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9th grade Orbital cycles and ice ages worksheet

6 printable versionsBuilding Confidence10 questions · answer keyFree · no account

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Orbital cycles and ice ages

Grade 9 Science Worksheet - Building Confidence

NameDate

Circle the best answer.

  1. Read this first

    Three dials

    Orbit shape, tilt and wobble, each with its cycle.

  2. Which orbital change runs in a cycle of about 100,000 years, by Ari's reading (NASA)?

    • Precession, the wobble of Earth's axis
    • Earth's daily spin
    • Obliquity, the tilt
    • Eccentricity, the shape of the orbit

  3. About how long is the tilt (obliquity) cycle, by Bo's reading (NASA)?

    • About 41,000 years
    • About 100,000 years
    • About 1 year
    • About 26,000 years

  4. Use this

    Earth tilted more and less beside the Sun.

  5. What is obliquity, by Jun's reading (NASA)?

    • The direction the wobble points
    • Earth's distance from the Sun
    • The tilt of Earth's axis relative to its orbit
    • The shape of the orbit

  6. NASA: what does a larger tilt do to the seasons, by Milo's reading?

    • It makes them more extreme
    • It makes the year longer
    • It makes them milder
    • It has no effect

  7. EPICA Dome C temperature record (NOAA NCEI)

    Years agoTemperature vs last 1,000 years
    20,000−9.4 °C
    128,000+3.4 °C
    140,000−9.1 °C
    410,000+1.6 °C
    800,000−8.9 °C

  8. Over the past 800,000 years, about how long has each ice-age cycle lasted, by Noah's reading (NASA)?

    • About 1,000 years
    • About 10 million years
    • About 100,000 years
    • About 100 years

  9. NASA: as ice cover grows, it reflects more of the Sun's energy. What does that do, by Pia's reading?

    • It warms Earth
    • It speeds up Earth's orbit
    • It has no effect on temperature
    • It promotes further cooling

  10. Earth tilted more and less beside the Sun. NASA: a smaller tilt gives cooler summers at high latitudes. What does that allow, by Ren's reading?

    • Hotter summers
    • Ice to reflect less sunlight
    • Ice sheets to melt faster and shrink toward the poles
    • Snow and ice to build up into large ice sheets

  11. EPICA Dome C temperature record (NOAA NCEI)

    Years agoTemperature vs last 1,000 years
    20,000−9.4 °C
    128,000+3.4 °C
    140,000−9.1 °C
    410,000+1.6 °C
    800,000−8.9 °C

  12. Using the EPICA table, how did Antarctica 20,000 years ago compare with the last 1,000 years, by Tala's reading?

    • About 9.4 °C warmer
    • About 9.4 °C colder
    • About 94 °C colder
    • About the same

  13. Which time in the EPICA table was warmer than the last 1,000 years, by Zee's reading?

    • 800,000 years ago
    • 20,000 years ago
    • 128,000 years ago
    • 140,000 years ago

  14. How far back does the EPICA Dome C ice-core record reach, by Esme's reading (NOAA)?

    • About 800 years
    • About 800,000 years
    • About 80 million years
    • About 8,000 years
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9th grade Orbital cycles and ice ages worksheet – printable
Print: 123456

About this worksheet

Explain how orbital cycles pace ice ages. Every version has 10 questions, and the answer key prints on the second page.

What your child will learn

  • I can name the three orbital cycles and their lengths: orbit shape about 100,000 years, tilt about 41,000 and wobble about 26,000 (25,771.5).
  • I can explain why tilt, not distance, sets the seasons, and why smaller tilt and cool summers let ice sheets build while growing ice adds cooling.
  • I can read signed values in the EPICA Dome C record and count cycles in a span of time.

Standard: HS-ESS2-4

Words to know

eccentricity: How stretched Earth's orbit is; cycles over about 100,000 years

obliquity: The tilt of Earth's axis; cycles over about 41,000 years

precession: The slow wobble of Earth's axis; about 25,771.5 years

perihelion: Earth's closest point to the Sun, around January 3

glacial: A cold stretch of an ice-age cycle, with large ice sheets

interglacial: A warm stretch between glacials

Common mistakes

Your child mixed up the cycles. NASA: orbit shape (eccentricity) about 100,000 years; tilt (obliquity) about 41,000; wobble (precession) about 26,000.

Your child misread the tilt's effect. NASA: a larger tilt makes seasons more extreme and favors melting; a smaller tilt gives cooler summers that let ice build up.

Your child tied the seasons to distance. NASA: Earth is closest to the Sun around January 3, during northern winter; tilt, not distance, sets the seasons.

Questions parents ask

What is the most common mistake with orbital cycles and ice ages?

Your child mixed up the cycles. NASA: orbit shape (eccentricity) about 100,000 years; tilt (obliquity) about 41,000; wobble (precession) about 26,000.

Are these 9th grade science worksheets free to print?

Yes. All 6 printable versions at each level are free to print, with the answer key, and no account is needed.

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