What meteorites, Moon rocks and ancient crystals tell us

Grade 9 Science Worksheet - Building Confidence

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Table, Sample ages (USGS), with columns Sample, Age (billion years)

   Meteorites, 4.53 to 4.58; oldest Moon rocks, 4.4 to 4.5; oldest zircon crystals (Western Australia), 4.3 to 4.4; oldest Earth rocks (Acasta Gneiss, Canada), 4.03.

2. 1.

   Which samples give the best age for the solar system's formation, by Ari's reading (USGS)?

   • Meteorites
   • Fossils
   • Zircon crystals, older than the meteorites
   • Earth's oldest rocks
3. 2.

   Which sample in the table is oldest, by Bo's reading?

   • The zircons, at 4.3 to 4.4 billion
   • Meteorites, at 4.53 to 4.58 billion years
   • Earth's oldest rocks, at 4.03 billion
   • The Moon rocks, since the Moon is closest
4. 3.

   What is the leading idea for how the Moon formed, by Jun's reading (NASA)?

   • The Moon formed alone, far from Earth
   • A Mars-sized body hit young Earth, and debris formed the Moon
   • The Moon is a broken piece of the Sun that cooled in Earth's orbit
   • Earth's gravity captured a passing Moon
5. 4.

   Timeline ruler in billions of years. About when did the Moon form, by Luz's reading (NASA)?

   • About 4.5 billion years ago
   • About 450,000 years ago
   • About 4.5 million years ago
   • About 13.8 billion years ago
6. 5.

   Drawing of Moon rock samples in labeled bags. How much lunar rock and soil did the Apollo missions bring back, by Milo's reading (NASA)?

   • No samples came back
   • About 3.8 kg
   • About 382 tonnes
   • About 382 kg (842 lb)
7. 6.

   Where do most meteorites found on Earth come from, by Noah's reading (NASA)?

   • Shattered asteroids
   • Distant galaxies
   • The Sun
   • Earth's volcanoes
8. 7.

   Metal, stone, and mixed. NASA names three major kinds of meteorites. Which list matches, by Pia's reading?

   • Hot, warm and cold
   • Comets, moons and stars
   • Irons, stonys and stony-irons
   • Lava, sand and clay
9. 8.

   A radioactive parent has a half-life of 700 million years. What fraction is left after one half-life, by Tala's math?

   • It has fully decayed
   • One-half
   • Three-quarters
   • One-quarter
10. 9.

    After two half-lives, what fraction of the parent is left, by Zee's math?

    • One-third
    • It has fully decayed
    • One-quarter
    • One-half
11. 10.

    What does radiometric dating measure, by Esme's reading (USGS)?

    • How much of a parent isotope has decayed into daughter atoms
    • How heavy a rock is
    • Decay that subtracts the same amount each year
    • How deep a rock was buried