Earth and the Solar System: five questions to try now
Real past-paper questions, the answer key from the mark scheme, and the explanation that goes with it. No account needed to answer them.
Question 1
The table gives data about four planets in our Solar System. What are planets X and Y? Each answer gives, in order: planet X; planet Y.
Answer: A.
Surface temperature falls with distance from the Sun, so order the four by temperature and you have ordered them by distance. Earth at 15 is warmest, then X at –65, then Y at –140, then Uranus at –195. So X lies just beyond the Earth, which makes it Mars, and Y lies between Mars and Uranus, which makes it Saturn. A is correct. Mercury is nearer the Sun than the Earth and so far hotter, which rules out C and D, and Neptune is beyond Uranus and so colder than –195, which rules out B.
Question 2
Which planet in our Solar System is nearest to the Sun and what is the nature of the planet? Each answer gives, in order: planet; nature.
Answer: A.
Mercury is the innermost planet, and the four inner planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars, are all rocky. A gets both columns right. B names the right planet but calls it gaseous, which describes the outer giants Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. C and D name Venus, which is the SECOND planet out. Being near the Sun and being rocky go together, since the young Sun drove the light gases outwards.
Question 3
The Solar System contains eight major planets.
What is the correct order of three of the major planets, starting with the planet furthest from the Sun?
Answer: C.
Furthest first means starting at the outer edge and working in. Neptune is the outermost planet, then Mars and then Earth as we move towards the Sun, so C is correct. B and D both list outer planets in increasing rather than decreasing distance, since Jupiter is closer to the Sun than Saturn and Saturn closer than Uranus. A gives three inner planets in increasing distance, which is the right sequence read the wrong way.
Question 4
The table gives the orbital durations of planets in the Solar System.
planet Mercury Venus Earth Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune
orbital duration 88 225 365 4330 10 700 30 600 59 800 / days
What is the orbital duration of Mars?
Answer: B.
Mars orbits between the Earth and Jupiter, so its orbital duration must lie between 365 days and 4330 days. Of the options only 690 days does, and B is correct. A of 295 days is shorter than the Earth's year, which would put Mars INSIDE the Earth's orbit. C of 7100 days falls between Jupiter and Saturn, and D of 20 600 days between Saturn and Uranus, so both place Mars far too far out.
Question 5
The table gives information about some of the planets in our Solar System.
mass compared average density gravitational field strength at surface planet with the Earth g / cm 3 N / kg
Earth 1.0 5.5 9.8
Jupiter 320 1.3 25
Mercury 0.060 5.4 3.8
Uranus 15 1.3 10
Which statement about these planets is correct?
Answer: B.
Check each statement against the table. Jupiter has 320 Earth masses and a field strength of 25 N per kg, Uranus has 15 and 10, Earth has 1.0 and 9.8, and Mercury has 0.060 and 3.8, so the field strength does rise as the mass rises. B is correct. A fails because Jupiter is the most massive but the least dense at 1.3. C fails because Mercury and Earth are the densest and Mercury has the weakest field. D fails for the same reason as A.
What this practice covers
These questions are drawn from past CIE 0625 Physics papers. You answer, you find out immediately whether you were right, and you get the reasoning for the correct option and for each distractor. Wrong answers go to a mistakes locker so you can come back to exactly those.
Practice is free. You need an account only so your progress and your mistakes are still there next time.
Keep going Paper 1 and Paper 2 MCQs →
What examiners see students get wrong here
These are the errors that cost marks on earth and the solar system, taken from our own topic notes. Read them before you practise and you will recognise the traps in the questions.
- Saying the Sun moves round the Earth to give day and night.
- Confusing the cause of day and night (rotation) with the cause of the year (orbit).
- Giving the planets in the wrong order, or putting the asteroid belt in the wrong place.
- Saying the Moon produces its own light.
- Saying a comet moves fastest when it is furthest from the Sun.
- Saying planets further out move faster.
- Drawing the gravitational force on an orbiting planet along its direction of motion rather than towards the Sun.
- Using the diameter instead of the circumference in v = 2πr/T.
Revise it first
If any of the above is unfamiliar, work through the notes before practising: Earth and the Solar System revision notes.