Year Five
SMALL FACTS ABOUT THE UNIVERSE
Solar system
Mercury
Mercury is one of the hottest planets, but scientists have found ice on the surface. Because it is so thick, it can’t be melted by the Sun’s rays. Mercury has a metal core and it’s the only planet in the solar system to have that.
Venus
Venus is the hottest planet because there are so many active volcanoes. Its atmosphere is blocked with ash clouds, and like a greenhouse, it gets hotter every day. Its right now 486 Celsius, hotter than an oven. Scientists say that Venus is Earths twin. It has the same land mass same weight, size and width. Earth might turn out to look like Venus!
Earth
Earth is a very beautiful planet it grows with life. It is the only planet in the galaxy so far to have life. If we find aliens, remember we are the unique species. We were just germs, now we are a much-evolved species. During the formation of Earth, it had two moons that’s because a leftover piece from the formation of our solar system had a collision with Earth, then those pieces became our moons. There was a big one and a small one but the big one crashed with the small moon and it is now the moon here today, it formed a ring around Earth. It was beautiful, but you better have not been there at that time; it was crazy, with so many storms and hurricanes. Earth had very harsh weather while that was happening, because the ring around the Earth began falling down to Earths surface. When Earth was forming it didn’t have good friction gravity so the Asteroids fell to Earth. It was a bad time. Luckily that was 4.5 billion years ago so we are safe for now.
Mars
Mars used to be the only planet with life while the Earth was forming, until a huge Asteroid left over from the formation of the solar system had a collision with Mars. But somehow the surface bounced right back up but the atmosphere was damaged very badly, exposing it to the sun’s rays. Even the gravitational field was destroyed, so it did not turn out good for Mars. However recently scientists have found water under Mars surface.
Jupiter
Jupiter is the largest gas giant in our solar system. It also has the gases the sun has. If it was a little bigger, it can turn into another star!! It also has five layers of gases we have to pass through. Jupiter can rain crystals on the surface. I am not going into that because it will take too much time. Right after the five layers of gases is an ocean layer! that’s right, an ocean layer! There is no life because of continuous storms, lack of oxygen, and ice floating on water.
Saturn
Saturn is the second largest gas giant. It has a few gases, the same as Jupiter the most exciting part is it has a storm at the north pole that kept on happening for decades. It is shaped as a hexagon, and it has circulated continuously this whole time. The storm is very viral on the internet.
Uranus
Uranus, well you already know some things. Uranus has a ring just like Saturn, but way smaller. Here is the catch – while Saturn’s ring is made up mostly from asteroids, Uranus’ rings are mostly made of comets. Same story with Mars’ collision course. Uranus faced the same attack, but the leftover debris has fallen down towards the planet, because Uranus gravity is 10 times stronger than Earths so that explains it.
Neptune
Neptune also has a ring. It has a storm that changes color every decade. Scientists have been surprised, but it’s not much, it just changes to a lighter blue but it has been staying that way since 2000. No one knows why it has a storm, like the red dot on Jupiter. It has a similar appearance but it is smaller and has a completely different color, and is –389 degrees Celsius on the surface.
Pluto
Pluto has surprisingly 5 moons. They discovered this in 2018. The biggest moon is the closest moon. Even though Pluto is a dwarf planet, it still has moons, and the closest moon is so close to the size of Pluto itself. Pluto even orbits around the moon at times.
Supernovas
Supernovas are very powerful. When a star has finished its life cycle the core releases a tremendous number of gases in a powerful blast. It can wipe out a planet’s atmosphere in seconds. Here is the weird part – Supernovas would have brought life to Earth. This is not proven yet, but Supernova’s release gases needed for life. So, while Earth was forming maybe a huge Supernova hit us from a few light years away and maybe gave the materials we needed for life on Earth. This is when the solar system was forming. We are not sure about it, but it might be proven soon.
Blackholes
A Blackhole can happen instead of a Supernova if the star is big enough. This is how it works – when the core of the Sun collapses, it can be a Blackhole or a Neutron star. If it is a Blackhole it will swallow up the Sun. This is a simple way of understanding. The blackhole is very hungry, it will eat everything in its path. Its gravitational force is way powerful than the Sun and can suck it in easily. If the Blackhole eats too much it will explode, like it will burp in simple language. These particles are deadly. If it comes in the direction of Earth, we will die immediately. Did you know that the Blackhole in the center of our galaxy is 100,000 times the size of our Sun, and there is one that is 100,000,000 times the size of our Sun. Crazy, right?
A Neutron Star
Neutron stars are one of the most dangerous things in the universe. They can be made from a collapsing core of the sun, like I said before. It can spin a 1000 times per second, and the cores surface gets hotter every second that its gravitational force gets stronger. Scientists discovered that a planet was orbiting a neutron star. But sadly, it got crushed by the star, and the leftover pieces will incinerate because when it gets close enough it will disappear, as the neutron star gets hotter every day. It will soon turn into a gamma ray and will send unstable energy through the poles like a Supernova, but because of the poles, it is also concentrated, so it’s more powerful. It travels at the speed of light, and it will wipe out life on Earth, and this time it might be forever. We hope to have life on another planet, but it is very rare and might not happen in a long time.
Senuth Senhas Fernando
Year 5C
Tahiri De Silva
Year 5B
The Lightning Lord’s Crown
Julius, Catrina, Ben and Nelson have set on a quest to find the almighty Lightning Lord’s crown. They have now entered the forest of misery.
“I still don’t believe there’s a person called the Lightning Lord!” said Catrina.
“You never believe a word we say!” said Nelson, annoyed.
The four children travelled deeper and deeper into the forest. They could see nothing but trees.
“Look!” said Julius. “There are two paths!”
“Which one should we take?” asked Ben.
“I think we should split up,” said Catrina.
“ARE YOU NUTS!!!” shrieked Nelson. “We could easily get lost in this forest!”
“Nelson is right,” said Julius. “We shouldn’t split up!”
The four friends took the path towards the left. They walked for about half an hour.
“Oh, no!” cried Nelson.
“It’s a dead end!” said Julius in dismay.
They went back to the junction and took the other route. Soon, they came to a big hole. “Can I climb down?” asked Ben.
“Wait,” said Nelson as he threw a stone into the hole.
Just as the stone landed, a huge net fell onto it.
“It’s a trap!” said Julius.
“I think we’re close to the Lightning Lord’s castle!” said Catrina excitedly.
Just then, the sky became dark and an enormous blue creature appeared.
It breathed lightning.
“It’s a dragon!” said Catrina.
“I think you’re right!” said Julius.
“RUN!!!” screamed Ben.
Immediately, a fire breathing dragon appeared and the two dragons began to fight.
While they were running, a THIRD dragon appeared. Then the lightning dragon stopped fighting with the fire dragon and started fighting with the third dragon. The fire dragon began to chase the children.
Nelson’s eye caught something.
“Look!” he said while pointing to some armour and swords on the ground.
Everybody looked at it.
“That’s perfect!” cried Julius. “It will protect us from the dragons!”
The children ran towards the armour. There was enough for everybody but only Nelson was able to wear it before the dragon arrived. He quickly picked up a nearby sword and fought with the dragon.
When the others were done wearing the armour, they ran away. The dragon chased them all the way to an old, rusty castle. When the children entered the castle, the dragon stopped chasing them. Suddenly, the gates shut. BANG!
“Oh no!” cried Ben. “What are we going to do now?!”
“I have no idea!” said Catrina.
Just then, the gates opened and a boy was thrown in. BANG! The gates shut again.
“Who are you?” Julius asked the boy.
“I’m Josh,” said the boy. “I came to find the Lightning Lord’s crown.”
“We came to find the Lightning Lord’s crown too!” said Nelson.
“Really!” said Josh. “Well, I suppose you can help me!”
“Sure!” exclaimed Ben.
The five friends walked along a stone road. They soon came to an iron door. Julius tried to open it. He tried several times but couldn’t open it.
“It’s locked!” he said.
Josh and Nelson pushed Julius away and kicked the door open. The others stared in astonishment. Just as Nelson and Josh entered the dark castle a bright blue light flicked on. There was a wide passage. It was wide enough to drive a car through. The five friends plodded along the passage. In about half an hour they came to an enormous room. There was a throne at the back of the room and on it sat a strange person.
“Who are you?” asked Nelson.
“I’m the Lightning Lord,” said the strange person.
The children looked at one another in surprise.
“You’re not supposed to be here!” said the Lightning Lord. “Go away!”
Just then, he attacked the children with Lightning!
“RUN!!!” cried Catrina.
Everybody ran for their lives. Only Nelson stayed. He quickly took the Lightning Lord’s crown and evacuated. The children ran all the way to the junction.
“Phew!” said Julius while wiping of his sweat.
“Did you get the crown?” asked Josh.
“Yes!” said Nelson. “Now he can’t do evil things using the crown!”
He showed the crown to everybody. “Yippeeeeee!” they all cried at once.
Their adventure really did end very well!