Reading Comprehension Worksheet

NAME: _____________________________ GRADE 5
READING COMPREHENSION
Read the passage carefully and answer the questions that follow:
The Inner Solar System

by Leslie Cargile
The inner solar system is the name of the

terrestrial planets and asteroid belt. Terrestrial is
just a fancy way of saying rocky. Like the Earth,
terrestrial planets have a core of iron and rock.
At the center of the solar system is the Sun. The Sun is a big ball of hydrogen powered
by nuclear reactions. Massive explosions are going on all of the time inside the Sun. It’s what
makes the light every day and keeps our planet warm. Light zips from the Sun to us in about
eight minutes.
The Sun is the most massive thing in our solar system. It is so big you could fit about a million
Earths inside of it!
Closest to the Sun is the planet Mercury. You could squeeze about eighteen Mercury’s
inside of Earth. It is made of mostly rock, but it has a huge iron core and it generates a big
magnetic field. Speedy little Mercury sails around the sun in only eighty-eight days. Mercury
was the messenger of the gods in Roman mythology, known for his speed.
Second in line comes Venus, which is sometimes called Earth's twin. It's about the
same size as Earth, but that’s where the similarities end. Venus is always covered in thick
clouds full of sulfuric acid. They whip around the planet at more than two hundred twenty
mph. Violent winds shoot sand made of silicate around Venus’s very dry, arid surface. The
temperature averages nine hundred degrees, and the Pressure’s ninety times that on Earth.
It takes two hundred and twenty four days to orbit the sun. Like Mercury, Venus was also
named after a Roman Goddess, the Goddess of love.
You know what planet is next. You live on it! Yup, the Earth is number three. We
have a rocky iron core at the center of our planet. We have liquid water, and our air is made
of mostly nitrogen and oxygen. It takes three hundred and sixty-five days for us to circle the
sun. We only have one moon.
Next to us in is Mars. Mars also has a core of rock and iron. It is a little more than half the
size of Earth. The most distinct feature about Mars is its red color. Dust rich in iron oxide
covers the planet. It’s sort of like the planet is rusting. White caps at the poles are water,
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
forever frozen because of the colder temperatures further from the Sun. The only place the
temperature rises above freezing is at the equator, or the middle of the planet. Mars has two
moons, Deimos and Phoebe but they are much smaller than our own moon. It takes nearly
twice as long for Mars to circle the sun at almost 684 days.
The last part of the inner solar system is called the Asteroid Belt. It’s the line between
the inner rocky planets and the outer gaseous planets. Unlike the rest of the Inner Solar
System, the Asteroid Belt isn’t a planet at all. It is a bunch of large rocky chunks, mostly
meteoroids. There’s also a dwarf planet named Ceres in the asteroid belt. The rest aren’t
very large. The Earth is the only planet that we know of with life on it, but universe is a big
place. Much of our solar system is still a mystery, there is still plenty to explore.
Choose the right answer and write it in the box given: (10 marks)
1. What is the size of Mercury compare to Earth?

a. Mercury is 18 times the size of Earth
b. Mercury is 1/18 the size of Earth.
c. Earth is 1/18 the size of Mercury.
2. Which statement about the inner planets' orbits is true?

a. Venus orbits the sun more quickly than Mercury.
b. Mercury orbits the sun more slowly than Mars.
c. Mars orbits the sun more slowly than Earth.
3. Which would be the most appropriate nickname for Venus?

a. the cold desert planet
b. the first inner planet
c. the windy planet
4. What two types of gas make up most of Earth's atmosphere?

a. nitrogen and oxygen
b. carbon di oxide and nitrogen
c. oxygen and carbon di oxide
5. According to information in the article, where would you find water on Mars?
a. at the north and south pole
b. in the middle
c. none of the above
6. How long does it take light to travel from the sun to the Earth?
a. 7 minutes
b. 15 minutes
c. 8 minutes
7. What is an imaginary line around the center of a planet called?

a. latitude
b. equator
c. longitude
8. Which is the most abundant gas on Earth?

a. nitrogen
b. oxygen
c. carbon
9. Give one word for, lacking water or rainfall.

a. chunks
b. meteoroids
c. arid
10. What is Asteroid Belt?

a. the last part of the inner solar system
b. the first part of the inner solar system
c. the solar system
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

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NAME: _____________________________ GRADE 5

The Inner Solar System

The inner solar system is the name of the

1. What is the size of Mercury compare to Earth?

2. Which statement about the inner planets' orbits is true?

3. Which would be the most appropriate nickname for Venus?

4. What two types of gas make up most of Earth's atmosphere?

7. What is an imaginary line around the center of a planet called?

8. Which is the most abundant gas on Earth?

9. Give one word for, lacking water or rainfall.

10. What is Asteroid Belt?

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