Self Assessment 5 (ch 7, 8, & 9)

The planet closest to the Sun in the solar system is:

Mercury

Which of the following is made of the densest material? Earth, the moon, or Mercury

Mercury

Which of the eight planets has a smaller mass than Mercury?

you can't fool me, Mercury has the smallest mass of the eight planets

On which of the planets (other than Earth) could a human being step out of a spacecraft and survive without any protective gear (special suit, oxygen tanks, etc)?

you can't fool me; there is no other planet on which we could survive unprotected

Where has frozen water has been discovered on the Moon?

Deep inside craters in the regions near the Moon's poles

What theory of Mercury's origin can best explain the fact that its core is made of such dense materials?

giant impacts in its early history may have torn away much of its original crust and mantle

During the process of differentiation,

heavier materials sink to the centers of molten planets

In a bad late-night science fiction film, a villain is using a large collection of rare radioactive atoms as energy for a weapon to threaten the good guys. The atoms have a half-life of 1 hour. The villain has 4 kilograms of the radioactive material now, and he needs a minimum of 1 kg. for his weapon to work. After how much time will the weapon no longer be a threat?

just a little after 2 hrs

Of the people who landed on the Moon, how many were trained scientists?

one

Today, the chemistry of the terrestrial planets does not include a lot of free hydrogen. Chemists call the chemistry in places like the Earth:

oxidized

Scientists have been concerned about a set of industrial chemicals called CFC's (chlorofluorocarbons) because they:

rise into the atmosphere and destroy ozone

What formation or formations are evidence that the planet Mercury may have shrunk (gotten a bit smaller) as it cooled?

the long scarps or cliffs

An increase in the Earth's temperature by several degrees Celsius would result in:

the melting of many glaciers, a rise in sea levels, and more flooding of towns near the coasts of the continents

In the far future, a visiting tourist from another planetary system asks to see the most massive object in our solar system. Where would you take him/her/it?

the sun