Grade 9 · Science · Unit 11 of 12
Origins of the Universe
The Big Bang, the life of stars, and star stories
What your child practises
The Big Bang and the evidence for it, how the solar system formed, star life cycles, and how different cultures, including First Nations and Métis communities, understand and represent the sky.
Saskatchewan Curriculum outcome: EU9.2, EU9.3 · scientific explanations of how the solar system and universe formed, and how cultures including First Nations and Métis understand the sky
Sample questions
A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.
Question 1
Why is the Sun’s light today useful evidence that stars are not eternal?
☀️- the Sun has no fuel
- the Sun is a planet
- the Sun is a star that is using up its hydrogen fuel
- the Sun never changes
Show answer
the Sun is a star that is using up its hydrogen fuel
Hint: Stars like the Sun have long but limited lives.
Question 2
Why can a scientific theory be both well supported and open to change?
🧪- theories are never tested
- scientists do not use evidence
- new evidence may improve or replace the explanation
- theories cannot be wrong
Show answer
new evidence may improve or replace the explanation
Hint: Science works by testing ideas against evidence.
Question 3
Where does the star end up? Tap an item, then tap its basket.
Sort into: ☀️ star like the Sun · 💥 very massive star
- 🫧planetary nebula
- ⚪white dwarf
- ⏳burns for billions of years
- 🔴red supergiant
- 🌟neutron star
- ⚫black hole
Show answer
☀️ star like the Sun: planetary nebula, white dwarf, burns for billions of years · 💥 very massive star: red supergiant, neutron star, black hole
Hint: A star like our Sun swells into a red giant and ends as a white dwarf. A much more massive star explodes as a supernova.
Question 4
Galileo used a telescope to see four moons orbiting Jupiter. Why was this important?
🔭- it showed that Jupiter is a star
- it showed that Earth is flat
- it showed that not everything orbits Earth
- it proved the Moon is made of rock
Show answer
it showed that not everything orbits Earth
Hint: It was evidence against the idea that everything circled Earth.
Question 5
Put these events in order, from the earliest to the most recent.
- 🦠life appears on Earth
- 🌌the first stars and galaxies form
- ☀️our Sun and solar system form
- 💥the Big Bang
Show answer
the Big Bang → the first stars and galaxies form → our Sun and solar system form → life appears on Earth
Hint: The universe began with the Big Bang, then stars and galaxies formed, and later our Sun and planets formed.
Question 6
What process powers a star like the Sun?
☀️- nuclear fusion of hydrogen into helium
- chemical burning of oxygen
- friction with space dust
- burning coal
Show answer
nuclear fusion of hydrogen into helium
Hint: Fusion in the core releases huge amounts of energy.