Weather & Space

• a. Most of Earth's water is present as salt water in the oceans, which cover most of Earth's surface.
• b. When liquid water evaporates, it turns into water vapor in the air and can reappear as a liquid when cooled or as a solid if cooled below the freezing point of water.
• c. Water vapor in the air moves from one place to another and can form fog or clouds, which are tiny droplets of water or ice, and can fall to Earth as rain, hail, sleet, or snow.
• d. The amount of fresh water located in rivers, lakes, underground sources, and glaciers is limited and that its availability can be extended by recycling and decreasing the use of water.

4. Energy from the Sun heats Earth unevenly, causing air movements that result in changing weather patterns.

• a. Uneven heating of Earth causes air movements (convection currents).
• b. The influence that the ocean has on the weather and the role that the water cycle plays in weather patterns.
• c. Causes and effects of different types of severe weather.
• d. Students know how to use weather maps and data to predict local weather and know that weather forecasts depend on many variables.
• e. The Earth's atmosphere exerts a pressure that decreases with distance above Earth's surface and that at any point it exerts this pressure equally in all directions.

5. The solar system consists of planets and other bodies that orbit the Sun in predictable paths.

• a. The Sun, an average star, is the central and largest body in the solar system and is composed primarily of hydrogen and helium.
• b. The solar system includes the planet Earth, the Moon , the Sun, eight other planets and their satellites, and smaller objects, such as asteroids and comets.
• c. The path of a planet around the Sun is due to the gravitational attraction between the Sun and the planet.

Pacing