months up to 20F during summer days.
Over millions of years, solar radiation has slowly but steadily stripped away a significant portion of Mars’ atmosphere – leaving behind only carbon dioxide and water vapor, while also being rich in the heavier oxygen isotope 18O (compared to Earth’s 16O). This resulted in Mars having an atmosphere 100 times thinner than that of Earth. It’s now mostly composed of carbon dioxide and water vapor with some additional trace gases such as iron oxide.
Mars remains a terrestrial planet despite its lack of atmosphere, boasting a solid rocky core between 930-1,300 miles (1,500-2,100 kilometers). Composed of nickel, iron, and sulfur elements, its mantle provides insulation from space while the outer crust features both igneous rock formation and sedimentary deposits.
Phobos and Deimos, two small, lumpy moons named after captured asteroids in its distant past, orbit Mars in opposite directions; their periods of conjunction and opposition being 154 days each time.
It has a reddish color
Looking at Mars through binoculars or telescopes reveals its deep reddish hue, due to the planet’s high concentration of iron oxide which reacts with oxygen to form red spots that reflect light – hence why people refer to it as the Red Planet. Light is also reflected off it and makes its hue even more vivid compared to Earth; Egyptians called Mars Her Decher while Romans worshiped Ares, god of war! Mars is also the second-smallest planet in our solar system with two potato-shaped moons Phobos and Deimos as part of its mass.
Mars has an atmosphere comprised of light tan or brown dust blown around by windstorms, giving its distinctive red hue. Unfortunately, however, this layer is only several millimeters thick – too thin to see while standing on its surface but plenty enough to give its unique hue.
Mars’ surface features are not restricted to just being red. Instead, there are other shades present as its obliquity changes depending on when one visits; its seasonal variation can range from close to zero (no seasons) up to over 60 degrees when most recognized for being red.
Mars’ atmosphere is colored red due to dust particles; when sunlight strikes these dust particles, its reflection causes it to cause the planet’s hue to look red from space. On the other hand, when sunlight shines on Mars’ ice caps and clouds instead, its reflection appears blue due to their insufficient density scattering blue wavelengths of light back out.
Scientists have recently gained much insight into Mars. For instance, they know it used to be much warmer than it is now and was once almost covered with an ocean that may have supported life on some locations of its surface.
It has mountains
One of the most intriguing features of Mars is its majestic peaks, which tower above any mountains on Earth due to lower gravity, lack of tectonic activity and slower weathering processes allowing volcanic peaks there to grow much taller than their counterparts elsewhere on our planet.
Olympus Mons is Mars’ highest mountain, towering 26 kilometres above its surroundings and three times taller than Mount Everest. Part of Tharsis Montes in Mars’ northern hemisphere, Olympus Mons is thought to have once been an island volcano; two additional massive peaks known as Alba and Hecates Tholus also inhabit this area.
Both mountains on Mars resemble volcanic islands of Earth, suggesting they formed in an ancient ocean on that planet. Volcanoes on the Red Planet are also surrounded by craters and canyons, while their soil contains red-tinged iron dust which gives their appearance of red hue. Unfortunately due to limited access to water on Mars the mountains do not appear quite as green as those found here on Earth.
Scientists have long puzzled over why Mars’ surface is so rugged. While they understand it was once much warmer than it is now, leading to thick atmosphere formation which has now dissipated into space due to lack of water supply and strong winds creating dust storms, answers have yet to emerge from scientists on the topic.
Mars’ rocky surface is covered in lava flows and pit craters. Volcanoes tower high over these expanses of rock while some deep lava flows have conical shapes. Their rocks may contain minerals that create color; water or air may have helped cool them down before reaching us.
Even though Mars does not feature plate tectonics, its mountainous regions still display various forms of landforms – some flat, while others feature steep slopes and cliffs. Common grabens, wrinkle ridges and volcanic dikes show how forces have shaped Mars over time.